54 Healthy Chicken Recipes To Keep in Your Back Pocket

When you need a family-friendly meal idea, chicken is always a winner. It’s incredibly versatile and pairs perfectly with just about any seasoning or spice blend. Plus, you can prep it advance and use it in a variety of ways: salads, grain bowls, tacos and more. Is there anything chicken can’t do? It should come as no surprise then, that chicken is a great choice when you want to put a healthy meal on the table, too. There are lots of ways to use this powerhouse protein but we can’t get enough of these homemade chicken fingers. The store-bought version is often loaded with all kinds of can’t-pronounce ingredients. This better-for-you take relies on simple ingredients—and is still freezer-friendly, making healthy eating that much easier.

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are perfect for rounding out a healthy meal but can easily overcook or end up slightly pale. To solve these issues, we press the chicken breasts under a foil-wrapped cast-iron skillet (or brick) which allows them to cook evenly and achieve a beautiful, deep golden-brown brown exterior that’s difficult to get without the skin. Serve with a simple pan sauce and a dilly bean salad for the win.

The chicken and broccoli you find at your favorite Chinese restaurant is usually covered in an intensely flavored brown sauce often based on oyster and soy sauces. This recipe showcases a milder but equally delicious Chinese white sauce that might be familiar to you from dishes like shrimp in lobster sauce. It’s clear and savory, thickened with a cornstarch slurry. This recipe also highlights the traditional Chinese technique of “velveting,” a marinating process that coats proteins to tenderize, lock in the juices and promote browning. We tested a variety of velveting processes that use egg, egg white and even just water. Our conclusion? Chicken covered in salt and water (similar to brining) then coated with cornstarch produced the best texture. We also eliminated the common step of boiling or deep-frying the chicken before stir-frying; a quick sear in the wok produced tender results. If velveting seems daunting, don’t let it be; it’s essentially a marinating process and takes just a few minutes of work and 30 minutes of hands-off time. And it’s worth it: Your velveted chicken will be juicy and tender with tons of savory flavor.