Chicken with Whole-Grain Mustard & Zucchini in Packets
Submitted by happyzhangbo
Mustard-rubbed chicken breasts baked in parchment with zucchini, cherry tomatoes, peppers, and fresh thyme. A healthy, low-fat dinner with built-in cleanup.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
35 minREADY
56 minCooking en papillote sounds fancy, but really it’s just wrapping good ingredients in paper and letting the oven do the work.
Whole-grain mustard coats each chicken breast before getting piled high with sliced zucchini, sweet banana peppers, cherry tomatoes, and shallots.
Everything steams together inside the sealed parchment, so the chicken stays incredibly juicy and the vegetables get tender without losing their color.
Open the packet at the table for that burst of herb-scented steam that makes everyone lean in.
Pro Tips
- Fold your parchment edges tightly in small overlapping crimps. Loose seals mean escaping steam and dry chicken.
- Don’t skip the 5-minute rest after baking. The carryover heat finishes the cooking gently.
- This works beautifully on the grill too. Use foil instead of parchment, medium-high heat, lid closed.
- Swap banana peppers for mini sweet peppers if you prefer less tang.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F (or see Grill Variation, below).
To prepare packets, start with four 20- to 24-inch-long pieces of parchment paper or foil.
Fold in half crosswise. With the parchment or foil folded, draw half a heart shape on one side as you would if you were making a Valentine.
Use scissors to cut out the heart shape.
Open up the heart.
Place a chicken breast on one side of each open heart fairly close to the crease and leaving at least a 1-inch boarder around the edges for folding and spread with mustard.
Toss zucchini, peppers, shallots, tomatoes, oil, thyme, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
Place about 1¼ cups of the vegetable mixture on top of each piece of chicken.
Close the packet to cover the ingredients.
Starting at the top, seal the packet by folding the edges together in a series of small, tight folds.
Twist the tip of the packet and tuck it underneath to help keep the packet closed.
Place the packets on a large rimmed baking sheet (packets may overlap slightly).
Bake until the vegetables are tender and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken registers 165°F, about 25 minutes.
(Carefully open one package to check for doneness—be cautious of the steam.)
Let the packets rest unopened for 5 minutes before serving.
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