A Grateful Meal

Chicken

Mini Chicken Meatloaves with Pineapple BBQ Sauce

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These mini chicken meatloaves with pineapple BBQ sauce are perfect for meal prep. You can make a batch (or two) for the week ahead or freeze for later. The pineapple, which is a natural meat tenderizer, makes the meatloaves pillowy soft and gives a tropical feel in the BBQ sauce. Clearly, I have a thing for tropical fruit inspired BBQ sauces. 

Close up of Mini Chicken Meatloaves with Pineapple BBQ Sauce on a plate

Mini Chicken Meatloaves with Pineapple BBQ Sauce Ingredients

You’ll need:

  • Scallions: You’ll need the white and green parts, but keep them separate. Make sure to chop these fine – especially the white parts, which will go into the meatloaves before cooking. You chop them fine because you don’t want to bite into a huge chunk of scallion. 
  • Ground chicken: Chicken is a natural choice to go with pineapple. You can also choose ground pork, which would work out perfectly. 
  • Ginger: Grate or mince the ginger finely. If you don’t have fresh ginger available, dried ground ginger will work fine as well, but use 1 tsp. of ground ginger in place of the 1 tbsp. of fresh ginger. 
  • Oatmeal: Oatmeal works perfectly to help bind the ground meat. You can use panko bread crumbs instead of oatmeal if you prefer. 
  • Egg: This works with the oatmeal to bind the meatloaves together.
  • Crushed pineapple: As I mentioned before, pineapple is a natural meat tenderizer and keeps the meatloaves from becoming tough. Plus, it adds a sweet Hawaiian/tropical note to the BBQ sauce by using some of the pineapple juice. 
  • Ketchup: The basis of some of the most delicious BBQ sauces – it’s sweet tomato-y flavor can’t be beaten.  
  • Seasonings: Garlic powder, salt, and pepper round out the seasonings for these meatloaves. 
Mini Chicken Meatloaves with Pineapple BBQ Sauce on a plate with sweet potato fries

What to serve on the side

I served these with baked sweet potato fries, but you also can’t go wrong with these Grilled Potato Salad Skewers with Zucchini or my Caramelized Corn and Green Bean Skillet. The corn and green bean skillet recipe is one of my top recipes of all time. They both would go perfectly with these Mini Chicken Meatloaves with Pineapple BBQ Sauce. 

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Mini Chicken Meatloaves with Pineapple BBQ Sauce

Mini Chicken Meatloaves with Pineapple BBQ Sauce in a Muffin Tin
  • Author: Melissa
  • Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30-35 minutes
  • Total Time: 35-45 minutes
  • Yield: 12 mini meatloaves 1x
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
Scale

Ingredients

  • 2 scallions, white and green parts, finely chopped, separated
  • 1 lb. ground chicken
  • 1 tbsp. fresh ginger, grated
  • 1/2 cup of oatmeal
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 small can (8 oz.) of crushed pineapple, drained and keep the juice
  • 4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, divided
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 4 tbsp. ketchup
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil a 12 cup muffin tin. 
  2. In a medium bowl, combine the white parts of the scallion, ground chicken, fresh ginger, oatmeal, egg, crushed pineapple, 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mix the contents until just incorporated. Divide evenly amongst the muffin tin.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix ketchup, 1 tbsp. of pineapple juice, 2 tsp. of Worcestershire sauce together. Season with salt and pepper. Brush ketchup mixture on top of mini meatloaves. 
  4. Bake in the oven for about 30-35 minutes or until thermometer reaches 165 degrees F. 
  5. Top of green part of scallions. Serve. 

Air Fryer Wings with Mango BBQ Sauce

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Air fryer wings with mango BBQ sauce, cilantro, and limes.

Man, I am on a roll with these air fryer recipes! Last week was my Air Fryer Egg Rolls with Chinese Five Spice, and now this week, I’ve created Air Fryer Wings with Mango BBQ Sauce. Yep, Mango BBQ Sauce. This stuff is my jam. BBQ sauce is the epitome of sweet and savory flavors in one sauce. You can put it on just about everything, and it’s the perfect save when you accidentally overcooked dinner. BBQ sauce can save just about anything, in my opinion. Mangos have the ideal tropical sweetness that lends so well into making this BBQ sauce. 

