Another day, another En Papillote recipe! Lately I’ve been enamored by the almost-too-simple technique of cooking dinner in neat little parchment paper packets. You’ve probably heard me go on and on about it before, so I’ll save from repeating myself.
It’s just SO easy! And the meal turns out SO tender! And there’s virtually NO clean up! Sorry…couldn’t resist :-)
This particular En Papillote combination of chicken, sweet potato, butter beans, green beans and tangy BBQ sauce is a favorite of my kiddos. They love ripping open their own individual packets at the dinner table and taking in the fragrant steam that wafts into their faces.
Be sure to slice the sweet potato very thin, as you want it to be tender at the end of the 30-minute baking time. This is also why we are using thin sliced chicken breast, in order to make sure that the meat is cooked through.
**Note: My 11 year old son, Andrew, took this photo! And my 9 year old daughter, Chloe, helped compose the picture by selecting the plate and napkin. And then they fought over who got to eat it. So we ended up splitting it!**
2 shallots, thinly sliced into half moons
1 sweet potato, peeled and thinly sliced into half moons
1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 (16 ounce) can butter beans
½ cup natural BBQ sauce ( avoid ones with added sugars)
4 chicken breast, thin sliced
2 tablespoons fresh chives, minced
Preheat the oven to 400º F.
In a large bowl toss the shallots, sweet potatoes, green beans and butter beans with half of the BBQ sauce. Rub the remaining sauce over the chicken breasts.
Cut four 12-by-16-inch pieces of parchment paper and fold each in half. Open the parchment paper and arrange ¼ of the sweet potato and green beans and a chicken breast in the center of the top half of each parchment. Generously season with salt and pepper. Top with a sprinkle of chives.
Fold the bottom half of the parchment paper over the chicken and veggies. Start folding and crimping the parchment paper ends together from one end all the way around to the other end, creating a sealed envelope. Fold the end under the packet. The packet should be fully encased, with no breaks in the parchment paper for steam to escape – we need that steam as part of the cooking process! Place the packets on a pan.
Bake the chicken and veggie packets for 30 minutes and remove from the oven. Serve the packets on plates, tearing them open just before serving. Enjoy!
Calories: 268
Fat: 4g
Carbohydrates: 22g
Sodium: 625mg
Fiber: 5g
Protein: 35g
Sugar: 3g