28 Essential, Easy Chicken Recipes for Every Night of the Week (2024)

If you're ready to expand your culinary skills, you can't go wrong with any of these simple chicken recipes. Chicken is incredibly versatile, and there are beginner-friendly options for almost any kind of chicken dish, whether you're craving a classic like roast chicken, something indulgent like chicken wings, or something inventive like a chicken pizza.

While you may be used to fancy restaurant-quality chicken, don't let that scare you away from attempting one of these easy chicken recipes. Clear, step-by-step instructions will guide you through the whole cooking process and teach you staple techniques like how to bread chicken cutlets or how to spatchco*ck a chicken. Once you get a little practice, we hope you'll never have to stress over what to make for dinner again.

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Chicken Noodle Soup

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Homemade chicken noodle soup will warm your heart and your belly with a single bowl. This chicken noodle soup recipe calls for a whole chicken, which might seem like a lot of effort, but it also makes a whopping 12 servings, so you'll be slurping down savory chicken and tasty noodles for days.

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Crispy Honey Mustard Chicken With Fries

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Sometimes, you just need a crispy chicken dinner to satisfy your cravings. Here, skin-on chicken thighs are coated in honey mustard and panko before going into the oven. The chicken is paired with retro crinkly fries and a quick slaw for an easy dinner that comes together with 20 minutes of hands-on time.

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Chicken and Chard Dumpling Soup

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This fresh take on chicken soup recipes uses chewy gnocchi, tender chicken, and Swiss chard for a balanced meal in a single bowl. (Best of all, it's easy to make—only 30 minutes of hands-on time.)

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Southwestern Chicken Soup

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It's labeled a soup, but let's be honest: This is a real white chicken chili. It's got salsa verde for flavor and cannellini beans for weight, both main ingredients in any good white chicken chili recipe, plus cumin and green onions for extra taste.

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Instant Pot Chicken Pho

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If you're a fan of the Instant Pot, you likely already use it for almost everything, but trying something a little new with this Instant Pot chicken recipe. It'll give you all the pho flavors you know and love, but with less hands-on time.

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Miso Chicken Noodle Soup

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Dress up your classic, comforting chicken noodle soup recipe with a little miso. This recipe from Healthyish by Lindsay Maitland Hunt uses white miso paste, soy sauce, tofu, udon or soba noodles, and chicken (of course) for a soup that is savory and satisfying all at once.

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Grilled Pizza With Chicken and Peach

Chicken may not be the first topping that comes to mind when you think of pizza, but this summer chicken recipe proves that it's on the same level as mozzarella and peppers. Best of all, this recipe calls for rotisserie chicken, so you can spend more time focusing on the pizza and less cooking chicken.

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Zesty Chicken Salad

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For this chicken salad recipe, you'll poach chicken breasts—it's easier than you think—and mix it with dill pickles, mayonnaise, shallot, and more for a homemade chicken salad you can rely on for office lunches, picnics, and more.

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Grilled Chicken and Pepper Salad

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This easy chicken recipe has a salad base, but don't think that means it won't fill you up. Delicious marinated grilled chicken brings flavor and heft to the meal, and a homemade salad dressing means you can be certain this is a healthy dish.

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Almond-Crusted Chicken With Arugula Salad

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This easy weeknight chicken dish can be made quickly, but speed doesn't come at the expense of flavor: With almond flour and sesame seeds for flavor and crunch on the chicken breast cutlets and a customizable salad, this is sure to become a regular in your weekly meal rotation.

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Vietnamese-Inspired Chicken Patties

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Chicken may be the main ingredient in this recipe, but the vinaigrette is the star of the show. With fish sauce, sambal oelek, and chile, it dresses up the ground chicken meatballs and rice vermicelli noodle base nicely.

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Cherry-Bourbon Chicken Wings

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Make watching the game at home special with this irresistible chicken wings recipe. These wings are saucy, sweet, and sour, for a near-complete flavor palette in every bite. If you cook them on the grill, they'll even get a crispy, caramelized finish that will keep everyone coming back for more.

