Oven baked chicken with gnocchi
Oven-baked chicken fillet and potato gnocchi flavoured with pesto and mozzarella. It will be extra tasty if you make your own pesto, but sometimes it’s nice to take shortcuts by buying one in a jar. Good for both everyday meals and dinner parties!
Ingredients
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4
Chicken breast fillets
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1 tsp
Salt
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Black pepper to taste
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2 tbsp
Butter
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400 g
Potato gnocchi
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65 g
Baby spinach
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500 ml
Cooking cream
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100 ml
Pesto
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1 tbsp
Balsamic vinegar
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1 tbsp
Concentrated chicken stock
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150 g
Grated mozzarella cheese
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1 pot
Fresh basil
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For serving
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Mixed green salads
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Oven baked chicken with gnocchi
Is it OK to cook chicken to 82 °C?
Measuring the internal temperature of your chicken is the best, and most reliable, way of achieving the perfect level of succulence every time. A steady internal temperature of 75 °C (measured with a meat thermometer) means that your meat is fully cooked and safe to eat. This is true for any cut, including chicken breast as used in this recipe. Anything higher than 80 °C will cause the meat to release more and more of its moisture, leaving you with a dry, rubbery and less appetising outcome. Because of the creamy sauce included in this recipe, however, this dish is a bit more forgiving of overcooked chicken.
Do you need to put oil on chicken before baking?
This is highly recommended for oven-baked chicken and will help the meat to cook evenly. Forming a protective layer, the oil (we recommend a vegetable oil like rapeseed or olive oil) will help the chicken to cook through on the inside without overcooking the outside.
Should I cover chicken breast with foil when baking?
This is completely up to you. Many believe that it prevents the chicken from drying out and that it’s the only way to achieve a moist and succulent outcome. Others disagree, saying that it makes no difference and that an uncovered bake results in more flavour. Give both a try and see which one works best for you!
How do you keep chicken moist in the oven?
There are three key steps to achieving the most succulent outcome every time. Coat the meat with olive oil before popping in the oven, bake at a lower temperature for longer, and remove from the oven once it has reached an internal temperature of about 71 °C then cover with foil until it reaches the recommended 75 °C. Bone-in chicken will also always be juicier so opt for these cuts as your first choice and then simply remove the bones (if necessary) after baking.
Other recipes
An easy crowd pleaser
Who doesn’t love a dinner that uses one pan, one pot, one oven dish and is ready to enjoy in under 40 minutes? Add the meal’s bold, creamy and savoury sauce, juicy chicken, and pillowy gnocchi, this filling recipe is guaranteed to please both the chef and the crowd.
How to hide greens from picky eaters
In this recipe, the sauce already has a green tinge from the pesto, making it relatively easy to hide the spinach. Our top suggestion is to incorporate it into the pesto (simply give the ingredients a quick blitz in a blender until you have a smooth consistency). Cook the dish as normal and, should any suspicions arise around the dinner table, blame the greener-than-normal sauce on greener-than-normal pesto.
Things you can prep in advance
While this dish is already quick and easy to pull together from scratch, there are a few things you can prepare in advance to make life that much easier. The sauce is one of them, as is the pesto and gnocchi if you will be going through the extra (and oh-so-worth-it) effort of making these in your own kitchen. If you need some inspiration, check out our gnocchi recipe here.
A warming dish for cold nights
The king of Italian comfort food, any gnocchi-based dish is a good idea for those cold winter nights. This recipe, however, adds succulent chicken and a luxuriously creamy sauce to the mix, upping its comfort food game and making this dish an easy favourite for the whole family.
