3-Ingredient Italian Chicken

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March 20, 2016 by Judith Hannemann

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Just 3 simple ingredients make this delectable and easy chicken dinner.

Want a really no-fuss dinner where you need nothing special in the way of ingredients and that has almost zero prep work? Oh and most importantly, that it’s awesomely delicious? Then here’s the recipe.

I saw this kicking around Pinterest. It wasn’t from a website or recipe page, simply somebody who took a pic with their phone and put the recipe & method in the description. This gal is my kind of cook! I looked but she didn’t have anything else of her own in her profile.

There was nothing else but the chicken in the recipe. I tossed in some orphaned mushrooms I had in the crisper–naturally I overbought again on a sale.

Now if you want to make this a truly “one-dish” complete meal, I’d suggest tossing in some fresh or frozen whole green beans. The green beans will get a lovely flavor not just from roasting them, but from the chicken coating–which all that amounts to is brown sugar and dry Italian salad dressing mix.

I know I say this ALL the time, but it still amazes me at how very few simple ingredients can produce the most tasty meals. Again, this is another one of those meals. Most of us have brown sugar on hand and I would venture a guess that many also have a packet of Italian dressing mix in the cupboard too.

You can use either boneless skinless breasts or thighs in this. Either will work, and I used thighs here. OK, mine had bone in them, but I did remove the skin. Unless they are on sale, boneless skinless thighs are pricy. My store had regular thighs on sale for 88 cents per pound and that’s what’s in the pictures. I guess I could have de-boned them myself, but I’ve gotten way too lazy for that!! The juice from this is just lovely–not greasy nor fatty because the skin and most of the fat is removed from the chicken. It makes a great dipping sauce!

If you want a more zesty flavor, then I would suggest using a bolder variety of Italian dressing. I know you can get “zesty” and there’s even a garlic-lover’s variety. Those would work SO well here. Next I’m going to try it with ranch dressing mix–but before I do, I will mix some of it with brown sugar and see how it tastes. If the sugar/dry seasoning tastes good, so will the chicken.

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The Recipe

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Just 3 simple ingredients make this delectable and easy chicken dinner.

Ingredients

3-4 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts -OR-thighs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 envelope dry Italian salad dressing mix

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix brown sugar and salad dressing mix in a small bowl.
Dredge chicken in the sugar mixture well.
Place in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
Sprinkle any leftover sugar mixture over chicken.
Bake for 45-60 minutes; baste occasionally with the juice that forms in the pan.

Notes

To make a complete meal in the pan, add 1 lb fresh or frozen whole green beans to bake along with the chicken.

You can toss in some mushrooms to like I did (if you like them)

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @midnitebaker or tag #midnitebaker!

Reader Interactions

Comments

Liz says
March 20, 2016 at 2:24 pm

Nice and easy. Sounds good. Thank you and have a great Sunday.
- Judith Hanneman says
  March 20, 2016 at 5:56 pm
  
  You too Liz <3
Judith Katz says
March 20, 2016 at 5:25 pm

doesn’t it have mushrooms?
- Judith Hanneman says
  March 20, 2016 at 5:56 pm
  
  I put them in to use up a few I had, but you don’t have to if you don’t like them.
Lisa @ myskinnyplate says
March 24, 2016 at 8:56 pm

I found this website stumbling upon the recipe “Mushroom Asiago Chicken” and found, yet, another yummy looking chicken dish. I have so many low carb chicken dishes on my website but getting bored.
I have to try your chicken recipes! Anything with mushrooms…yum!!!!!
Thanks for sharing! 🙂 Oh & Happy Easter!
- Judith Hanneman says
  March 24, 2016 at 10:33 pm
  
  A mushroom lover!!! Welcome, welcome, welcome!!! Have a blessed Easter!
Becky Vigus says
March 27, 2016 at 2:25 am

This looks os good. I am diabetic. Could it be made with maple syrup or honey?
- Judith Hanneman says
  March 27, 2016 at 4:02 am
  
  This should taste great with maple syrup–that would be my choice over honey personally. My sister’s husband is diabetic and she uses a lot of agave. Maybe that’d be a good substitute too. I have never tasted it though, so I’d do maple syrup.
Chantal says
April 20, 2016 at 4:29 am

This was SO easy and SO delicious! I added green beans, mushrooms, and garlic! Thanks so much!
- Judith Hanneman says
  April 20, 2016 at 4:55 pm
  
  So glad you like them Chantal! Delicious and easy is a winning combo in my book.
Winter says
April 28, 2016 at 9:16 pm

Could I use regular Italian dressing if I don’t have the dry packets?
- Judith Hanneman says
  April 28, 2016 at 10:15 pm
  
  It’d probably taste good, but it might not come out the same–meaning the glaze on the chicken. If you check my recipe for this casserole, I give a link in the recipe where you can make your own dry mix (for folks in Europe where it’s not available), and you probably have all the ingredients too! http://bakeatmidnite.com/italian-chicken-casserole/
Rachal Hughes says
May 13, 2016 at 2:18 am

I’m really excited about fixing this for my husband and I. Thanks for sharing!
Rachal Hughes
- Judith Hanneman says
  May 13, 2016 at 2:35 am
  
  It’s so easy!!! Hope you like it!
Brian says
May 18, 2016 at 1:40 am

OMG….great flavor…I precooked whole green beans in a steamer bag then put them in with the chicken the last few minutes of cooking time with casserole lid on. Had to use two recipes for the large chicken pieces we had. Super good and easy.
- Judith Hanneman says
  May 18, 2016 at 2:42 am
  
  Glad you liked it! I knew that green beans in it would be great–even though I didn’t make it with them. I just used some mushrooms that I had on hand that I almost forgot about.