This Balsamic Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce is a tasty, simple weeknight dinner option. Make ahead and eat the rest of the week.
Happy Friday, friends!
I’m so excited to be sharing this recipe today – this recipe was originally published on TBB two whole years ago! Two WHOLE years, as opposed to two half years which would be, one WHOLE year. Sorry, off track. But really, I remember making this recipe and being ridiculously stoked about it. My cooking skills and creativity have certainly improved through years of practice (and, I still have a long way to go), but I remember being so impressed with myself for this recipe in my tiny, dark, Gainesville kitchen.
As food bloggers, we all start somewhere. We grab inspiration from other recipes, we scrounge Pinterest for ideas or search foodgawker for influence. Even now, when I have an idea in my head of something I want to make, or an ingredient I want to use, I often look to the internet for a little motivation. I set parameters for my cooking, I have a plan each time I’m in the kitchen making something for TBB. But this recipe, this was probably the very first TBB recipe that I totally pulled out of my own brain, on a whim. I do this often now, however back then, this was pretty unheard of.
I remember it was a Sunday. I was preparing my food for the week, and I did a little experimenting. Of course, I wrote nothing down, in true newbie fashion. The premier recipe had ZERO measurements. What was I thinking?! Sorry to anyone who tried to make this without any measurements… sheesh.
I remember trying to make a sauce with the sun-dried tomatoes that I’d chopped up. I cooked up the sauce, but it wasn’t to my liking. The texture was way off. So I thought, “I’ll blend it up”. I poured it into my blender, and it was exactly what it needed. At that point, I was borderline pretending I was a contestant on Chopped. “5 MINUTES LEFT!!!” … “SH*T!!”
I took photos of my prized meal, and ate it right up. The next day, I met my trainer at work (I was in the training phase of my field sales job) and showed him the photo of my food from the previous night. “Wow, you made that? Looks great!” he said, as if he were speaking to a child who had just drawn a hideous picture with all their might. I was proud of my chicken, you guys. So. Proud.
And still, this chicken just might be my favorite. I have to hand it to the sauce. Sun-dried tomatoes have such a strong, pronounced flavor and they take over the limelight, in the best way.
This sauce pairs wonderfully with this juicy chicken, however I would put it on basically anything. I’m talking an. y. thing. It’s that good.
Speaking of Chopped…
After placing this skillet in the oven for the allotted time, I pulled it out with two oven mitts. I’d placed it in the oven with the skillet top, so it was covered. I placed it back on the stove, and walked away for a minute. I came back, and grabbed the top handle to uncover it, only to realize that it had just been removed from a 400 degree oven about two minutes prior. *face palm*
I’ve had my fair share of knife cuts in the kitchen, a pretty normal occurrence. I’ve had a few burns here and there, I simply shake it off, it’s usually not that bad. But this? This was on the inside of my fingers, which I swear is more sensitive, or thin-skinned, than the rest of your body. I have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about… but I mean, I chopped part of the tip of my pinkie off while chopping a sweet potato in college, and it STILL hurts (due to nerve endings, I suppose?). These burns hurt for five hours straight, I couldn’t help but wonder how chefs in restaurant kitchens keep going through this pain. Hats off to them.
Welp, I shot this entire recipe with one hand, and that hand being my left hand. I am so NOT ambidextrous, you should have seen me. You know when you paint your nails and your right hand turns out a little worse than your left, because you’re right-handed, or vice versa… yeah my right hand turns out HEINOUS every time.
Traumatic kitchen experiences and crippled photoshoots aside, this recipe came out exactly as I wanted!
It’s…
Juicy
Tangy
Tender
Bold
- [b]Chicken:[/b]
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/4 cup red wine
- [b]Sauce:[/b]
- 1 1/2 cups sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 tbsp dried basil
- 1/2 cup white or red wine
- 1 large clove (or 2 small) of garlic, minced
- Combine 1/4 cup EVOO, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper in a liquid measuring cup and whisk together.
- Add chicken breasts to a Ziploc bag or Tupperware. Pour in marinade and make sure each breast is covered. Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Add 1 tbsp of EVOO to a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat.
- Add chicken breasts with red wine and cook for about 8 minutes on each side, or until chicken is completely browned (but not cooked through).
- Place skillet in oven and bake chicken for 10 minutes.
- While chicken is in the oven, add 1 tbsp EVOO to a small sauce pan over medium heat.
- Add in minced garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, and wine. Stir until boiling, then move heat to a simmer. Cook for about 5-8 minutes.
- Place sauce mixture into a bullet or blender. Wait until it’s cooled a bit then blend to make sauce puree.
- Remove chicken skillet from oven and place back on the stove over low heat.
- Pour sauce onto chicken and combine everything together. Sprinkle with one more pinch of salt (~1/8 tsp) and enjoy!
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Join the conversation:
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Honestly…I LOVE my Mom’s homemade Italian sauce with meatballs and spicy sausage! THE BEST! Happy Friday friend!
Ummm winner, winner, chicken dinner with this recipe!! That sundried tomato sauce might have to be my new fave. I’ve actually never “wounded” myself in the kitchen before, but I’ve definitely burned my fingers on hot baking pans several times.
Wow, this was an intense recipe to develop; I’m glad that you were still able to shoot the recipe; and I’ll be praying for healing for your hand. That sounds painful; I’ve done that before, and it’s really not fun.
I would totally pair this with pasta too cause I’m just a carb loving gal.
Balsamic chicken + sundried tomatoes sound so good! Never had any major wounds, have dropped a couple of knives very close to my food though! Hope you’re enjoying your vacation!
I would like to try this recipe but I’m puzzled about something: I’m assuming that the marinade (oil, vinegar, salt & pepper) should be discarded. Or should that be added to the sauce.? Sorry, there is no mention on what to do with the marinade in the instructions.
Wow such a great recipe ! Thanks christina for beautifully explaining it.
This is a yummy recipe and looks good. I’m not a fan of tomatoes as well and prefer to use them less for cooking.