Chicken Caprese

After a hectic day of work, followed by some tub-scrubbin', laundry and vacuuming, and then my weekly trip to the food store, it was 8:30pm and I still needed to make dinner! 


I usually try to keep weeknight dinner prep down to 30 minutes, tops. But tonight, 15 minutes was all I could manage before turing Mean Hungry (verb: when you are so incredibly hungry that you snap at men, women, children, small animals and inanimate objects for so much as being in your line of vision).


So, born out of necessity is the 15-minute-wonder, Chicken Caprese. A super simple, incredibly fresh and delightfully healthy and satisfying meal in minutes!

Chicken Caprese

Serves 2

1 chicken breast

2 beefsteak tomatoes

4 large basil leaves

6 slices fresh mozarella cheese

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

1. Slice chicken breast as if you were butterflying it, but cut all the way through to create two thin paillards.  Note: if you've never butterflied a chicken breast, check out this easy to follow video.

2. If the paillards are very thin after butterflying, skip this next step. I used a very large chicken breast, so after slicing into two pieces, cover the breasts in plastic wrap and pound until desired thinness. Salt and pepper both sides of chicken.

3. Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, add chicken. Brown each side, turning once, approximately 4 minutes per side.

4. While chicken is cooking, slice tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices. You will need 3 tomato slices for each paillard. Slice the mozzarella just slightly thinner. You will need enough to cover each piece of chicken.

5. Once chicken is cooked, top with mozarella, basil and tomatoes. Drizzle top with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Note: tomatoes can take a lot of salt, so season liberally.

To round out the meal, I served the Chicken Caprese with brown rice seasoned with fresh basil, a little olive oil and salt and pepper. So easy!