35 Chicken Dinners You'll Want to Make This Spring
These dinners pair juicy chicken breasts or thighs with fresh spring produce, like lemons, broccoli, asparagus and spinach. Whether you're in the mood for a bowl of veggie-packed pasta, a sheet-pan roast or a fresh, seasonal salad, these recipes have something you'll love. Recipes like our Orange-Ginger Chicken Bowls and Cheesy Portobello Chicken Cutlets with Broccoli are healthy, delicious ways to bring seasonal flavors to your dinner table.
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Cheesy Portobello Chicken Cutlets with Broccoli
Adding nutty Gruyère atop the chicken at the very end and popping it under the broiler takes this dish from delicious to heavenly. If you can't find Gruyère, Jarlsberg or Emmentaler cheese makes a good substitute.
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Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan
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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One-Pot Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Pasta
This creamy chicken and mushroom pasta recipe makes for an easy weeknight dinner. Using store-bought rotisserie chicken saves time when cooking, and leftover chicken would work just as well.
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One-Pot Chicken & Cabbage Soup
This simple, yet flavorful, chicken-cabbage soup is perfect for enjoying on a cold day. Sherry vinegar adds a touch of brightness and pairs well with the medley of vegetables. Serve with crusty bread.
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Orange-Ginger Chicken Bowls
The orange-ginger chicken gets a cornstarch coating for a few reasons: It locks moisture into the meat, creates a crispy coating and gives something for the sauce to cling to. We like the hint of flavor peanut oil adds to this stir-fry. But if you need to omit it due to a food allergy, any high-heat oil will do, like canola or grapeseed.
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Roasted Chicken Thighs & Radishes with Lemon Crème Fraîche
Roasting radishes helps mellow out their spiciness. We reduce food waste by using their tops, too—they add color and a slightly bitter bite. If your radishes come without tops, sub in another dark leafy green, such as chopped kale.
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Fontina & Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken with Spring Vegetables
Layering fontina and prosciutto on top of butterflied chicken breasts then folding them closed gives you gooey cheesiness in every bite. A little half-and-half stirred into this one-pan dish at the end of cooking creates a creamy sauce to coat the chicken and veggies. Serve with rice and a glass of chardonnay.
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Strawberry Chicken Salad with Mint & Goat Cheese
Fresh mint appears twice here: finely chopped mint in the dressing and whole mint leaves in the strawberry chicken salad, tossed with tender greens.
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3-Ingredient One-Pot Lemon Pasta with Rotisserie Chicken
This satisfying one-pot pasta cooks with just the right amount of water so you're left with perfectly cooked noodles and enough starchy liquid to act as a sauce. Stir in lemon juice and zest at the end for a bright finish.
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Spinach & Artichoke Dip Pasta with Chicken
If you love warm spinach and artichoke dip, then you'll love that we turned this classic dip into a creamy pasta dish with chicken. And here's what's almost as good as the flavor of this comforting dish: the fact that this healthy dinner takes just 20 minutes to prepare.
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Skillet Honey-Lemon Chicken Thighs with Potatoes
Moist chicken thighs, tender potatoes and a bright honey-lemon sauce cook together in this flavorful one-pan dinner. It's tasty enough for company, yet easy enough for a weeknight.
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Arugula, Chicken & Melon Salad with Sumac Dressing
Sweet and savory find harmony in this salad dotted with ripe melon and tossed in a lemony dressing. Melon balls are so adorable but making them leaves some fruit behind—whir up those leftovers into a smoothie.
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One-Pot Chicken & Broccoli Pasta
This creamy chicken and broccoli pasta makes for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. We opt for small shells in this recipe, but any other small pasta, like orecchiette, would work, too.
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Chicken & Broccoli Stir-Fry with Ginger & Basil
Broccoli and snow peas add color, crunch and, of course, 1 1/2 servings of vegetables per person to this easy stir-fry. Serve over rice or rice noodles to absorb every last bit of the sauce.
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Chicken Sausage & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan
This one-pan pasta combines tasty chicken sausage and sautéed spinach for a one-bowl meal that's garlicky, lemony and best served with a little Parm on top. It's a quick and easy weeknight dinner everyone is sure to love. This recipe is a variation on our Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan, which is a super-popular recipe developed by Devon O'Brien.
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Buttermilk Fried Chicken Tenders with Snap Pea Slaw
The buttermilk marinade lets these fried chicken tenders get crispy on the outside and stay deliciously juicy on the inside. The fresh crunchy slaw helps balance the richness of the chicken. Don't have buttermilk on hand? Make a substitute by mixing the equivalent amount of milk with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar.
