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  7. 20 Easy Chicken Dinners You'll Want to Make Forever

20 Easy Chicken Dinners You'll Want to Make Forever

Leah Goggins headshot
Leah Goggins Updated June 02, 2022
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Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan

These delicious chicken dinners are here to add some flavor to even the busiest weeknights. Each recipe requires less than 30 minutes of active time, so you can get in and out of the kitchen in a snap. Whether you're in the mood for a veggie-packed pasta or a quick and easy sheet-pan meal, we have a dinner idea to suit you. Recipes like our Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan and Honey-Garlic Chicken Thighs with Carrots & Broccoli are tasty, filling ways to end your day.

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Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan

Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan
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This one-pan pasta that combines lean chicken breast and sautéed spinach for a one-bowl meal is garlicky, lemony and best served with a little Parm on top. I call it "Mom's Skillet Pasta" and she called it "Devon's Favorite Pasta." Either way it's a quick and easy weeknight dinner we created together and scribbled on a little recipe card more than a decade ago, and it remains in my weekly dinner rotation to this day. It's a simple dinner the whole family will love.

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Honey-Garlic Chicken Thighs with Carrots & Broccoli

Honey-Garlic Chicken Thighs with Carrots Broccoli
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In this easy and healthy dinner recipe, sweet and savory baked honey-garlic chicken thighs come with a side of veggies that cook on the same sheet pan as the chicken. The honey-soy-garlic marinade for the chicken does double duty as an irresistible sauce to drizzle over everything. Lining your baking sheet with foil will protect your pan from the sticky honey-soy-garlic sauce, so cleanup will be a breeze too. If you can't find small carrots, cut medium carrots in half lengthwise.

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Lemon Chicken Pasta

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In this easy lemon chicken pasta recipe, we love the combination of lemon zest and toasted breadcrumbs. This healthy dinner is made with rotisserie chicken, quick-cooking spiralized zucchini and baby zucchini, so you get a complete meal in just 10 minutes.

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Sheet-Pan Balsamic-Parmesan Chicken & Vegetables

Sheet-Pan Balsamic-Parmesan Chicken & Vegetables
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This flavorful dish--with the combination of balsamic vinegar and Parmesan cheese--makes a great weeknight meal since it requires little legwork (and only one pan!). The marjoram adds a distinct earthy aroma. If you don't have marjoram in your spice arsenal, you can use dried oregano instead. Both have a woodsy flavor that complements the dish beautifully.

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Sweet & Sour Chicken

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This 20-minute meal delivers a faster, lighter and more flavorful takeout alternative. It's chock-full of fresh, crispy veggies and juicy chicken pieces, and it reheats well for meal-prep lunches. If you like heat, sub Sriracha for some of the ketchup.

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Adobo Chicken & Kale Enchiladas

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Put out your favorite toppings for these quick and healthy layered enchiladas. We like cilantro, sour cream, guacamole and jalapeños.

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Chicken & Vegetable Penne with Parsley-Walnut Pesto

Chicken and Vegetable Penne with Parsley-Walnut Pesto
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Homemade pesto may seem daunting, but in this quick pasta recipe you can make a simple sauce in minutes while the pasta water comes to a boil. You can substitute frozen green beans and cauliflower for fresh; in Step 4, cook the frozen vegetables according to package directions before tossing with the pasta and pesto.

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One-Pot Chicken Alfredo

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This cheesy chicken fettuccine Alfredo isn't all that fancy, but it's incredibly comforting. You'll taste a nice pop of pepper and nutty notes from the whole-wheat pasta. Best part about this recipe? It's a one-pot meal, which means fewer dishes for you!

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Sheet-Pan Chicken Thighs with Brussels Sprouts & Gnocchi

sheet-pan chicken thighs with Brussels sprouts & gnocchi
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In this healthy dinner recipe, chicken thighs, Brussels sprouts, cherry tomatoes and packaged gnocchi are all roasted on the same sheet pan for a complete meal that couldn't be easier to make. And though it's simple, this dish gets tons of flavor from seasonings, including garlic, oregano and red-wine vinegar. It all adds up to a dish that's ready to go into heavy weeknight rotation in your house.

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One-Pot Chicken Pesto Pasta with Asparagus

one pot chicken pesto pasta
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This healthy chicken pesto pasta recipe is easy to make thanks to convenience ingredients like rotisserie chicken and store-bought pesto. The addition of fresh asparagus brights up the look and flavors of this easy one-pot dinner. Fresh basil, if you have it on hand, is a nice finishing touch.

