Creamy Basil Chicken: A Recipe In Need Of A Closer Examination
Sometimes I find a recipe that looks delicious in the picture and ends up being very disappointing. Other times I find a recipe that doesn’t look very exciting, but ends up being phenomenal. Now, I find myself looking into a recipe that looks and sounds delicious, but the directions don’t appear to be leading us in the correct direction.
Here is why it’s important that we continue to try new recipes and read instructions carefully. Sometimes it will help you make the recipe correctly while other times it will help you fill in the missing pieces.
Today’s recipe for Creamy Basil Chicken covers this very well.
Let’s get started.
Today’s delicious recipe is courtesy of Whisk It Real Gud. The recipe can be found right -> here!
Instructions That Needs a Little Reworking
This recipe looked co incredibly appetizing that I had to add it to my weekly review list. Just like any recipe, I take the time to actually read the instructions to determine if it is easy enough to bring to the blog. I read it and re-read it, and even read it again, but something seemed to be slightly off.
I felt like steps were missing or not connecting properly. That’s when I ventured to the top of the post. I noticed that there were step-by-step picture instructions, which I thought could fill in the missing pieces, however, even these steps weren’t matching up properly. The order of ingredients didn’t seem right, so that’s when I decided to stop and give this creamy basil chicken a proper review.
Luckily I have made similar recipes before, so I’ve become familiar with the order of how things should be cooked. I feel like I did the recipe justice, but I wish for more people to give it a try. If I hadn’t known what to do and relied on the recipe 100%, then I would certainly be missing a few things and perhaps may just end up getting frustrated.
What to Look Out For?
This recipe omits the mention of some ingredients included on the recipe card, which cause you to keep going back and forth to see what the heck to do with it. I’ll offer my suggestions see as well, because as I mentioned–this recipe is worth trying, it just may seem frustrating when the steps don’t match up. I did also leave a comment for Whisk it Real Gud, to make them aware of the inconsistency, especially since I saw no one else left a comment. For a recipe this good, you want to enjoy it over and over without stress.
To make things easier, I think it would be wise to stick just to the recipe card, and not the portion above with the pictures.
This creamy basil chicken should start with prepping all the ingredients. The spice mix, the chicken, the sun dried tomatoes, red onion, and garlic–all of it. It makes it all so much easier. To start, you should cook the chicken first. Depending on the thickness of the chicken, it could take 4-5 minutes per side on a medium-high heat.
Once the chicken is cooked, set it aside. It will go back in the pan once everything is almost ready.
This is where you put in the onion, tomatoes, and garlic. The original recipe had the steps swapped around. The reason I cook the chicken first, is so the fond can then be incorporated into the remainder of the dish. All those delicious flavors shouldn’t be discarded. So once you start adding in the butter, the cream, the chicken broth, and parmesan, then you’re left with a perfect cream sauce that isn’t too heavy.
So essentially, this is the order that I cooked this recipe in:
- Cook seasoned chicken on both sides then set it aside
- Add butter. Cook onion, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes while scraping off the fond.
- Add cream and stir until it begins to slightly thicken.
- Add chicken broth and stir, then add the parmesan. Continue stirring before adding in the reserved seasoning (as mentioned in the recipe)
- Stir in the basil and taste for additional seasoning.
- Place chicken back in the pan to warm through.
Why cook it this way? Well, often recipes start with cooking protein because that may take the shortest time to cook and in the beginning stages you’re looking to brown the protein for extra flavor. Plus, the remains in the pan really kick things up a bit. Once everything else starts being added, things move along quickly. Rather than cooking the onions first and removing them from the pan only to be added later, it keeps things moving in a flowing process. One thing after another and well, it’s less dirty plates too.
Once you start reading more recipes and trying them out, you start to notice that pattern. It’s just the wisest flow for a recipe and for the flavor of the food too. If you kept the onion in while the chicken cooked, then you’d have a crowded pan and you’d risk burning the onion, garlic, and tomatoes. Not something you want either.
Grey’s Grade: 4/5
This recipe was really delicious and it definitely is worth trying. As of today, the directions haven’t been updated, so follow my suggestions and you’ll be able to enjoy the full potential of this recipe. It’s not encouraging to find a recipe that may frustrate you, but I think these still deserve a fair chance. I’m glad I didn’t just exit out of the recipe page, because I absolutely saw the potential for a delicious meal.
If the directions matched up, then this recipe would absolutely get a full 5/5 from me. The only downside is if you’re not familiar with recipes like this, then you may find yourself getting confused and frustrated, and that is not the kind of cooking we like to do, right?
So, give these recipes a chance–I promise with these clarifications you’re bound to add this to your menu rotation!
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