Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach

We just came off a big food weekend, having gone down to Florida for the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival.  The Husband & I had a blast - and definitely over-indulged in both food and wine (beer & cocktails too)! So, I wanted to make a very "clean" meal for our first night back home. I was trying to think of something easy, but with some super foods and I remembered I had this Ellie Krieger recipe bookmarked.


Both Hubby & I enjoyed this meal.  It's very simple and healthy and it tastes as such.  It's not as flavor packed as some of the other dishes we are used to, but it is very fresh and I think it makes a good weeknight meal.

I read through almost all of the reviews of this recipe on the Food Network, and I saw that the common theme was that though most really liked the dish, they felt the chicken lacked flavor.  To me, there's a simple solution for that - seasoning the chicken breasts before adding them to the pan.  So I seasoned mine with sea salt, pepper and a tad of garlic powder before cooking them. In addition, I added a pinch of crushed red pepper to the balsamic tomato sauce.

I also saw that quite a few people complained of the garlic burning early on in the recipe, so I waited to saute my garlic prior to adding the spinach, but after cooking the chicken.

Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 (8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved
8 ounces baby spinach
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup low-sodium canned chopped tomatoes with juice
2 cups whole wheat couscous, cooked
sea salt, to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste
garlic powder, to taste
crushed red pepper, to taste
 
Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and heat. While the pan is heating, season the chicken with sea salt, pepper & garlic powder. Add the chicken and cook about 4 minutes per side, or until cooked through and juices run clear. Remove the chicken and set aside.
 
To the same pan, add the garlic and saute for 30 - 45 seconds, just until fragrant. Add the spinach and cook just until wilted, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside. Lower the heat to medium and add the balsamic vinegar and chicken broth to the pan and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove any browned bits. Add the tomatoes and a generous pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. Bring to a simmer and cook 3 to 5 minutes, until sauce thickens.

Place the couscous in a serving bowl. Top with the spinach, chicken and balsamic-tomato sauce.

Comments

  1. I made this quite a while ago and remember really liking it. It was one of the first recipes I made after joining the blog group Craving Ellie in my Belly. If you enjoy Ellie recipes, you might consider joining the group :)

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  2. This was the first recipe I ever made from your blog as well! I love it an agree that it is a wonderful and healthy weeknight meal to make. I love all of the colors

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  3. Liz- thanks for the suggestion, I think I might actually do that because I really like her recipes!

    Brittany, so glad you got to try a recipe & that you loved it!

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