Avocado + Chicken + Delicious!
I love avocado and I love chicken, but I had never really considered combining the two, until I had an epiphany one day while eating Avocado Egg Rolls at the Cheesecake Factory. If you have had these, and love them as much as I do, then get very excited for this new dinner idea! This dish is made by mashing avocado and mixing it with sun dried tomato, herbs and spices, and sweet onion, then smothering it a top tender thin cut chicken breast and covering with in a sprinkle of cheese. To complete the dish though, you can drizzle it with a sweet and spicy sauce to give it even more of a unique depth of flavor. Many of my favorite (and most popular) recipes were inspired by appetizers! If you love this one, make sure to check out other appetizer inspired recipes like Fiesta Chicken, Green Chile Chicken and Bruschetta Chicken.
How to Serve Avocado Smothered Chicken
This dish comes together quickly then while it is baking in the oven, you can whip up a side dish or two to round out the meal. These are a few of my favorites:
Side Dish Ideas
Salad
Side Salad with Creamy Italian Dressing Kale Salad Broccoli Cauliflower Salad
Starch
Quinoa Mashed Potatoes Rice – Try Cilantro Lime Rice, or just plain jasmine rice Smashed Potatoes
Vegetables
Garlic Spinach (pictured) Roasted Cauliflower Sautéed zucchini
Bread
Garlic Toast Dinner Rolls Mexican Cornbread
You can serve Avocado Smothered Chicken simply with just one of these or go all out and make a few. If you have another side dish you love to serve this meal with, please leave a note in the comments so that I can give it a try next time we make this!
Tips for Making Avocado Smothered Chicken
This dish is simple to make as promised! I am going to walk through a few of my tips and tricks for making it here to hopefully answer any questions that might pop up while cooking. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the FULL recipe. If there is something I don’t cover, please leave me a note in the comments and I will try to answer as soon as I can!
Chicken
Use thin chicken breast cutlets for the best results. You can buy these, or just take regular chicken breast and cut them horizontally so they are half the thickness. You can use full chicken breasts if you want but it may need to bake longer. This recipe can be made with other cuts of boneless, skinless chicken such as chicken thighs, chicken tenderloin, etc. This may change the cooking time.
Avocado
Make sure the avocados are nice and ripe. Not too firm, and not too squishy. To check for ripeness pick off the stem and look for a light green underneath. If the stem doesn’t want to come off, it is likely not yet ripe. If the space under the stem is brown, it is likely over ripe and you may find brown spots. If the avocados you buy at the store are bright green and very firm, they will usually need 3-5 days to ripen. You can leave them on the counter (not in a bag) to ripen. If they ripen before you are ready to use, put them in the refrigerator to extend the perfectly ripe stage for an extra 3-5 days.
Sauce
This sauce is completely optional. I think the chicken tastes great without it, but I really, really love the chicken with the sauce, so I definitely recommend it if you have time. If you are in a time crunch, but still want the sweet and savory combo, you can look for sweet chili sauce in the Asian section of the grocery store for a quick substitution for homemade sauce.
Cooking the chicken
I cook this dish for about 30-40 minutes. This may vary depending on the thickness of your chicken. Make sure to cook it to an internal temperature of 165˚F. If you over cook your chicken it will become tough and rubbery, so I recommend using an oven safe meat thermometer. You can get them inexpensively at the grocery store or on amazon. I cook this dish covered, however I highly recommend uncovering the dish and turning the oven to broil for the last 3-5 minutes to get that great color on the cheese.
How To Freeze Avocado Smothered Chicken
This dish freezes well before cooking to prep for an easy weeknight and after cooking to save leftovers. Since avocado oxidizes easily, I don’t recommend savinf leftovers in the refrigerator, but the freezer does yield great results.
To freeze before cooking:
Prepare up to step 3, but don’t bake. Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap and foil and freeze. When ready to cook, thaw completely. Then bake as directed. It make take an extra few minutes to cook if it is coming straight from the refrigerator.
To freeze after cooking:
Cool completely. Divide into meal sized portions and place in air tight containers. Freeze. To reheat leftovers
Microwave for 1.5 minutes then in 30 second increments until heated through. In the oven in a baking dish covered with foil at 350˚F until heated through.
More Easy Recipes
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