Caprese Chicken and Pasta

Caprese Salad is an Italian salad made with slices of ripe tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves. It is drizzled with balsamic vinegar and seasoning with salt and olive oil. Simple and so delicious. When arranged on the plate, it is beautiful and has the same colors as the Italian flag…red, white and green. If you love Caprese Salad like I do, you will love this chicken recipe using the same ingredients. My Caprese Chicken and Pasta uses chicken thighs instead of white meat and a squeeze of lemon at the end to give it a bright, vibrant flavor. My family loves it…and so will yours!

It is easy to fall into a pattern of making the same meals over and over. So, it is always a challenge to break out of those habits and try something new. This recipe sprang from my desire to serve a new chicken dish to my family. And I’m happy to say, EVERYONE loved this simple, tasty Caprese Chicken!

Caprese Chicken

• 4 boneless chicken thighs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup finely crushed crackers
• garlic salt
• Italian Seasoning
• 2 tbsp. olive oil for frying
• 4 oz. fresh mozzarella
• 8 fresh basil leaves, chopped fine
• 16 grape tomatoes, quartered (about 1/2 cup)
• 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• salt and pepper
• fresh lemon juice

How to make Caprese Chicken?

• Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of a large skillet over medium high heat. Flatten each chicken thigh and season with garlic salt. Add the flour and the crushed crackers to a large plastic bag and mix well. Put one thigh at a time in the bag and coat with the flour and cracker mixture. Remove it from the plastic bag and place it in the skillet. Repeat until all chicken pieces are in the pan.

• You are not trying to create a crust on the chicken, just giving it another layer of flavor and making it golden brown. Turn the chicken and sprinkle each piece with Italian seasoning.

• Place the chicken in a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and slice some fresh mozzarella for each piece of chicken. Fresh mozzarella comes in a ball, not shredded, and can be found in the deli section of your grocery store with other cheeses. It is so good.

• Place a thick slice of mozzarella on each piece of chicken. Looking good!
• In a small bowl, mix the chopped basil, olive oil, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Allow this mixture to sit for a few minutes. Then spoon some of the mixture on top of each piece of mozzarella. Make sure to drizzle the remaining oil and vinegar in the bottom of the bowl over each piece of chicken.

• Bake the chicken for another 10 minutes at 350 degrees until the mozzarella is melted and the tomatoes are soft. While the chicken is baking, boil your spaghetti or a pasta of your choice. Drain the pasta and add some olive oil and salt. Before serving the chicken, squeeze some fresh lemon juice over each piece.

Serve the chicken with thin spaghetti and a romaine salad with cucumbers. So delicious! Hope your family enjoys it as much as we did.