Marvelous Meals with Pre-Cooked Chicken!

Marvelous Meals with Pre-Cooked Chicken!


I love chicken! It’s versatile, easy to prepare, economical, healthy, and my kids will eat it. But, if you are like me, chicken can get boring and it’s easy to fall into a rut of the same old things. I know there are recipes that our families love, but if you prepare them too often it can backfire and then those recipes are banished for a long time. I know this from my early married days and the now banished Cream of Mushroom Soup…

My favorite shortcut right now is roasting 4-6 chicken breasts to use throughout the week. You can put them in a crock pot with only salt and pepper for a few hours (longer will dry them out), or place them in a 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes with S&P and a little olive oil. I do this on a Sunday or Monday afternoon my cooking for the week is half done. These breasts (either boneless, skinless or not) can be used for many combinations of dinners. Here are my favorite uses:

• Add salsa for burritos or chicken quesadillas, chicken enchiladas

• Bar-b-que sauce (especially for the crock pot chicken) for pulled sandwiches

• Corn and chicken chowder, tortilla soup, or chicken minestrone

• Chicken and dumplings

• Slice and serve over pasta with Pesto or Marinara (melt a little cheese on it for Chicken Parmesan)

• Chicken Pot Pie with store bought crust, frozen or fresh veggies, cream of celery soup & milk

• Brush with teriyaki and reheat, sprinkle with sesame seeds, serve over rice

• Chicken fried rice

• Chicken Lettuce wraps – Bibb, red leaf, ice-burg or romaine lettuce with julienned carrots, green onions, and roasted peanuts. I serve it with two sauces – one teriyaki + water + garlic chili paste, the other peanut butter + hot water + garlic & ginger powder + soy sauce + garlic chili paste + honey

• Any type of salad topped with chicken – Cobb, Taco, Caesar, Chinese Chicken, etc.

• Chicken Panini’s – add cheeses, basil, sun dried tomatoes, ham, etc. Use a George Forman grill or just bake in the oven

• Chicken Pizzas made from store bought crusts and either bar-b-que sauce or any white sauce, cheese, bacon, green onions, tomatoes

• Empanada –season chopped chicken with a little cumin, coriander, sautéed onions & garlic, wrap in store bought pizza dough and bake

• Broil with ham and provolone on top for Chicken Cordon Bleu

• Casserole (oh how I wish I could make this, if not for the Cream of Mushroom Soup!) – Make your favorite tuna casserole and replace the tuna with chicken. Or, use any of your favorite casserole recipes and use chicken as the main meat.

Of course, rotisserie chickens are cheap and delicious to use in any of these recipes. I like to get them at Costco or Sam’s Club, and right now I am walking the fine line of over-use of serving them “as is”. I still like them, but I admit that they are better doctored up these days.

I have more specific recipes for anything mentioned above if you need them.

Please add any more ideas that you have to expand all of our repertoires of chicken!!