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Garlic-Parmesan Chicken Wings

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If you strongly believe that garlic makes everything better, this chicken wings recipe is for you. They're messy and delicious—everything wings should be—and can be cooked on the grill or in a broiler, depending on the cooking tools available for you.

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Chicken Enchiladas Verdes

Green salsa verde and Muenster cheese (or Monterey Jack, if you prefer) offer an alternative to the classic red enchilada sauce in this chicken enchiladas recipe. Mild and tangy, these enchiladas are sure to be a crowd favorite. Plus, they have corn in them, so you can serve them on their own as a full meal or add a side salad for an even more balanced meal.

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Zesty Chicken Enchiladas

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A homemade enchilada sauce takes this easy chicken enchiladas recipe from good to great. Using a rotisserie chicken instead of cooking your own saves you time and effort—so you can focus on the sauce—and the four-serving yield feeds the whole family.

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Slow-Cooker Creamy Chicken With Biscuits

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With this slow-cooker recipe, your cooker takes care of the chicken. When the chicken is almost ready, all you have to do is make some easy-drop biscuits, and then combine it all in a bowl. It'll taste amazing on night one and every night afterward, if you're meal-prepping.

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Chicken and Vegetable Potpie

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Potpie might be the pinnacle of comfort food. This chicken potpie recipe includes onions, carrots, and peas, so it's healthy, too, without sacrificing any of the rich flavor you know and love.

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Creamy Chicken and Corn Potpie

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All good chicken potpies are creamy, but this chicken potpie recipe might be the creamiest, thanks to the addition of corn chowder, which both introduces tasty corn and veggies to the dish and adds plenty of luscious creaminess.

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Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

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Consider this chicken recipe with an eight-serving yield, so you can enjoy an indulgent chicken and pasta dish for days to come or feed a crowd. You'll need your stovetop and broiler for this one, so it's more suited to fall and winter than summer, but it's a dish you'll love in any season.

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Crunchy Baked Chicken With Ham and Swiss

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Baked chicken gets a fresh update with this quick, easy chicken recipe, which bakes chicken cutlets with a rich thyme-and-Swiss cheese sauce topped with prosciutto and breadcrumbs. Mouth watering yet? We've got great news: It's all ready in 30 minutes, too.

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Baked Chicken Parmesan

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Skip the breading step—easily the most challenging part of making chicken parmesan—with our clever baked chicken parmesan recipe, which layers those beloved chicken parm ingredients and bakes them for a still-satisfying (but easier) dish.

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Slow-Roasted Lemon and Herb Chicken

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This easy roast chicken recipe is sure to impress a crowd—but the secret is that it's incredibly easy to make. Foolproof, juicy, and well-seasoned, this is sure to be your new go-to roast chicken dish.

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Spatchco*cked Buffalo Chicken

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You don't need to know how to spatchco*ck chicken before you start this recipe—it's easier than you think, and you'll learn in the process. The finished product is tender with a kick, thanks to a hot sauce marinade, and when you serve it with a wax bean and celery salad on the side, it's a full chicken meal.

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Crispy Chicken With Roasted Radishes

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It sounds fancy and intensive, but this chicken recipe is actually incredibly easy—and all it takes is one pot. It's a chicken thigh recipe that is delightfully crispy and juicy, with roasted red onion and radish on the side—and some toasted baguette to soak up any extra sauces.

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Shawarma-Spiced Chicken Thighs

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Enjoy robust Middle Eastern flavors at home with this completely doable chicken thigh recipe. A delicious blend of spices brings the flavor, and the dish is served with a fresh tomato salad on the side.

