Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous Recipe

By Aggieskitchen

This week’s Craving Ellie in my Belly recipe was chosen by Marthe of Culinary Delights. I was really looking forward to making this dish because I absolutely love balsamic vinegar. Cooking with balsamic vinegar, especially adding it to tomatoes, really deepens the flavor and makes your food taste a lot more interesting.

Couscous is one of my favorite grains to have on a weeknight. It cooks up in no time and you can really change things up by adding different ingredients to it. I always try to cook my rice and couscous in chicken broth for additional flavor. For this dinner, I decided to add some chopped basil and pine nuts to the couscous after it was cooked up. Adding sun dried tomatoes to the couscous would pair up really nicely with this chicken dish too.

The only change I really made to the recipe is that I added the chicken back into the pan as the sauce reduced. The chicken absorbed a lot of the sauce and really kept moist because of it. I also decided to flour the chicken with seasoned whole wheat flour before sauteeing it. I always like how chicken turns out when it’s floured first, it adds a nice texture to the outside of the chicken.

Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and oregano
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 (8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved or pounded thin
• 8 ounces baby spinach
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 can Italian chopped tomatoes with juice
• 2 cups whole wheat couscous, cooked
• chopped basil and pine nuts, optional

Instructions:

1. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and heat. Dredge chicken in flour, shake off excess flour and add to pan. Add the chicken and cook about 4 minutes per side, or until cooked through and juices run clear. Remove the chicken and set aside. To the same pan, add the garlic and spinach and cook just until wilted, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside. Lower the heat to medium and add the balsamic vinegar and chicken broth to the pan and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove any browned bits. Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Add chicken back into sauce and cook 3 to 5 minutes until slightly thickened.
2. Add chopped basil and pine nuts to cooked couscous and fluff with a fork.
3. Top couscous with the spinach, chicken and balsamic-tomato sauce.

Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous Recipe 2022-02-19T21:41:00-08:00 Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: Admin