I stumbled upon this Chicken in Maple Syrup recipe while I was trying to get ideas about what to do with some leftover sliced ham, and apples that had been in my crisper so long that I was sick of looking at them. Although the chicken with maple syrup recipe does not call for apples, I thought this chicken would be fantastic with a side of baked apples, and since the oven would be at 350 for a while, it seemed like a pretty efficient use of resources. Plus, I was feeling pretty lazy, so win-win.
Speaking of laziness, I varied from the recipe in a few ways. The main thing is that I only used one pan for all the steps, my Lodge cast iron skillet. I also omitted savory and chives, because I did not have any handy. Finally, I added pomegranate juice because it seemed like it would taste good, and it did, so yay for that! I do not normally have pomegranate juice, though, so in the future I would probably make this with either apple or cranberry juice, or even just some water. At any rate, it turned out well and it was a great change of pace from the old chicken dinner routine!
- 3 chicken breasts
- 3 large mushrooms, finely chopped
- ½ cup finely diced ham
- ½ stick butter
- 1 chopped onion
- 1 heaping teaspoon chopped garlic
- maple syrup to taste
- flour, for coating
- salt and pepper, to taste
- ¼ cup water or juice (I used pomegranate juice)
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Fry onion and garlic in oil.
- Add mushrooms, a little butter and continue to fry.
- Add ham and fry until onions are clear and mushrooms are slightly soft. Remove from pan and set aside.
- While ham, onions, and mushrooms are frying, prepare chicken breasts by covering both sides with flour, salt and pepper.
- Add a splash of oil to the pan and heat. Add chicken to the pan and fry each side until slightly golden.
- Remove chicken and set aside.
- Add juice or water and a little bit of the maple syrup to pan and heat until bubbling.
- Add ham, onion, and mushroom mixture back into the pan and combine with the juice and syrup mixture.
- Drizzle a little more maple syrup and mix through. Turn off flame.
- Return chicken breasts to the pan, covering chicken with the ham mixture.
- Place skillet into preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
- Remove from oven and let stand for a few minutes before serving.