Sunday, June 7, 2009

Kikkoman Tropical Chicken Packets

This is an easy, almost impossible to screw up way for cooking a boneless, skinless chicken breast that comes out juicy and flavorful. We used to make it way back when I changed overnight from single to married with two kids and I was learning to feed a family of four. I liked it then because

1) It was easy
2) didn't mess up a bunch of pots
3) It was hard to screw up


If I remember right, it was a cross promotion thing from Reynolds and Kikkoman. I hadn't made this in probably a decade so I thought I'd make it once again yesterday.


Kikkoman Tropical Chicken Packets


Ingredients
4 ea chicken breast half
4 ea green onion (diced into 1" pieces)
1 can pineapple tidbits in their own juice
1 ea red and yellow bell pepper (I only used about 1/2 red pepper and 1 jalapeno, thinly sliced)
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ginger (used fresh grated)
(I also added 4 basil leaves, chopped)
2 cups rice


Instructions
Center a chicken breast half on a 12 x 18" piece of aluminum foil. Top w/ green onions, pineapple, and bell pepper. Pour teriyaki sauce, brown sugar and ginger mixture over it. Bring up foil sides, double fold the top and ends to seal packet, leaving room for heat circulation. Repeat w/ other three breast halves. Bake 18-22 minutes on a cookie sheet in 450 F oven or 14-16 minutes in covered grill. Serve over rice.


One of the packets being assembled:

Sealed packet ready for the grill.

I did these for about 15 minutes on indirect heat on the Brinkmann Professional Charcoal grill at about 400f. (See? I don't ALWAYS use the BGE for outdoor cooking).

They were as good as they always were, but to be honest, they suffered in comparison to the food I cook now. While the foil packets are fool-proof and great for use in an oven, they rob the meat of the benefits of grilling.


The next time I make this again, I'll just marinade it all together in a dish and then grill the chicken over direct heat. I'd cook the veggies up in a saute or grill basket.

Again, still a solid dish and great for someone who considers themself a kitchen hazard.