Cilantro marinated chicken breasts results in a juicy tender chicken and smothered in a roasted tomato sauce!
This juicy tender chicken breast dinner recipe boasts bold flavors from the brilliant cilantro marinade. Surprisingly, the chicken breast absorbs the marinade in as little as thirty minutes, but up to two hours works too. To maximize the flavor, the chicken breasts are first scored enabling the marinade to penetrate into the flesh. Additionally, once the chicken completes the marinating stage, all of the marinade gets dumped on top of the breasts to create a barrier. The barrier serves two purposes. First, the flavors lock into the meat. Second, the marinade serves as a golden brown crust while locking in the juices and the chicken maintains a tender texture.
The bold flavors in this juicy tender chicken breast combines aromatics like a lot of cilantro and garlic. Please do go wild with the garlic. Additionally, onions and scallions add another layer of aromatics. The bold flavor draws on spices like ground cumin, red pepper flakes, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Lime juice adds some brightness to round out the flavors. What’s more, all the marinade ingredients are dumped into a mini food processor, like the cuisinart three cup version mini processor.
What’s more, creating a one-pan dinner means just add vegetables to the sheet pan and roast away. We love asparagus but broccoli or carrots work too. Or even baby red potatoes works magic.For the asparagus, be sure to add them towards the end, like the last eight to ten minutes to keep them al dente.
To add even more flavor to this juicy tender chicken breast, add the easy roasted tomato sauce. Make the sauce while the chicken sits in the marinade. A simple dumping of the ingredients onto a sheet pan, roasting from 15 to 20 minutes and pureeing in the mini process is all that’s needed. Serve the sauce with the chicken breasts. The sauce is versitile.
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Juicy Tender Chicken breasts with Asparagus
Equipment
- 1 mini food processor We love to use the cuisnart
- 1/4 sheet pan
- wood cutting board
Ingredients
- 3 pounds chicken breasts skin-on and bone in. About 4 breasts
For the marinade:
- 1 medium onion peeled and chopped
- 3-4 scallions trimmed and chopped roughly
- 1 bunch cilantro roughly chopped
- 8-10 garlic cloves peeled
- 2 limes zested and juiced
- 3-4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsps ground cumin
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 tsps kosher salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
For the asparagus:
- 2 bunch organic asparagus trim off tougher stems
- 1 – 1 1/2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
- Optional: 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/8 Tsp kosher salt
- 1/8 Tsp freshly ground black pepper
For the roasted tomato sauce:
- 5 vine ripened tomatoes quartered
- 5-6 garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 1 small yellow onion peeled and roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup packed cilantro chopped
- 1/8 tsp kosher salt plus more to season the finished sauce if needed
- 1/4 tsp chipotle pepper powder or flakes
- 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
MAKE THE MARINADE:
- Dump all the marinade ingredients into a mini food processor or blender. Process until finely minced and blended.
SEASON CHICKEN BREASTS:
- Score each chicken breast on the skin side 2 to 3 cuts no more than 1/8 inch.
- Add chicken to a bowl. Dump all the marinade on the chicken. Mix to coat the chicken thoroughly. Set aside for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
Preheat oven 425F/218C degrees
MAKE THE ROASTED TOMATO SAUCE:
- Add all the roasted tomato sauce ingredients to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Mix to coat the ingredients with the olive oil.Spread the tomatoes in a single layer.
- Roast in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until the tomatoes starts to brown around the edges. Remove and set aside to cool slightly. Once cool, puree in a mini food processor. Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary.
LET'S ROAST THE CHICKEN:
- On a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper, add the chicken breasts. Pour the marinade from the bowl all over the breasts.
- Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.Note: For larger chicken breasts the cook time will be longer -add another 5 to 10 minutes.
- While the chicken is roasting, season the asparagus with the asparagus ingredients.
- Remove the chicken from the oven at the 30 minute time and add the asparagus around the breasts.
- Return the chicken and asparagus sheet pan to the oven and roast 8 to 10 minutes until the asparagus are al dente and the chicken is 160F/71C-165F/74C degrees.
- Serve the chicken breasts and asparagus with the roasted tomato sauce.
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