This chicken with leeks is cooked with apples and sun dried tomatoes. A meal fancy enough for guests but easy enough for a weeknight dinner.
Ever been blinded by the beauty of a vegetable in the grocery store?
I can just hear half of my friends laughing at me after that statement. But seriously, sometimes you’re just casually making your way through the produce section and BAM! the perfect, crispy, peak of it’s life vegetable is staring you in the face.
You have no need for it, weren’t planning on buying it, but you know at that moment you now have to because it’s perfection epitomized.
That’s what happened to me with these leeks. Leeks are a wonderful spring vegetable and once you master how to chop them, they’re a delicious and mild-tasting ingredient to incorporate into a variety of dishes like this easy chicken dinner.
They were huge (almost the length of the dog to be honest), vibrant green and without the slightest hint of a wilting outer leaf.
They were also full of dirt and sand, a sign I’m choosing to interpret as fresh from the farm.
Onions and I have a love/hate relationship.
I love them cooked, absolutely despise them raw. There’s really nothing in this world worse than nasty raw onion breath that lingers for the entire day. Eww.
Leeks are like the perfect middle ground.
They’re oniony, but not so much so that if they’re not cooked completely they leave that nasty taste behind.
And when you don’t cook them completely, they retain that slight crunch factor which makes them totally delicious flavor and texture wise. I also love that they’re green. That just makes it seem less weird to eat a whole bunch and deem it a vegetable.
Eating a bunch of regular onions would just be weird.
So here’s the best part of this chicken and leek meal, it looks fancy enough to serve for an occasion (if you’re cooler than me and actually have dinner parties) but it’s easy enough for a weeknight dinner.
It’s also pretty adaptable protein wise. Pork chops or even a white fish would be great here too.
Enjoy this delicious chicken dinner minus the onion breath!
More leek recipes to try:
Loving leeks?
Give this leek and apple cheddar soup a try or dig into this creamy buckwheat risotto with mushrooms and leeks.
Chicken with Leeks Apples and Sun-dried Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breasts, thin sliced or sliced in half
- 2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, GF if needed
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon butter, divided
- 2 large leeks, trimmed, washed well and sliced
- 2 apples, cored and chopped
- 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1/4 cup white wine, or chicken broth
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Season chicken breasts generously on both sides with salt & pepper.
- Place flour in a shallow bowl and coat each chicken breast lightly.
- In a skillet over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/2 tablespoon butter.
- Place chicken in skillet once hot and cook for about 5 minutes per side, until golden brown.
- Place chicken in an oven safe serving dish and keep warm in oven (170 degrees)
- Using the same skillet, add remaining olive oil & butter.
- Add leeks, apples & sun-dried tomatoes and toss to coat. Cook down for about 3-5 minutes.
- Add lemon juice and white wine and continue sauteing until most of the liquid has cooked off.
- Season generously with salt & pepper.
- Remove chicken from the oven and top with the leek mixture.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
This is beautiful! What awionderful and refreshing dish!
Its so delicious to taste these kind of dish.. Awesome!
AW man I am so pinning this. Which should really mean that I’m making it, but that would mean getting my stuff together to do that…so yeah. Let’s just say I’m pinning it.
I love how colorful this meal is- looks great!
That sounds like such a great flavor combination! By the way.. I watched a bunch of Ginger’s videos the other day. She is so cute!
She’s a nutcase, that’s for sure!
when leeks are growing the soil is piled up around the stalks to keep them white for it is the sun that gives them the green, chlorophyll colour;
therefore one usually cuts a leek down the middle in order to wash out the soil / i am very fond of leeks / try them braised
Healthy and so fresh. I must try this! I’m a big fan of leeks and never really use them in anything. Makes sense, i know, haha.
That’s so funny because I really don’t like cooked onions but I LOVE raw onions (I’m weird, I know).
weirdo! ;)
Yummm… very classy!
I freaked out at the farmer’s market because strawberries were back! All I could do was tug my friend’s sleeve and point. Clearly I have a thing for strawberries.