Jar of finished mango BBQ sauce

You can use flats and/or drummettes for the wings. Drummettes are always my favorite because they’re easier to handle, in my opinion. If you want to make these for a party, such as a Super Bowl or game day party, you can make these in the air fryer in batches and keep them warm in the oven at a low temperature (200 degrees) until they’re ready to be served. This recipe makes quite a bit of BBQ sauce, more than you probably will want just for this recipe. Feel free to save the remaining sauce in an airtight container for up to 1 week in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer. If I am going to be making a recipe like this where I can use the sauce again elsewhere, I like to work it into my meal plan for the week. For example, you can use this sauce on the wings one day and then again later in the week for glazing salmon. 

Close up of air fryer wings with mango BBQ sauce.

You can also customize the recipe by keeping the jalapeno seeds in or out of the sauce. For all the spicy heat lovers out there (like me!), I left all the seeds in the sauce and didn’t find it terribly spicy. Keep in mind, the seeds will continue to marinate the longer the sauce sits, so if don’t be surprised if the spiciness increases as the week goes on. However you decide to serve these wings or sauce, they are bound to be a hit! 

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Air Fryer Wings with Mango BBQ Sauce

Air fryer wings with mango BBQ sauce, cilantro, and limes.
  • Author: Melissa
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Scale

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp. olive oil, divided
  • ½ onion, chopped
  • 1 jalapeno, chopped (seeds included, if desired)
  • Salt and pepper, as desired
  • 2 tbsp. fresh ginger, peeled and minced
  • 1 ½ cups mango, cubed 
  • 1/4 cup lime juice (juice of two limes) + extra lime slices for serving
  • 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 4 tbsp. brown sugar
  • 2 lbs. chicken wings
  • Fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

  1. Heat 1 tbsp. of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and jalapeno and saute for 4-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add ginger and saute for 1 minute more. Add mango, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar. Saute for additional 1-2 minutes or until sugar dissolved. Turn off heat and set aside to cool. 
  2. Preheat air fryer to 360 degrees. Toss chicken wings with the remaining 1 tbsp. olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add to air fryer. Cook for 25 minutes or until chicken wings are brown and crispy, removing basket and shaking every 5 minutes to cook wings evenly. 
  3. While wings are cooking, finish mango BBQ sauce. Using an immersion or regular blender, puree mango BBQ sauce until smooth and no chunks remain. Once wings are done, toss with BBQ sauce. Leftover BBQ sauce can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer.  

Chicken Soup with Buttermilk Dill Dumplings

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Overview of chicken soup with buttermilk dill dumplings on top of a cloth napkin
This post contains links that pay me a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Last week I came down with something fierce. So fierce that I canceled my connecting flight home so I could get some rest in a Baltimore airport hotel for the night to regroup for my flight the following day. Eighteen hours later, I was so happy to be home that I could have kissed the ground in Charleston. While it was a balmy 70 degrees in Charleston last week, I was freezing thanks to my neverending low-grade fever, but I wanted soup. 

Just like my Italian Wedding Soup, this Chicken Soup with Buttermilk Dill Dumplings is perfect to have around for the long, cold days of winter and all the illnesses that tend to pop up. It’s warm, comforting, and requires minimal effort thanks to my Instant Pot. Before my Instant Pot, a soup like this could take hours to simmer to get the chicken perfectly tender and the broth perfectly seasoned. 

Close up of chicken soup with buttermilk dill dumplings on top of a cloth napkin

Not only is my method easy, but I use something special to make my dumplings. Pancake mix. Yep, good ol’ fashioned pancake mix, specifically the buttermilk kind for the fluffiest of pancakes. One day when I thought I had all of the ingredients to make this soup, I was entirely out of flour. However, what I did have is a giant box of buttermilk pancake mix. The mix has leavening ingredients to make them “rise” or “fluff up” when they cook. If you choose a pancake mix that also has dehydrated buttermilk, the dumplings will be super tender in texture. I could technically make dumplings from scratch and include regular buttermilk, but first of all, it’s easier and just as enjoyable to use the mix. And second, I always end up with a half-used buttermilk container, and it always feels wasteful. 

