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I recently made Ina Garten's favorite easy dinner recipe that only calls for three ingredients.
The recipe uses skin-on chicken breast, basil, and goat cheese.
I made the recipe on a weekday, and it was ready in 45 minutes.
During the workweek, I always look for easy, healthy recipes that make dinner a breeze.
Ina Garten recently shared her recipe for the "easiest dinner" she knows how to make, which only takes 10 minutes and three main ingredients to prepare.
"This is one of my favorite recipes for when I'm too tired to cook but really want a hot meal," she captioned an Instagram video shared back in February explaining the recipe.
Here's how to make Garten's go-to, three-ingredient chicken breasts.
I started by gathering my ingredients, which included skin-on chicken breasts, herb goat cheese, and fresh basil.
The ingredients for the chicken recipe.
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The amount of each ingredient will depend on the size of your chicken breast or breasts, but I used:
1.17 lb Organic Smart Chicken bone-in skin-on chicken breast with rib meat
3 ½ slices of Vermont Creamery Fresh Goat Cheese Herb Chevre
3 fresh basil leaves
The total cost of my ingredients came to $18.65, excluding tax, from my local Big Y grocery store in Massachusetts. I already owned olive oil, salt, and pepper.
For this recipe, Garten recommended using skin-on, boneless chicken breasts, but I could only find skin-on, bone-in breasts at my local grocery store.
The chicken breast on a wooden board.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
Garten said in the video that she asked her butcher for a particular chicken cut. However, since I relied on what was available in the meat aisle at Big Y, I couldn't access skin-on, boneless chicken breasts.
If you run into the same issue, you might have to alter the cooking time slightly when making bone-in chicken breasts, as the bones absorb some of the heat while cooking.
I then sliced up my herb goat cheese.
The herb goat cheese cut into slices.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
You can also use plain goat cheese, Garten said, depending on your preference. However, I found that the herb variety added a lot of flavor to the dish.
I then patted the chicken dry, gently separated the skin from the meat, and placed the sliced goat cheese under it.
Goat cheese is placed under the skin of the chicken breast.
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I used about four thin slices of goat cheese and tried to stuff it under as much of the chicken skin as possible.
I then added three leaves of basil on top of the goat cheese and folded the skin back over.
The chicken breast with goat cheese and basil.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
You then want to sprinkle the chicken breast in olive oil and generously season with salt and pepper.
I cooked the chicken breast for about 45 minutes in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
The finished chicken breast.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
Garten's original version, which uses boneless, skin-on chicken breasts, should take between 35 and 40 minutes in the oven. After that, let the chicken rest under foil for 10 minutes to finish cooking.
Garten recommends enjoying a glass of wine while the chicken cooks, which I could definitely see myself doing. I was amazed by how easy this recipe was to prepare.
The chicken skin came out perfectly crispy but inside the chicken was moist from the goat cheese.
The finished chicken.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The chicken breast was large enough to feed two people, making it the perfect weeknight dinner for a couple.
This chicken recipe was packed with flavor, but couldn't have been easier to make.
The finished chicken.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The herb goat cheese added a pungent, earthy flavor to the dish, complemented by the basil. The skin and chicken were both perfectly cooked — in fact, this was one of the juiciest chicken breasts I've ever eaten.
My only criticism was that it was difficult to eat around the bones since my grocery store didn't carry boneless, skin-on chicken breasts.
However, for less than 10 minutes to prepare and less than an hour total for this meal to come together, I was extremely impressed.
