Swiss-Kissed Chicken Breasts
Swiss-Kissed Chicken Breasts
Swiss-Kissed Chicken Breasts came about one day when I was looking for something to do with chicken breasts, but nothing that would be too labor intensive. A few simple ingredients would suffice, as long as the flavor was good. I also had some cheese knocking around in the refrigerator that I wanted to use for something before it ended up in Cheese Heaven.
This recipe is really easy and quick. It has cheese, so that does add some extra calories. The oil used in the recipe was minimal so at least that reduced some of the calories. The flavor of this recipe turned out to be most excellent! It may not be all that original but it makes a fine meal.
If you're having guests for dinner and you have a lot of dishes to prepare, I recommended this dish because it's so quick. You can use the time you saved to make a great appetizer or a scrumptious dessert for your family and friends.
Ingredients
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 4 ounces onion (sliced into half-rings, 1/4" thick)
- 4 ounces bell pepper (sliced into 1/4" strips)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 Swiss cheese slices (or 1/2 cup grated)
- Salt and pepper to your taste
- Cooking oil spray as needed
- 1-2 Tablespoons cooking oil (veggie, corn, canola, olive, etc.)
- 1/4 cup stock or white wine, optional
Instructions
- Assemble all ingredients & kitchen tools. Recommended equipment: 8"-10" frying pan, small baking dish with lid (8x8x2 is a good size), cutting board, chef's knife, spatula, kitchen scale, bowls. Set oven to pre-heat at 350 degrees.
- Heat frying pan (medium to medium-high), add cooking oil. Saute the onions and bell pepper on medium heat for about 5 minutes, then add the minced garlic and saute for about a minute.
- In the same pan used to saute the veggies, sear chicken breasts for 3 minutes on each side. You don't have to go nuts, just get a little brown on them (see pic below). Season to your taste with salt and pepper.
- Coat baking dish with cooking spray. Put the browned breasts in the baking dish, presentation side up (see note in Additional Tips).
- Divide the onion/bell pepper mixture evenly between the two breasts. You can top the breasts with cheese now, or wait until the last five minutes of baking, or both. It's your choice. Cover the baking dish & bake the breasts at 350 for 15-20 minutes (when internal temperature reaches 165 degrees).
- This is an optional step: use the stock or wine to deglaze the frying pan and add the liquid to the baking dish before baking.
- Enjoy your Swiss-Kissed Chicken Breasts!
Additional Tips for this Recipe
Presentation side up means the solid side of the chicken breast, which doesn't have the breast tenderloin, should be facing up. The tenderloin is the little piece on the breast that sometimes becomes detached from whole breasts. It has a little white piece of sinew attached to it.
Although the presentation side will be covered with vegetables and cheese, it's a good idea to get into the habit of placing it that way for your chicken breast dishes. It makes your food look more uniform and professional.
***Please note: The white bowls used to hold the raw chicken and the veggies were 2 entirely different bowls. I have to mention this because it's important to prevent cross-contamination from occurring in your kitchen.
Serve Swiss-Kissed Chicken Breasts with Alien Pod Salad
- Alien Pod Salad from Planet X
Alien Pod Salad is so ugly--but the taste is so good! This is what happens when I'm mucking about in the kitchen. We needed a salad, but we were out of lettuce. We did have some red cabbage, though, so I decided to use a combination I had never used.