This is my favorite chicken marinade to date. It makes the chicken equally delicious caramelized on the grill as it is tender out of the oven. Using this recipe in the oven is as easy as throwing all the ingredients in a bag with the chicken, letting it sit for an hour, and then dumping it all into a 9×13 pan to bake.

The best part is that the marinade, after being baked with the chicken, turns into a delicious balsamic “gravy” for your potatoes, vegetables and anything else you’re serving with dinner. I put gravy in quotes because it’s not as heavy or thick as a traditional gravy rendered from fat would be; it’s thinner and lighter, but equally as cravable.

Another bonus about baking the chicken in it’s own marinade is that it’s basically a fool proof way to get juicy, tender chicken every time. I haven’t had this chicken dry out on me a single time. With only 5-10 minutes of active prep time, I’m calling this chicken bake a weeknight winner.

Print Recipe

Balsamic Chicken Bake

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

30 minutes

Passive Time

1 hour

Servings

people

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar $0.33
• 2 tbsp brown sugar $0.05
• 2 tbsp olive oil $0.16
• 2 tbsp soy sauce, low sodium $0.12
• 1 tbsp minced garlic $0.06
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce $0.08
• 1 tbsp lemon juice $0.14
• 1 tbsp spicy brown or dijon mustard $0.02
• 1 tsp ground rosemary (leaves are also fine, I just prefer the texture of ground) $0.14
• 1 tsp poultry seasoning $0.25
• 1/2 tsp salt $0.01
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper $0.01
• 6 chicken breasts $9.37

Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 30 minutes Passive Time 1 hour Servings people Ingredients 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar $0.33 2 tbsp brown sugar $0.05 2 tbsp olive oil $0.16 2 tbsp soy sauce, low sodium $0.12 1 tbsp minced garlic $0.06 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce $0.08 1 tbsp lemon juice $0.14 1 tbsp spicy brown or dijon mustard $0.02 1 tsp ground rosemary (leaves are also fine, I just prefer the texture of ground) $0.14 1 tsp poultry seasoning $0.25 1/2 tsp salt $0.01 1/2 tsp ground black pepper $0.01 6 chicken breasts $9.37

Instructions

1. Combine all the ingredients (except for the chicken) into a small bowl and whisk together.
2. Place your raw chicken into a gallon ziplock bag and pour the marinade in. Seal the bag and lay it flat on a cookie sheet or plate in the fridge for one hour, flipping the bag over after 30 minutes.
3. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Pour the chicken and marinade into a 9x13 pan (no need to spray it) and bake it in the oven for 30 - 35 minutes depending on the size of your chicken breasts. Once the internal temperature of the largest chicken breast reaches 165 degrees F they're done.

Freezer instructions

1. Label a gallon sized bag with "Balsamic Chicken Bake" and an expiration date for three months out Then write these instructions: 1. Thaw marinade and chicken 2. combine chicken and marinade into this bag, marinade for 1 hour 3. preheat oven to 350 4. pour everything into a 9x13 pan and bake for 30-35 minutes
2. Make the marinade and pour it into a quart sized or smaller freezer bag and put that bag into the larger freezer bag that you previously labeled. Add 6 frozen chicken breasts to the gallon bag with the separated marinade and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.
3. I use pre-frozen chicken for my freezer meals because they're less likely to freeze together into a giant chicken brick. You may freeze raw, unfrozen chicken in the bag, however, they will all stick together and thawing will be a nightmare.
4. *** You may want to note that there are several ways of thawing frozen food. For the marinade, I recommend thawing it under lukewarm running water until completely thawed. For the chicken, you can put it in the fridge for at least 24 hours (which takes a bit of planning ahead), or you can thaw it in the microwave (which takes no planning). Some people don't like to thaw chicken in the microwave because they say it makes the chicken tougher and they don't want to risk semi cooking the edges. However, I've never thawed chicken in the microwave and gotten subpar results. It takes zero planning ahead and that's honestly how I prepare most of my poultry. Just cut off any precooked edges from the microwave before marinating. If you REALLY don't like the idea of the microwave and you didn't put the chicken in the fridge ahead of time, you can submerge the frozen chicken (while it's sealed in the freezer bag) into cool water, changing out the water as the chicken makes it "too cold" to actually keep the thawing process going. This will take around 30-45 minutes.

Recipe Notes

Serving size: 1 piece of chicken

Servings: 6

Price for dish: $10.74

Price per serving: $1.79

Nutrition per piece of chicken (about 6 oz):

Calories: 192

Carbs: 1.1 g

Protein: 36 g

Fats: 5.2 g

Sodium: 283 mg

Fiber: 0g

Sugar: 1 g

Nutrition per tablespoon of sauce:

Calories: 32

Carbs: 4.9 g

Protein: 0.1 g

Fats: 1.4 g

Sodium: 82.8 mg

Fiber: 0g

Sugar: 4.3 g

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