Now since the buttermilk makes the dumpling fluffy, what can we add to buttermilk dumplings extra flavor? Why, dill, of course! Buttermilk was made to be paired with dill (hey, any ranch dressing lovers out there?), so naturally, I included some dried dill in the dumplings. A little goes a long way with dill in terms of flavor. The buttermilk dill dumplings add a nice punchy flavor to the soup. 

Soups are also a great place to sneak in extra nutrition. For example, I threw in some hearty, winter greens like kale to add a nice dose of vitamins A, K, C, and B vitamins (B6 and B9 [folate]) as well as fiber. You can also up the fiber dose even more by using a whole-grain buttermilk pancake mix for the dumplings.  

Overview of chicken soup with buttermilk dill dumplings on top of a cloth napkin

This recipe is tried and true in my household. So trust me when I say, you can’t mess this one up. It’s indestructible. It also makes a lot, so if you’re trying to do some batch cooking for meal prep, this is a perfect recipe. 

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Chicken Soup with Buttermilk Dill Dumplings

Overview of chicken soup with buttermilk dill dumplings on top of a cloth napkin
  • Author: Melissa
  • Total Time: 30-45 minutes
  • Category: Soup
Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp. oil 
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 stalks of celery
  • 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 1/2 lbs. chicken breast and/or thighs, boneless, skinless 
  • 6 cups of chicken stock
  • 2 cups of buttermilk pancake mix
  • 1 tsp. dill
  • 2 tbsp. butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 bunch of kale, chopped, stems removed
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

  1. Heat oil in Instant Pot on saute function. Add onion, celery, and carrots to oil and saute for 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and turn off saute function. 
  2. Add chicken to Instant Pot. Season with salt and pepper. Add chicken stock and cook on high pressure for 13 minutes. Quick-release the steam and pressure on the Instant Pot. Remove chicken from Instant Pot and shred meat. Set chicken aside. 
  3. Add kale to the hot chicken stock and stir. Mix together pancake mix and dill in a mixing bowl. Add butter and milk and mix until just incorporated. Take a spoon and drop batter by the spoonful into the hot chicken stock. Seal up Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 8 minutes. Quick-release the steam and pressure again. 
  4. Add chicken back to soup and serve immediately. 

Smoked Chicken Enchiladas

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overview of smoked chicken enchiladas with avocado on the side
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I do not know a single person in this world that does not like enchiladas. I mean, I’ll sign up for anything that involves cheese and doughy tortillas. I thought a while back, wouldn’t chicken enchiladas be even better if they were smoked chicken enchiladas?! That’s a hard yes in my book. The problem is smoking a chicken takes forever. Ain’t nobody got time for that most weekends, let alone a weeknight. But, adding ingredients that have smoky flavors – that is easy. 

close up of the top of smoked chicken enchiladas with toppings of avocado, jalapenos, cilantro, and sour cream

We get double-smoked flavor in this recipe. One from the chipotle peppers (which is basically a smoked jalapeno) and two from liquid smoke. What is liquid smoke? Serious Eats sums it up well in this article stating, “As the name suggests, liquid smoke is a liquid that tastes like smoke—it replicates the flavor produced by smoke-curing without actually requiring you to smoke anything.” Awesome, liquid smoke saves a ton of time. Let’s do this!

Another thing I love about these smoked chicken enchiladas, and really all enchiladas in general, is that it’s easy to make large quantities with minimal effort. I basically stuff all my favorite Mexican-style proteins and veggies into tortillas and bake with a delicious sauce and cheese. In the words of the great Ina Garten, how easy is that? Plus, with leftovers, the flavor just gets better, and the tortillas just get doughier. Oh yeah, that’s my favorite. I had them for lunch today and will again tomorrow. Often, I double the already large recipe and freeze a pan for later. I always thank my past self when I pull a pan of enchiladas from the freezer. Because, when it’s been a day, I love knowing I’ve got some back-up in the freezer. Total lifesaver. 

Close up of a chicken enchilada on a plate with chips

Speaking of meal prepping and batch cooking, I am working on a brand new, free meal planning guide that I would love to share with you. It will take you step by step to start meal planning or make your meal planning more efficient. It can be so hard to get dinner on the table and nourish yourself and your family without a game plan. The guide is almost ready, and you don’t want to miss out. To make sure you’re the first to know when it’s available, sign up for my email list.

