You hear me talk about “elevated chicken” a lot. That’s because it’s our go-to quick, easy, low calorie meal that makes us feel like we’re eating gourmet.

The idea is to take one chicken breast (cut in two), add one potato (half each), some kind of veggie, and a different sauce each time. Presentation is vital to get that “elevated gourmet” appearance but the ingredients are essentially the same each time, making it easy to stay well under 400 calories per meal.

This recipe serves 2. The sauce you mix is entirely up to you, as are the plating condiments.

INGREDIENTS

1 chicken breast
1 white potato (peeled)
1 cup of vegetable (corn, peas, broccoli, carrots, combo of these)
1 each red, yellow, and green mini pepper, cored and diced.
1 medium onion, diced
1 tbsp garlic diced
2 cups chicken stock (substitute water if you prefer)
1 tbsp olive oil

For this particular recipe, I used the following. But you can change up any of the sauce ingredients as long as you use plain yogurt as a base, it will always work.

2 tbsp plain Greek yogurt
1 tbsn french dressing  (any gourmet brand dressing will work)
1 tbsp Kraft mustard dressing (any regular salad dressing will work)
salt and pepper to taste
1//2 tsp each of dried basil, thyme, rosemary
1 tbs beet condiment
1 tbs pesto
balsamic glaze

METHOD

1. Put chicken breast in a 10″ skillet and cover with broth. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 min.
2. prepare potatoes as you like (mashed, sauteed, broiled, or baked)
3. While chicken is cooking, saute onion, garlic, and peppers (if using). Cook other veggies as you wish. Once onion is golden, push to one side of the skillet. Add the oil to the other side of the pan.
4. Add the sauce ingredients to a small pot and slowly warm up, stirring occasionally.
5. When chicken is cooked, use tongs to hold it as you cut it in half. Place both halves in the skillet and cover with the onion mix. Cook for 4 minutes, then push onion mix off the breasts, flip them over, and saute the other side. Place the onion mix back on top of the chicken. You’re looking for a nice browning on the skin. Don’t cook too long as chicken will dry, defeating the purpose of broiling in the first place.

Place a zig-zag of balsamic glaze on the plate. If potatoes are mashed or sliced, place them on top of the glaze in the center of the plate. Place one chicken half atop. Surround the chicken with veggies (or baked/broiled potato). Pour half of the sauce over the chicken and let it drip all over into the veggies.

Place a dollop of both beet condiment (or similar), and pesto together, and using the back of a spoon, spread it along the edge of the plate. You can add garnish (parsley, tomato slice, tiny portions of feta cheese, etc.) Serve immediately.