Eater's Digest: Easy and Unique Chicken Recipes

These chicken recipes from the readers of Taste of Home are fast, nutritious, and refreshingly different.

By Diane Werner, RD

From Reader's Digest

There are few things as comfortingly familiar as a bowl of chicken soup, but who says it can't have a little zing? (And tortilla strips in place of noodles?) These recipes -- from Taste of Home, the nation's largest food magazine -- were created by home cooks looking for an easy way to spice up dinnertime. The answer: Start with chicken, then add a few high-impact flavors for dishes that are fast, nutritious, and anything but ordinary.

• Chicken Tortilla Soup ($1.62 per serving)
• Chicken Pesto Pizza ($1.17 per serving)
• Oregano Olive Chicken ($1.61 per serving)

Chicken Checklist

Skip the skin. Properly cooked chicken stays moist without it (turn off the heat as soon as the juices run clear). You'll save 6 grams of fat and 59 calories by removing it from a 6-ounce breast.

Pick the right amount. A 6- or 7-ounce chicken breast half is a perfect portion size for most recipes.

Keep it thin. Cut larger chicken breasts in half width-wise, then pound with a meat mallet to flatten slightly. This will allow the chicken to cook quickly and evenly.