Balsamic Basil marinated chicken thighs: quick delicious MACRO FRIENDLY
Do you need a super clean dinner that is painlessly easy to make? Look no further than these Balsamic Basil Marinated Chicken Thighs. Open your pantry and you are good to go! Dinner doesn’t need to be complex and you can EAT GOOD and EAT HEALTHY.
A weight loss journey changes everything about how you cook. For the better BY FAR! Whether you rock the one pot casserole game or have no idea how to cook meat, when you start tracking what you eat, keeping things separate and simple MATTERS.
Keeping things simple is a GAME CHANGER for how much time you spend in the kitchen and how you go about cooking and food prepping. The time and effort saved on all fronts will continue to snowball into a greater freedom in your time and mental space!
What are Balsamic Basil Marinated Chicken Thighs?
Balsamic Basil Chicken Thighs are nice enough to serve to guests and so simple and brainless, using pantry staples, that you can have it waiting for you when you get home on days you don’t have much time.
Why Balsamic Basil Marinated Chicken Thighs?
Marinating in vinegar tenderizes the meat to make it mouth watering and delicious.
Oil is NOT REQUIRED in this marinade! If you know you know, that that oil content is really upping your calories and can prevent or stall your weight loss.
You only need 3 ingredients (minus salt and pepper!) and most of them are shelf stable items you’ll have in your pantry!
only 3 Ingredients for balsamic basil chicken thighs
-Balsamic Vinegar
-Dried Basil
-1.5 – 2 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs (This was barely enough for my family of 3 – so double or triple as necessary)
Step by Step Instructions:
1. Prepare your chicken
Remove any excess fat from the chicken thighs, if desired. Kitchen scissors are the easiest way to do this, but you can use a knife and cutting board as well.
2. Pour balsamic vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper (if desired) into the bag.
3. Remove any excess fat from the chicken thighs
This so easy with kitchen scissors, but you can use a knife and cutting board as well.
4. Place chicken in your marinating container
I always use a gallon Ziploc bag (squeeze all the air out and squish everything to mix!) You could use a reusable silicone bag or the casserole dish itself as an alternative (you just may need to move the chicken around in the marinade or flip it over halfway through).
5. Marinate all day in the fridge
If you don’t have all day, at least marinate for a couple hours.
6. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit
Start prepping your tricolor quinoa, simple roasted potatoes, or another side. The potatoes will need a little extra time in the oven than the chicken (40 min – and I will preheat the oven to 425 to give them a little extra time at the higher heat), so it will make your “time to the table” longer. If you’re really in a pinch, grab some couscous. Just prepare for little kids to make a mess!
7. Dump bag into a casserole dish
8. Bake for 30 minutes
9. Check internal temperature
Chicken is safely cooked through at 165 degrees fahrenheit or above. Insert a cooking thermometer into the center of the largest cut of meat, or test the temperature of every piece, multiple pieces until you feel comfortable.
10. Let rest for 5 minutes and ENJOY!
Balsamic Basil Marinated Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
10 steps to a delicious, easy dinner! Marinate these chicken thighs the morning of with two simple, cheap shelf stable ingredients that you always have on hand!
Ingredients
- 1.5-2 lb. Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 1/2 cu. Balsamic Vinegar
- 1/4 cu. Dried (or Fresh) Basil
- Salt
- Pepper (I prefer restaurant style pepper)
Instructions
- Remove any excess fat from the chicken thighs with kitchen scissors, if desired
- Place chicken thighs in gallon ziploc bag
- Pour balsamic vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper into the bag. Be liberal with the basil!!
- Marinate all day, or at least a couple hours in the refrigerator
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees farenheight
- Dump bag into a casserole dish
- Bake for 30 minutes, or grill outside on Medium 8 or so minutes per side
- Check internal temperature - at 165 degrees farenheight or above it is cooked
- Let rest for 5 minutes
- ENJOY!
Notes
Serve with roasted baby potatoes, rice made with chicken bone broth, tricolor quinoa (also made with broth), or quick homefries (dice potatoes, season with a little oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and parsley) and bake at 400 or 425 for 15 minutes, mix, then another 10-15 minutes and and a side green salad, green beans, or asparagus.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 128 GramsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 240 caloriesTotal Fat: 9.9gCarbohydrates: 0gProtein: 30.9g
Tips and Hacks
You can try fresh basil, remove the thighs from the marinade with tongs and place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake that way and broil at the end. You can also grill them!
how to serve balsamic basil chicken thighs
This recipe is great with rice made with chicken bone broth, simple roasted potatoes, or tricolor quinoa (also made with broth) as your carbohydrate. For a vegetable side, a garden salad, asparagus, or green beans.
Leftovers will be good in the fridge for 5 days. Cut them up and throw them on top of a salad the next day with tomato and cucumber!
How did you like these Balsamic Basil Chicken Thighs?
Comment below and let me know how you liked it, or if you got creative and tried any fun twists 🙂
Who knew vinegar marinated chicken was such a thing? These using apple cider vinegar look like a fun variation!
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