Outrigger paddler Genie Kincaid credits paddling practice years ago for one of the easy recipes she makes all the time, baked chicken with a sauce of onion soup mix and red salad dressing. Fellow paddler Stefanie Smart shared her recipe that combines the mix with Catalina or Russian dressing.
Kincaid adds to the recipe mango chutney, red pepper flakes and sometimes shallots or onions. Now her husband, Chris, asks for it all the time.
“It’s a staple in our house, as the gravy is just delicious over rice,” Kincaid says.
The combination of the chutney and sauce delivers a sweet-sour flavor profile — sweet from the chutney and tangy from the soup mix and vinegar in the dressing. The chicken doesn’t need to be marinated, just coated in sauce before it cooks in the oven.
Kincaid used to bake bone-in chicken breasts but found she prefers bone-in thigh, which is moist.
“We’re sweet meat-on-the-bone people,” she says.
After baking, the chunks of mango in the chutney get a bit chewy and crispy around the edges. If your chutney has big chunks of fruit, you may want to chop it into smaller pieces.
With its beautiful red-orange-brown color, this chicken dish is as good looking as it is tasty.
BAKED RED-ORANGE CHICKEN
By Genie Kincaid
- 1 (2-ounce) package onion soup mix (Lipton preferred)
- 1 (8-ounce) bottle Russian or Catalina salad dressing (Wish-Bone or Kraft brands preferred)
- 1 cup mango chutney
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 to 4 pounds skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine onion soup, dressing, chutney and red pepper flakes.
Line baking tray with foil (or spray with oil). Place chicken in pan, skin side up. Pour mixture over chicken, making sure each thigh is coated. Bake, uncovered, until chicken reaches an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees, about 40 to 50 minutes.
Skim oil. Serve chicken with the red-orange sauce, over rice or pasta. Serves 4 to 6.
Approximate nutritional information, (based on 3 pounds of chicken thighs, 6 servings and not including rice): 670 calories, 43 g fat, 10 g saturated fat, 200 mg cholesterol, 1,550 mg sodium, 33 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 12 g sugar, 33 g protein.
”Easy Kine” features simple dishes that start with commercially prepared ingredients. Lynette Lo Tom is excited to hear your tried-and-true suggestions. Contact her at lynette@brightlightcookery.com or via Instagram at @brightlightcookery. Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.
