One-Pan Chicken and Rice

This is another favorite that I used to make often when my kids were young. It’s their favorite until today. It’s a great all-in-one.

Take 1 cup of rice (or more, depending on how many pieces of chicken you have) — I use round brown rice, but I’ve done it with basmati white rice and even plain white rice — and pour on the bottom of a pan. Place chicken pieces on top. Sprinkle generously with onion soup mix. If desired, sprinkle canned mushrooms on top. Add water proportionately to the rice.

Cover and bake for 1¾ hours, then uncover and bake another 15 minutes.

—Brynie Greisman, recipe columnist

Duck Sauce Chicken

Clean four chicken bottoms and place in a 9×13-inch (23×33-cm) pan. Smear with mayonnaise and sprinkle with cornflake crumbs. Cover pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour. Remove from oven and pour duck sauce on top. Bake for another hour, uncovered.

—Chaya Perel Nojowitz, graphics

Pressure-Cooker Chicken and Rice

I have an electric pressure cooker that I’m crazy about for quick suppers. (Think Family Table’s question: You forgot to defrost chicken for supper, now what?)

Throw in water, rice, some canned mushrooms, chicken (even frozen), and top the whole thing off with spices, whatever your family likes. Press start (I use the soup mode, which is about 25 minutes), and voila, supper in a half hour!

Just don’t forget to let the pressure cooker cool down before opening! Learned the hard way. 🙂

—Faigy Peritzman, columnist

Marinated Dark Meat Cutlets

My family has an aversion to chicken on the bone. And white meat. And anything fancy. So we make this chicken for Shabbos basically every week. (If a chicken recipe calls for more than five ingredients, it usually isn’t in my lineup anyway.)

• 2 lbs (910 g) dark meat cutlets
• 2 Tbsp olive or avocado oil
• 2 cubes frozen garlic, defrosted
• 2 cubes frozen dill, defrosted
• salt and pepper, to taste

Mix together oil and spices and marinate the cutlets. Preheat oven to broil.

Lay cutlets in an aluminum pan sprayed with cooking spray. Broil on one side for 8 minutes, then flip over and broil 5–10 minutes on the second side, until done (depending on the thickness of your cutlets).

—Chaia Frishman, columnist

Breaded Teriyaki Chicken

Here’s a recipe I adapted from Rivka Parizad’s Table for Two. The original calls for chicken cutlets, with instructions for frying, but I use bone-in chicken and bake it, and it comes out amazing, with half the effort!

• ¼ cup teriyaki sauce
• ¼ cup orange juice
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1 cup cornflake crumbs
• 3–4 chicken bottoms

Combine teriyaki sauce, orange juice, honey, and mustard. Marinate the chicken in the mixture for about an hour, if you have time. Place in a pan, sprinkle with cornflake crumbs, then cover and bake for about an hour and a half.

—Chaya Baila Lieber, copy editor

Honey-Mustard Chicken with a Twist

You know how sometimes there’s a recipe that the whole world makes and you’ve seen a million times, but then someone tells you about a simple addition, and suddenly, wow! That same old recipe is transformed? That’s what happened with this recipe.

The standard honey-mustard chicken is one part mustard to two parts honey, smeared on the chicken. But then I saw a cool addition: 1 tsp curry powder. That’s all it took to give the chicken a more pungent, Middle Eastern flavor with a deeper, richer color. Bake one hour covered and half an hour uncovered.

—Bassi Gruen, managing editor

Good Old-Fashioned Spiced Chicken

As boring as this may sound, my family’s all-time favorite chicken is a good old-fashioned, well-spiced piece of chicken. The trick to very flavorful chicken is not to skimp on the spices!

• sliced onion on the bottom of the pan
• chicken
• salt and pepper
• smoked paprika
• garlic powder
• pinch of cumin

Cover the chicken and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 2–3 hours.

