Cheesy Chicken

This goes really well with corn, peas, fried squash, rolls, and/or mashed potatoes. Also, sorry, this is kind of wordy. Cheesy Chicken (plan about 1.75 – 2 hrs for first time, 1.5 – 1.75 thereafter)

Ingredients: 

 4 – 6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts* 

2 – 5 garlic cloves, minced (this depends purely on your garlic preferences) 

½ c. butter 

1 c. bread crumbs 

¼ c. parmesan cheese (the powdered kind) 

½ tsp. salt 

1/8 tsp. pepper 

½ c. sharp cheddar cheese (shredded) 

Directions: 

On low heat, melt butter. Add garlic. Cook for a little at low heat. Take off heat and let sit for 30 mins. 

Pre-heat oven to 350. 

Get out a 9 x 13 pan (or roughly that size) Put into large ziplock bag: bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. 

 

Chicken breasts: Trim the fat. Now, the big thing with this is to get a good coating of the bread crumb stuff – this is pretty messy. Make sure the breasts are as wide open on the underneath as you can get and then coat both sides with the butter/garlic. Let the excess drain for a minute and then put the breast in the ziplock bag. Shake the bag. 

Get all of it covered with the crumb mixture. Pull the chicken breast out and with the “top” (meaning the smooth part of the breast) in your palm, place some grated cheddar cheese and more topping (maybe a... 1 tsp) on the center line of the underneath. Now, “wrap” the chicken around this center line so the cheese and crumb topping are enclosed. Place it into the pan. Repeat this for each chicken breast. Supplies may get low, but should last you for five breasts. If there is excess crumb mix and/or butter. Just pour it onto the breasts in the pan. 

Put a thin layer of shredded cheddar cheese on it. Now slide it in the oven for about... 30-40 minutes. The more crammed the chicken breasts are in the pan, the longer it will take, so the big pan should give sufficient room to allow for a low cooking time.

*We have adjusted this recipe to make chicken nuggets! So, we cut down the chicken breast to nugget sized pieces - you decide what that means for you - and then coat them with the garlic butter and crumb mix. (You might need to double the butter/garlic amount if you're like me and love the stuff.) 

Toss the pieces into one or two casserole dishes for cooking and drizzle them with the extra garlic butter and crumb mixtures. You can sprinkle the cheddar cheese on the nuggets from the get go or about 20 minutes into the cooking if you have any concerns about the cheese getting a bit too crispy. 

Just a fun change up that works well, makes the cooking time a bit more even as full chicken breasts can vary a lot in size, and kids enjoy the smaller size. Also, let's be honest, more surface area of that yummy garlic, bread crumb taste is a definite win!