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Apricot Glazed Chicken with Potatoes & Asparagus
Curry powder is a powerhouse ingredient because it combines a medley of flavorful spices—usually turmeric, fenugreek, coriander and peppers—all in one jar. Increase the heat in this dish by using a hot or red curry powder.
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Chicken & Broccoli with Herb Butter Sauce
This one-pan chicken and broccoli dinner is simple, healthy and packed with flavor. After the chicken roasts, we turn the drippings into a smooth and velvety pan sauce by adding a little stock and butter.
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One-Pan Chicken & Asparagus Bake
In this chicken and asparagus recipe, we use one baking sheet to whip up dinner quickly, veggies included. Pounding the chicken thin helps it cook quickly alongside the carrots and potatoes, with asparagus rounding out the meal. This is one quick dinner recipe you'll be returning to again and again.
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Creamy Chicken & Asparagus Pasta
This creamy chicken and asparagus pasta is a quick, warming meal all cooked in one pot. The cream cheese adds a silky texture to the sauce, while fresh asparagus and lemon brighten the dish.
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15-Minute Sheet-Pan Chicken Tenders & Broccoli with Everything Bagel Seasoning
Dinner is ready in only 15 minutes and cleanup is a breeze with these easy broiled chicken tenders coated in everything bagel seasoning with fresh broccoli on the side. The three-ingredient dipping sauce adds just a hint of sweet and spice.
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Chicken & Hominy Stew with Greens
Have a healthy weeknight meal with this easy chicken stew recipe. We like the bitter bite of mustard greens in this slightly spicy stew, but any dark leafy green will be delicious. The cabbage on top adds crunch.
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Sheet-Pan Balsamic-Parmesan Chicken & Vegetables
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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Easy Sesame Chicken with Green Beans
Sweet-salty hoisin sauce and nutty sesame team up in this easy meal that's cooked on one baking sheet. Serve this sesame chicken with brown rice and sliced cucumbers, drizzled with sesame oil and rice vinegar.
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Spring Green Soup with Chicken
Sautéing chicken in a little oil first (rather than poaching in the broth) creates some browned bits in the pan (aka fond) that give this green soup a richer flavor.
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Herb-Grilled Chicken Frites
We combine fresh herbs, capers, lemon juice and olive oil along with the juices collected from the chicken as it rests to make a simple sauce that livens up this take on poulet frites, or chicken and fries.
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Honey-Mustard Chicken with Asparagus Farrotto
Risotto gets a whole-grain upgrade by swapping in farro (a type of wheat) for the white rice. The farrotto adds a chewy bite and nutty flavor, plus 4 extra grams of fiber per serving.
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Skillet Lemon Chicken with Spinach
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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Chicken & Asparagus Skillet Pasta with Pesto
Fresh lemon juice, tangy sun-dried tomatoes and zippy pesto tie together the flavors in this quick and easy skillet meal. The 30-minute dinner is so versatile—you can use any quick-cooking protein or vegetable you have on hand and still have a delicious meal on busy weeknights.
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Lemon-Garlic Chicken with Green Beans
This easy lemon-garlic chicken recipe calls for cutlets, which cook in less than 10 minutes! Can't find them? Make your own from chicken breasts. Place each breast on a cutting board and, with your knife parallel to the board, slice into the skinny side of the chicken breast in a single smooth motion. The side of green beans is cooked right in the same pan as the chicken, so this 20-minute easy, healthy dinner is not just a snap to prepare--the cleanup is a cinch too.
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Mushroom Ravioli & Chicken Piccata
This weeknight-friendly version of classic chicken piccata calls for mushroom ravioli, but regular cheese ravioli works too. Look for presliced mushrooms to cut down on prep time, and use leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken here to cut down on cook time in this fast and easy dinner.
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Sweet & Sour Chicken with Broccoli
This easy chicken and broccoli recipe makes a delicious, healthier alternative to Chinese takeout—and it takes just 20 minutes to make, so it's ideal for an easy weeknight dinner. When toasted, ramen noodles make a tasty, crunchy topping for a stir-fry or salad.
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Lemon Chicken Pasta
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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One-Pot Chicken Pesto Pasta with Asparagus
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 brightens 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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Lemon Chicken & Rice
This easy Persian-inspired chicken and rice dish has a beautiful golden color and a wonderful fragrance. If you have saffron in the cupboard, do add that optional pinch; just a little will enhance the flavor and aroma of the dish.