—Chaya Suri Leitner, recipe contributor

“Pink” Chicken

When my kids where little, they loved my “pink” chicken. It’s salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika, and I’d rub it in with olive oil. They still ask me to make it. Simple and easy and definitely a go-to recipe.

—Naomi Nachman, columnist

Lemon Chicken

This is a simple, very tasty chicken recipe that freezes nicely.

• 1 chicken, cut in pieces
• beaten egg
• bread crumbs
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• ¼ cup sugar (I use demarara, which is light brown cane sugar)
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp pepper

Dip each piece in egg and bread crumbs. Bake in oven, uncovered, at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, mix together lemon juice, sugar, paprika, and pepper. Pour over the chicken and bake for another 40 minutes.

—Lori Friedman, administration

Cornflake Crumb Chicken

One of my favorite chicken recipes is seasoned chicken on the bone. Drizzle generously with Italian dressing. Coat with cornflake crumbs and bake uncovered for 1.5 hours at 350°F (175°C).

—Rivky Kleiman, recipe columnist

Oven BBQ Chicken

This is the recipe that I go straight to on the weeks I have no time to think. (Given to me by my sister. Thanks, Elisheva!)

• 1 chicken, whatever pieces you want
• 1 bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce

Lay the chicken pieces in a pan and bake for 45 minutes at 350°F (175°C), covered. Remove from the oven and cover (very generously) with barbecue sauce, then bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

—Devorah Cohen, graphics

Quick and Easy Cutlets

Obviously quick and easy cutlets means baking and not frying. Here’s a favorite adapted from Susie Fishbein’s Kosher by Design Teens and 20-Somethings cookbook. (Reproduced with permission of the copyright holders, ArtScroll / Mesorah Publications, Ltd.) Mix equal parts honey mustard and chrainnaise. Dip cutlets into the mixture and then into French-fried onions and bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 8 minutes on each side.

—Esti Vago, production

Just Chicken

This is really a technique and not a recipe, but the chicken comes out delicious and it uses no other ingredients! (Did I win?)

Take chicken pieces, leaving the skin on, and place in a Teflon or other nonstick large skillet. (This will not work in a stainless steel or aluminum pot, only nonstick.) Cover and turn the heat to medium-low. Do not add water or other liquid! (You can add spices, but it’s unnecessary — trust me.) The chicken will “fry” in its own fat and juices — the lower temperature the better; too high and it will burn.

Once the chicken looks cooked, the juices start to turn reddish-brown and get very thick. At this point, if you want to cook the chicken a little longer or flip the pieces, you can add a little water and watch it turn into a bubbly brown gravy. Let the gravy boil out until it thickens again. The chicken will get an incredible red-brown color and crispy skin, and it will taste amazing. (You can add the drippings, which are pretty salty, to mashed potatoes or rice for a yummy side.)

Note: This is best served fresh. Once it’s refrigerated, it loses some of that great barbecued flavor and gets a little tough.)

—Rachel Ginsburg, associate editor

Quick Shawarma Chicken

I love buying ready-made shawarma chicken from my butcher, but it’s not always available. The last time I wanted to make it, I cut dark meat chicken cutlets into small pieces. Then I added a shawarma spice blend, mixed with Rivky Kleiman’s new chili lime spice. It was delicious, and the chili lime added an amazing kick!

—Chanie Nayman, food editor

Classic Schnitzel — My Take

Shnitzel is a classic and so easy. All you need are cutlets, eggs (I like to add almond milk and sweet and sour sauce to the eggs to give it a creamy flavor and a kick), and spices with bread crumbs. Fry, or bake for a healthier version.

—Zahava Alexander, production

#1 Chicken in My Home

Coat skinless chicken bottoms with 1 part mayo to 2 parts each of ketchup and Dijon mustard, cover with cornflake crumbs, and bake on 375°F (190°C) for about 1.5 hours.

(Trick to skin your chicken — pull it off with a paper towel — works amazing!)

—Hadas Stern, production

(Originally featured in Family Table, Issue 771)