This Cheesy Baked Barbecue Chicken Is a Saucy Weeknight Win
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One great thing about cooking chicken is that it’s basically a blank canvas for all your experimentation with new flavor combinations. This recipe for cheesy baked BBQ chicken exemplifies that idea: At first, you might be skeptical that cheese and barbecue sauce go together, but against all odds it works. And when you think about it, it’s actually just a bread-free version of buffalo chicken pizza. Plus, you can easily customize it to fit your tastes.
First you’ll want to pick your barbecue sauce. You can go with a classic store-bought version — this recipe recommends Sweet Baby Ray’s — or you can make your own. You should use your favorite barbecue sauce; there are no right answers.
Now on to the cheese. Smoked mozzarella works best with the barbecue sauce base but if that’s not your cup of tea, regular mozzarella or even a mild shredded white cheddar would work. Again, don’t feel hemmed in by the recipe; pick whatever cheese best suits your taste buds.
Assembly of this dish is easy: In a bowl, mix your barbecue sauce of choice with garlic powder, add the chicken breasts, and mix until they are completely covered in the sauce. Add the breasts to your baking dish, and cover with any remaining sauce. Bake the chicken for 20 minutes, and then take it out and top with red onion, jalapeños, and shredded cheese. If you don’t like spicy food, skip the jalapeños. Bake for another 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
A note about marinating the chicken beforehand: One of the most attractive aspects of this recipe is that it doesn’t take much effort to prepare. That said, if you let your chicken breasts marinate in the barbecue sauce for an hour before baking it, it will definitely be more flavorful. However, if you just don’t have the extra time (and really, who does these days?) you’ll still love the final taste even if you skip that step.
The recipe only takes around 30 minutes to prepare and you won’t be left with a pile of dishes to clean up after. When it comes to whipping up a stress-free weeknight dinner, it doesn’t get much easier than this.
Get the Recipe: Cheesy Baked Barbecue Chicken from Little Spice Jar
