smart chicken Archives | Heavenly Homemakers

It might sound kind of silly for me to say this, but I’ve typically thought that making a meal of Barbecue Chicken Breasts is a bit of a “splurge” for us. Why? Because hardly ever do I just cook boneless, skinless chicken breasts as our “main dish” without spreading them out within a casserole to make them “stretch”.

Even so, this meal costs just a tiny bit more than one dollar per plate. Sweet! I’m so glad to know the price breakdown on this, because we love it. Plus, this meal is super fast and easy to prepare. I’m talking five minutes tops. I can quickly throw chicken breasts and homemade barbecue sauce into the crockpot on a Sunday morning before church, or right after lunch on a weekday – and a few hours later, our main dish is ready! Add a veggie or two, and maybe some bread, and your meal is complete.

We used (free) green beans from our garden for this meal, but to be fair to those who don’t have garden beans in their freezer, I included the price of purchased, frozen beans as I calculated the cost of this meal. Altogether with the chicken, sauce, beans, and muffins, this meal ends up being $1.09/plate. (I calculated my cost based on the food sources and prices I have available to me. Most of the ingredients I use are organic. Your cost may be slightly more or less depending on where you find your ingredients.)

In case you’re wondering – I use Smart Chicken Brand boneless skinless chicken breasts in recipes like this. That is the best I can find around here – and I wait for them to go on sale. (My friend recently got me a case at a great price from her local store. Smart Chicken breast for just $2.71/pound…so exciting!)

Crock Pot Barbecue ChickenYum

Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken - Real Food Dollar Menu

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Author: Laura

Ingredients

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
½ recipe of Homemade Barbecue Sauce (about ½ cup)

Instructions

Cut chicken breasts into portion sized pieces.
Place in a crock pot, top with barbecue sauce, and cook on low for about four hours or until meat is no longer pink.
BONUS: Don't have time for the crock pot? Simply put the chicken and sauce into a saucepan over medium heat on the stove. Cook for 20-30 minutes until cooked through. Serve!

Here’s my Homemade Barbecue Sauce recipe. :)

Do you often use boneless, skinless chicken breasts for a main dish…or do you typically try to “stretch” them into more meals?

Looking for more meals on our Real Food Dollar Menu? Here are the recipes I’ve shared so far:

Hearty Chili

Spanish Rice

Pasta Alfredo

Hey, check it out! This is a chicken recipe AND a crock pot recipe! It’s as if the best of both worlds just came together for a lovely party, don’t you think? I mean, there is not much more exciting than combining the Week of the Chicken with a Crock Pot Recipes post, I’m pretty sure. (This makes it clearly obvious that I don’t get out much.)

And guess what else? Many of you have asked that I try to experiment and come up with some healthy alternatives to boxes of Rice-a-Roni – and I think this recipe might just meet that need for some of you. When it was all said and done, I thought this dish kind of looked and tasted rice-a-roni-ish. Try it and see what you think.

If you haven’t tried making my homemade Onion Soup Mix, I recommend throwing it together to use for this recipe. Store bought onion soup mixes typically have not-so-good for you ingredients in them that I avoid. The homemade mix is super easy and very inexpensive.

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken and RiceYum

2 cups brown rice (uncooked)
Sea salt
3 cups water or chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1-2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 Tablespoons Onion Soup Mix

Place rice in the bottom of a crock pot, and sprinkle it generously with salt. Pour water or broth and cream over the rice. Cut chicken breasts into serving sized portions and place on top of the rice and liquid. Sprinkle Onion Soup Mix over the top.

Cook on a low setting for 4-5 hours. Serves 6-8.

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken and Rice