Date Night Dinner's - Hummus Crusted Chicken

1/16/2015 tringel 0 Comments

I love hummus; I mean I really, really love it...almost as much as guacamole, and by now you all must know how much I adore guacamole. I could eat it by the spoonful. Well hummus is my Mediterranean guacamole. I have even tried avocado hummus. I may have a problem.



When I went to Israel, the hummus was out of this world; honestly, nothing compares. I think I ate hummus at every meal. And I don't just mean a bit here and there accompanying each dish, I mean mounds scooped onto each plate. But I never got tired of it.

Since I got back from Israel (almost a year and a half ago now, I can't believe how fast the time goes by), I have been in search of a hummus comparable to the stuff I got everyday in Israel. Obviously no mass produced, store bought hummus will ever amount to anything like the fresh Israeli hummus, but I have found some contenders. That, or it really has been that long since I had a taste of the good stuff. It's probably the later but I like to believe it is the first.

I have found a few good brands that I like to eat with my veggies, but I have yet to incorporate them into a full meal as I did in Israel. Then I stumbled upon this recipe. Hummus crusted chicken, need I say more? And Brenden was totally on board; I knew he would be. After all, I am the one who turned him into a hummus addict.

Like most of our date night dinners, the recipe looked to be super simple. Could the meal get any better? We already had most of the ingredients stashed somewhere in the kitchen - chicken, hummus, veggies and spices - check. We did go to the store to grab a zucchini, but you could really sub in any veggies you like or have lying around for this meal.



We followed the few simple steps, prepping our veggies and chicken in a pan and popped it in the oven. Soon after, the smell of hummus began to fill the air and we both knew the dish was going to be a success. Thirty minutes later we pulled the dish out of the oven and examined our masterpiece for the night. We each took a piece of chicken and some veggies, waited until it was just cool enough to bite without burning off our taste buds and examined our work.

We agreed the chicken turned out great, nice and juicy with a delicious layer of hummus coating the outside. We also agreed that we may try adding a few more spices to the hummus chicken and incorporating them together better, or simply trying a flavor infused hummus next time. Either way, the meal was tasty and left us with open minds and wide imaginations as to how we can kick this dish up another notch.

Hummus Crusted Chicken
Recipe adapted from gimmesomeoven.com, Hummus Crusted Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 large zucchini, sliced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 cup hummus (use your favorite)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 lemon
• 1 tsp smoked paprika

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and coat a baking dish with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, toss the zucchini and onion with olive oil until evenly coated and season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Place the vegetables on the bottom of the baking dish in an even layer.
4. Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper to taste. 
5. Cover each chicken breast with the hummus so that the entire breast is covered.
6. Lay hummus coated chicken evenly on top on the zucchini/onions in the baking dish.
7. Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the chicken and vegetables. 
8. Sprinkle the pan with smoked paprika.
9. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.
10. Serve immediately.