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Maple-Roasted Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potato Wedges and Brussels Sprouts

Maple-Roasted Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potato Wedges and Brussels Sprouts
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This easy sheet-pan recipe brings together many fall favorites into a hearty dinner.

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BBQ Chicken Tacos with Red Cabbage Slaw

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This zippy, creamy slaw is so good you might find yourself making it for other sandwiches. Still, it pairs beautifully with the tangy pulled chicken for an incredibly quick dinner you can make even on your busiest nights. To save even more time, use a preshredded coleslaw blend.

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Skillet Lemon Chicken with Spinach

Skillet Lemon Chicken with Spinach
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This simple, ultra-quick chicken dinner--packed with spinach and peppers--is delicious on its own or served over brown rice or your favorite pasta.

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Roasted Chicken Thighs, Potatoes & Scallions with Herb Vinaigrette

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Roasting chicken thighs directly on top of the vegetables bastes the scallions and potatoes with delicious drippings in this healthy dinner recipe. Serve with steamed broccoli, sautéed spinach or a mixed green salad.

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Salt & Vinegar Sheet-Pan Chicken & Brussels Sprouts

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A strong vinegar, like malt or sherry, gives this baked chicken recipe a pucker factor reminiscent of salt-and-vinegar chips. Everything cooks on one pan, making this chicken sheet-pan dinner perfect for weeknights when you want big results for little effort (so, pretty much every weeknight!).

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Chicken & Kale Taco Salad with Jalapeño-Avocado Ranch

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This healthy, super-fast salad recipe swaps out romaine for kale, giving you more than 10 times the vitamin C. Easy flavor hacks like store-bought ranch and pickled jalapeños help make a creamy, tangy and spicy dressing you'll want to drizzle on everything from salad to sliced veggies and shredded poached chicken.

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Bruschetta Chicken Pasta

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This healthy chicken pasta recipe is jazzed up with traditional bruschetta toppers, including cherry tomatoes, garlic and basil. Multicolored cherry tomatoes look pretty, but you can use all one color of tomato too. Either way, you've got an easy weeknight dinner that's ready in 25 minutes. We've called for spaghettini (thin spaghetti) in this recipe, but feel free to use your favorite shape of pasta.

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Quick King Ranch Chicken Casserole

Quick King Ranch Chicken Casserole
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Usually made by layering creamy chicken and tortillas (lasagna-style), this classic Tex-Mex chicken casserole gets speedier for an easy weeknight dinner when we mix everything together in a skillet, then pop the whole pan under the broiler to make the cheese topping gooey.

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Chicken Cutlets with Creamy Spinach & Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Chicken Cutlets with Creamy Spinach & Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
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Serve these saucy, ultra-quick chicken cutlets over your favorite pasta. This easy dinner recipe is sure to become a new weeknight favorite.

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Chicken Parmesan & Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

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Chicken Parm gets a fun low-carb and gluten-free twist with these cheesy stuffed peppers with chicken and quinoa. Serve with a salad for a healthy dinner that's easy to prep too.

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    1 of 20 Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan
    2 of 20 Honey-Garlic Chicken Thighs with Carrots & Broccoli
    3 of 20 Lemon Chicken Pasta
    4 of 20 Sheet-Pan Balsamic-Parmesan Chicken & Vegetables
    5 of 20 Sweet & Sour Chicken
    6 of 20 Adobo Chicken & Kale Enchiladas
    7 of 20 Chicken & Vegetable Penne with Parsley-Walnut Pesto
    8 of 20 One-Pot Chicken Alfredo
    9 of 20 Sheet-Pan Chicken Thighs with Brussels Sprouts & Gnocchi
    10 of 20 One-Pot Chicken Pesto Pasta with Asparagus
    11 of 20 Maple-Roasted Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potato Wedges and Brussels Sprouts
    12 of 20 BBQ Chicken Tacos with Red Cabbage Slaw
    13 of 20 Skillet Lemon Chicken with Spinach
    14 of 20 Roasted Chicken Thighs, Potatoes & Scallions with Herb Vinaigrette
    15 of 20 Salt & Vinegar Sheet-Pan Chicken & Brussels Sprouts
    16 of 20 Chicken & Kale Taco Salad with Jalapeño-Avocado Ranch
    17 of 20 Bruschetta Chicken Pasta
    18 of 20 Quick King Ranch Chicken Casserole
    19 of 20 Chicken Cutlets with Creamy Spinach & Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
    20 of 20 Chicken Parmesan & Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

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    20 Easy Chicken Dinners You'll Want to Make Forever
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