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Crispy Chicken Cutlets With Artichoke Dressing

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This easy chicken recipe will have you serving a delicious chicken dinner in less than 30 minutes. The chicken cutlets are amazingly crispy, and the accompanying lemony dressing brings those just-right extra flavors to the meal. With fresh asparagus for the all-important vegetable, it's everything you want from a weeknight dinner.

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Slow-Cooker Curried Chicken With Ginger and Yogurt

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Put your slow-cooker to work with this easy chicken recipe. Cumin, curry powder, and fresh ginger bring the delicious curried taste, and when you set your slow-cooker up before work, you can come home for a ready-to-eat meal that the whole family will love.

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Teriyaki Chicken

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Make your favorite restaurant dish at home with this teriyaki chicken recipe. All you need is chicken and some teriyaki sauce—we'll teach you the rest.

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28 Essential, Easy Chicken Recipes for Every Night of the Week (2024)

FAQs

What is the least fattening way to cook chicken? ›

Poached Chicken

Poaching food involves cooking it in a simmering liquid. Poaching is great because it adds virtually no fat to your food, yet yields subtle flavour and moisture.

What is the best cooking method for chicken? ›

What Is The Best Way To Cook A Chicken Breast? Cooking a boneless and skinless chicken breast in a hot cast iron pan is by far the easiest and most tasty way to cook the breast. You are far less likely to overcook the chicken breast compared to baking it in the oven or poaching it in water.

What is the best oil to cook chicken in for weight loss? ›

Cooking chicken in avocado oil is a good idea since it is rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals and essential fatty acids. A plus point is that it does not have strong flavours but a nutty and grassy taste that does not kill the natural aroma of other ingredients.

What is the best chicken to eat to lose weight? ›

The chicken breast is lean and has the most protein by weight, making it ideal for people who want to lose weight, maintain muscle mass and improve recovery. Fattier cuts like the thigh, drumstick and wings have more calories, which make them better for people wanting to build muscle or gain weight.

Is it better to bake chicken at 350 or 400? ›

Given the fact that drumsticks and thighs are dark meat and won't dry out as easily as breasts, the range from 350 to 450 degrees is okay for baking them. 350 to 375 is generally best for breasts.

Is it better to bake or pan fry chicken breast? ›

While both baking and pan frying can give you tasty, juicy chicken, if you are in a hurry, it is better to pan fry it. Because baked chicken breast is easy to dry out, it needs time to brine or marinade before you cook it.

What is the secret to cooking chicken? ›

Never cook it cold. By allowing chicken breast to come to room temperature, you'll ensure it cooks more evenly once it hits the pan.

What is the general rule for cooking chicken? ›

Baste the chicken during cooking, by spooning the juices over the bird. The general rule of thumb for cooking any large piece of meat is to cook it for 20 minutes for every 454g/1lb weight, in an oven pre-heated at 180oC/350oF/Gas Mark 4, and allow another 20 minutes for all juice to run clear.

What's the best way to cook chicken without drying it out? ›

Make sure your chicken breast is well-seasoned before adding it to the pan. Cook each side evenly until brown. Once done, bake the chicken breast in a pre-heated oven until juices run clear. The crispy skin from the sear will help keep juices intact while baking cooks the insides through without drying them out.

How can I eat chicken without getting fat? ›

Also, consider stir-frying or pan-frying your chicken instead of frying it in high-fat oil. That will give you proteins without increasing fats in your diet. Use low-fat marinades to keep the chicken moist and tender while it is cooking and add healthy flavor to your dish.

Which is healthier, roasted or grilled chicken? ›

Roasted chicken is a better option because it has lower saturated fats and cholesterol. It's also packed with protein, vitamin B12 and iron. If you're looking to increase protein in your diet, roasted chicken is an excellent source.

Can I eat cooked chicken for weight loss? ›

Including chicken in your diet can aid weight loss as it is high in protein and nutrients while low in calories. However, avoiding fried and processed options is essential and opt for organic, natural chicken. A nutritious diet, regular exercise, and balanced protein intake are crucial for effective weight loss.

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