Nothing could be simpler than Cooking Bag Chicken. The chicken and vegetables cook together. The result is moist baked chicken thighs and a rich thick tomato and vegetable sauce. This is perfect with Easy Steamed Rice (recipe follows)
Oven Cooking Bags have been around since the 1980s. They are still a good choice for a tasty all in one meal.
Cooking Bag Chicken is a perfect dish for those nights when you just want to pop something in the oven and have little clean up afterwards.
Cooking Bag Chicken
Print recipe| Serves | 4 - 5 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 Large (45 x 55 cm or 18 x 22 in oven cooking bag
- 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 Envelope Knorr-Lipton Onion recipe soup mix
- 1 14 oz (398 ml) tin unsalted diced tomatoes or fresh that have been peeled and chopped
- 1 Tsp dried basil
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 3 Medium carrots (peeled and sliced into baby finger sized pieces)
- 3 Medium zucchini (cut into 1/4 inch rounds)
- 12 - 14 Medium cremini or white mushrooms (sliced into 1/4 inch slices)
- 8 - 10 Skinless boned chicken thighs
- paprika
Directions
| Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Shake flour in the oven cooking bag and place in an oven going container that is large enough to hold the filled bag. | |
| Add the soup mix. basil and tomatoes to the cooking bag. Squeeze the bag gently to blend the ingredients. | |
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Prepare the garlic, zucchini, carrots and mushrooms.  | |
| Add the prepared vegetables to the cooking bag. Turn the bag gently to coat the vegetables. | |
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Sprinkle the chicken with paprika. Place the chicken in the bag and mix gently with the vegetables. Close the bag with the nylon tie and make 6 half inch slits in the top. At this point, you can refrigerate the dish and then just pop it in the oven when you are ready to bake it.  | |
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Cook 50 minutes or until the chicken is tender and the vegetables cooked. Remove from the oven and carefully open the bag (the steam is hot). If the dish has been refrigerated, allow an extra 10 minutes.  | |
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Arrange the chicken in a serving dish.  | |
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Serve the vegetables and sauce in another serving dish. The sauce can be spooned over the chicken and is also very nice on steamed rice.  | |
Easy Steamed Rice
| Serves | 2 |
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup uncooked rice (makes 1 cup of cooked rice)
- 1/2 Tsp salt
- 3 - 4 Cups of water or chicken, beef or vegetable broth
Directions
| Bring the water and salt to a rolling boil. Add the rice and stir it to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. Cook the rice in the boiling water for 10 minutes. | |
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Drain the rice into a strainer and then fill the bottom of the saucepan that you just used with about 2 - 3 inches of water. Place the strainer on the saucepan (ensure that the rice is not sitting in water. Cover the strainer and bring the water to a boil (steaming the rice). Cook for at least 20 minutes, but can continue to steam it until it is ready to be eaten. To increase the number of servings, just add more rice to the boiling water and follow the other steps.  | |
| Variation 1 | |
| I will often cook some onions and mushrooms in a small frying pan and add them to to the cooked rice before serving. Sometimes I just add a tablespoon of butter to the rice and stir it in. | |
| Variation 2 | |
| If you would like to cook brown rice, increase the initial cook time in the water from 10 to 14 minutes and then steam it until it is tender. | |
| Variation 3 | |
| Cook the rice in chicken, beef or vegetable broth instead of water for the first 10 minutes and then steam over water as described above. | |