Easy Baked Chicken Caprese
This chicken is easy to make and so delicious. It’s well under 500 calories and it certainly doesn’t taste like it! If you’re trying to impress your partner with minimal effort because we’re all tired, give it a whirl!
Easy Baked Chicken Caprese
If you're wondering what "caprese" is, it's an Italian appetizer which consists of sweet juicy tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil. It's usually seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil but it also pairs beautifully with a balsamic vinaigrette or reduction. I love this chicken so much. It's easy, cheesy, breezy baby. For this particular recipe, I like to brown the chicken a bit before baking to give it that nice deep brown crust. I used chicken breasts but this would also be extremely delicious with thighs. I strongly recommend pairing this with with my "Lemon Parmesan Angel Hair"!
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken Breasts
- 2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 tsp Dried Basil
- 1 tsp Dried Oregano
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 8 oz Fresh Mozzarella
- 6 oz Roma Tomatoes or Cherry Tomatoes
- Fresh Basil Leaves for garnish
- 2 tbsp Balsamic Reduction Trader Joes has a great one!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Cut each chicken breast in half and pat dry with paper towel. Season with your oregano, basil, salt and pepper.
- Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over a pan on medium high heat. Add your chicken.
- Sear your chicken for about 3 minutes and add in your balsamic vinegar. Let it cook for another minute and flip it over. Sear for another 4 minutes.
- Transfer the chicken and juices to a baking dish. If you opted for cherry tomatoes, add them to the pan in whole pieces. Bake for 30 minutes. If you opted for sliced roma tomato, bake without the tomato for 20 minutes and then add the tomato and cook for another 10 minutes. Once either option has completed the 30 minutes, take chicken out and add mozzarella slices on top of each chunk. Bake for another 5 minutes or until cheese is fully melted.
- Remove from the oven and garnish each piece of chicken with fresh basil. Drizzle the balsamic reduction over and enjoy.