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Smoked Chicken Enchiladas

overview of smoked chicken enchiladas with avocado on the side
  • Author: Melissa
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 10–12 enchiladas 1x
  • Cuisine: Mexican
Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 can (15 oz.) no-salt added tomato sauce
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp. onion powder
  • 3 tbsp. chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
  • 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
  • 3/4 lb. chicken breast, cooked and shredded
  • 1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 small can (8.5 oz.) corn kernels, drained and rinsed
  • 2 bell or poblano peppers, chopped
  • 1 tsp. liquid smoke
  • 10–12 six-inch tortillas (flour or corn)
  • 1 bag (8 oz.) shredded cheese (such as pepper jack), divided
  • For topping (optional): cilantro, avocado, Greek yogurt or sour cream, jalapenos, etc. 

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a blender, add tomato sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, salt, chipotle pepper, and broth. Blend until completely mixed. 
  2. Mix shredded chicken, black beans, corn kernels, peppers, and liquid smoke in a large mixing bowl. Add half the amount of the sauce (about 1 1/4 cup) and about half of the cheese (4 oz.) to the mixture and stir. 
  3. Coat a 9×13 casserole dish with oil or spray oil. Place filling on tortillas, roll up, and arrange with seam side down in casserole dish. Cover enchiladas remaining sauce and cheese. Bake for 30 minutes covered. 
  4. Top with desired extras like cilantro, avocado, etc. and serve. 

Braised Lemon Chicken with Spaghetti Squash

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Overview of a plate of braised lemon chicken with spaghetti squash
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One of my favorite easy recipes that I make is Braised Lemon Chicken. I have been making it for years, and it’s always a hit for potlucks and dinner parties, not to mention as a super simple weeknight meal. I frequently am asked for the recipe, but I never wrote it down until now. I once had to type out the basic idea of how to make it over text message to a friend that wanted to make it for herself at home. It wasn’t too hard to describe, but texting a made-up recipe was rather amusing. It’s a simple chicken breast that is dredged in flour and Italian seasoning, seared in a pan, and braised with chicken stock and lemon juice. I’ve paired the chicken dish with all sorts of sides, including potatoes, salad, lentils, and other various vegetables. But, one of my favorite side dishes to go with the chicken is spaghetti squash.

A plate of braised lemon chicken with spaghetti squash with a fork

I have not always been a spaghetti squash lover. I tried it years ago, and it was just so watery and flavorless. The problem was that I tried roasting it whole. It essentially steamed the squash from the inside out, which kept all the water inside, making the texture off-putting and hard to season to give it real flavor. A couple of years ago, after hearing of my dislike for spaghetti squash, a coworker insisted that I try making it again. Instead of roasting it whole, she recommended splitting the squash in half and roasting at high heat, which would evaporate the water and carmelize the natural sugar in squash. Made sense to me, so I tried again. Boom, a spaghetti squash lover was born. I never expect it to replace pasta for me because no one can replace pasta. But, I do like spaghetti squash as a simple vegetable option. 

Close up of spaghetti squash being scooped up by a fork

Moral of the story, if you don’t like a particular food, you don’t have to write it off forever. In fact, I certainly haven’t always been a vegetable lover. I was a notoriously picky eater when I was a kid and into early adulthood. The problem was, at least when I was an adult, that I was not too fond of the way some vegetables were cooked. It was all about texture and seasoning. Plain, steamed, soft green beans? Hell no, I hate mushy vegetables. Roasted green beans? I’ll take seconds. Other people? They might like soft vegetables and hate crisp vegetables. You do you, but you may not have discovered the way you like a particular food. And, taste preferences change over time. If you like it, great! If not, that’s okay too! I haven’t figured out how to make cauliflower taste good to me yet, but I try it every so often. The day I post a cauliflower recipe on here, you’ll know. But for now, I do like roasted spaghetti squash. 

