Italian Chicken

How do you say "yummy" in Italian? Deliziosa! And that is exactly what this recipe will have you saying. First of all, this makes a pretty large batch which means- leftovers!!! These are not just any leftovers. They are probably the best ever!! Here's what you need:


4- good sized chicken breasts
1- quart stock- chicken or veggie (I prefer veggie as I think it has a richer, deeper flavor- I only use about 2/3- 3/4 of the quart of stock)
1- packet dry Italian dressing seasoning mix (like Good Seasons)
1- jar pepperoncinis

Put chicken breasts in a crock pot. Add stock and entire jar of pepperoncinis (with the juice). Sprinkle top of chicken with the seasoning mix. You can put the chicken on top of the stock and pepperoncinis if you like. Cook until chicken is done. Pull the chicken out and shred it. It will likely be falling apart anyway so shredding should be easy. Put it back in the crock pot with the juices. If you have time to spare let it sit in the crock pot on warm for a while. It infuses all of those flavors. Serve on bread, in pita pockets, or whatever you prefer.

* If you like your food with a little kick (and I do mean little), you can cut the stems off of the pepperoncinis prior to cooking and leave them in the chicken. They get infused with that Italian goodness so even if you don't normally like them, you just might mixed in with the chicken. If you don't want to leave them in, fish them out when you pull the chicken out to shred, before putting the shredded chicken back in. You can serve them on the side. The longer they're in there the softer they get and they start to fall apart.

* This makes a lot of chicken and it's super light. If you're a Weight Watcher it's only 4 points for about 1c serving. Basically you just get charged points for the chicken.

* Leftovers are amazing! The flavors just continue to develop and infuse.

4- chicken breasts- Meijer has 40 oz bag of chicken breasts on sale this week for $4.99. You'll use half of the bag. So $2.50
1- jar pepperoncinis- not on sale they typically run around $1.69/jar- I get them at Meijer or Aldi
1- packet Good Seasons Italian dressing mix- $1.19 (or get store brand cheaper)
1- quart chicken or vegetable stock- get store brand unless you can get a good deal- $2

Total Cost: $7.38- and this won't just feed your family of 4, it will result in leftovers! Yummy!

Good pairing: Stewed Tomatoes with green beans. Get a can of each and mix together and heat on the stove. You'll add approximately $1.50 to the cost bringing it up to $8.88!