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Braised Lemon Chicken with Spaghetti Squash

Overview of a plate of braised lemon chicken with spaghetti squash
  • Author: Melissa
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 60 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour and 10 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x
Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 large spaghetti squash
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil, divided
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
  • 1 1/4 lb. of chicken breasts, boneless/skinless
  • 1 tbsp. butter
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped fine
  • 1 1/4 cup chicken broth
  • 1 lemon
  • 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut spaghetti squash in half and scoop out seeds. Drizzle with 1 tbsp. olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast on a baking sheet for 50-60 minutes or until flesh is tender and can easily be poked with a fork. 
  2. Place flour and Italian seasoning in a shallow dish. Dredge chicken through flour mixture. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium-high heat. Sear chicken breast in pan, browning each side. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side. Place on plate and set aside. 
  3. Melt butter in the same skillet. Add garlic cloves and saute for about 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add broth, rosemary, and juice of half of the lemon. Add chicken back to skillet and simmer for at least 5 minutes or until chicken cooked thoroughly. 
  4. Once spaghetti squash finished roasting, scoop out flesh of squash. Top squash with chicken, pan sauce, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Slice remaining lemon and serve with chicken. 

Chicken Marsala Meatballs

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Close up of chicken marsala meatballs garnished with parsley
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We all need a good meatball recipe in our lives, and these Chicken Marsala Meatballs are just the ticket. That might be the Italian in me speaking, but I’m sure non-Italians agree. I also think we all need a meal that we can make without a recipe. A recipe that we have down pat and could make blindfolded. Chicken Marsala is one of those recipes for me. It was one of the first things I learned to make when I started adulting. You can’t beat braised chicken in a sweet and savory wine sauce with mushrooms. Back in those early adulting years, I used cheap cooking marsala wine from the grocery store (I mean, I wasn’t even 21 yet, people). These days, I use authentic sweet Marsala wine. Marsala wine is a fortified, higher alcohol (the I used was 18% ABV) wine hailing from the Italian island of Sicily. Wine Folly recommends a simple entry-level marsala wine ($10-15) for cooking. 

Chicken marsala meatballs with a bottle of marsala wine in the background

Instead of adding the mushrooms in the sauce with these Chicken Marsala Meatballs, I decided to put the mushrooms in the meatballs to bump up the flavor and keep them from drying out as mushrooms hold a ton a taste but a lot of water too. Plus, you can sneak in a vegetable. Non-mushroom lovers may be reluctant to see the mushrooms in the sauce, but now they won’t even know they are there! They’ll just taste the great flavor, and you can make them into mushroom lovers by telling them afterward there were mushrooms in the meatballs. I love tricking people into liking things they thought they hated. It’s so much fun. 

Overview of chicken marsala meatballs with parsley garnish

These meatballs could be used as an entree or as an appetizer. With New Year’s Eve coming up, these would make the perfect party food for any potluck or gathering. The sauce sticks to the meatballs well, so you just have to plate them up and stick some toothpicks in them for easy serving. 

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Chicken Marsala Meatballs

Close up of chicken marsala meatballs garnished with parsley
Scale

Ingredients

  • 8 oz. cremini or baby bella mushrooms
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 pound ground chicken or turkey
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • Salt and pepper
  • 3/4 cup chicken stock
  • 3/4cup of marsala wine
  • 1 tbsp. cornstarch or tapioca powder, as needed
  • Chopped parsley, optional (for garnish)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Pulse mushrooms in food processor until coarsely chopped (it’s ok if the pieces aren’t uniform). Heat skillet over medium-high heat, add olive oil,  then the ground mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. Saute mushrooms until their liquid fully evaporated about 7-10 minutes. Turn off heat and set pan aside to cool slightly.
  2. Add ground chicken, egg, panko, parmesan, garlic/onion powder in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add cooked, ground mushrooms and mix everything together until just combined. Set aside mushroom pan for making sauce. Roll into small meatballs (should yield about 30-35 meatballs). 
  3. Line a baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper. Bake meatballs for about 18-20 minutes or until meatballs cooked through. 
  4. Meanwhile, reheat the pan used to cook mushrooms. Pour the Marsala wine into the pan and boil down for a few seconds to cook out some of the alcohol. Add the chicken stock and simmer for a few minutes or until sauce is reduced – about 3-5 minutes. If sauce is needing thickening, mix the cornstarch (or tapioca powder) with just enough cold water to dissolve. Add to cornstarch slurry to sauce to thicken enough to coat meatballs. Add meatballs to skillet to coat. Garnish with chopped parsley (if using).