chicken

Baked Italian Chicken (Freezer Meal)

Who doesn’t love a freezer meal that includes the protein AND the veggies?! This baked Italian chicken recipe has all that and more. It is especially delicious served over pasta. Sometimes when you bake chicken in the oven, it can dry out, but this recipe has a sauce, so the chicken stays nice and juicy.

This dish can also be cooked in the Crock-Pot® (which I know then technically is no longer called “Baked” Italian Chicken, but it still tastes just as good. And the slow cooker option is nice for a day when you need to be out of the house and come back to dinner waiting.

What I like best about this meal is that it includes some fresh-tasting vegetables as well as the chicken so I know my kids are getting a balanced meal and yet it’s so easy to throw together. Plus, when you serve it over pasta, it gets that homemade comfort food aspect down as well.

Baked Italian Chicken Recipe:

8-12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
3/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup zucchini with peel, cubed
1/2 cup onion, diced
24 oz. jar pasta sauce

Assembly instructions:

Cut the zucchini and onion and slice the mushrooms.
Place the chicken thighs in a large resealable freezer bag.
Add the seasoning, vegetables, brown sugar, and pasta sauce.
Remove all the air you can from the bag, seal it, and freeze.

Oven Cooking Instructions:

Thaw. Put the contents of the bag in a casserole dish.
Bake in the oven at 375° for 50 minutes.

Crock Pot Cooking Instructions:

Thaw. Put the bag contents into the slow cooker.
Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Serve over pasta and sprinkle with shredded or shaved Parmesan cheese. If you are on a gluten-free diet, you can instead serve this over rice. You can also serve this with a side salad if you want more greens.

Variations on this recipe:

Substitute 3-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts for the chicken thighs.
Add some crushed chili flakes either before cooking or when serving if you like to spice things up a bit.
You can substitute a can of sliced mushrooms for the fresh mushrooms, but I really suggest you use fresh. It’s hardly any extra work to slice them up and it tastes so much fresher.
Use whichever red pasta sauce is your favorite. By experimenting and trying different types of pasta sauce, you can change up the flavors of this meal.

Other chicken freezer meals:

Baked Italian Chicken

Prep Time

7 mins

Cook Time

50 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: baked chicken, chicken

Servings: 4

Calories: 428 kcal

Ingredients

8-12 chicken thighs boneless and skinless
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
3/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup zucchini cubed with peel
1/2 cup onion diced
24 oz. jar pasta sauce

Instructions

Assembly instructions:

Cut the zucchini and onion and slice the mushrooms.
Place the chicken thighs in a large resealable freezer bag.
Add the seasoning, vegetables, brown sugar, and pasta sauce.
Remove all the air you can from the bag, seal it, and freeze.

Oven Cooking Instructions:

Thaw. Put the contents of the bag in a casserole dish.
Bake in the oven at 375° for 50 minutes.

Crock Pot Cooking Instructions:

Thaw. Put the bag contents into the slow cooker.
Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Recipe Notes

Serve over pasta and sprinkle with shredded or shaved Parmesan cheese.

Lemon Mustard Chicken Dump Recipe

By Sharla

When we are making freezer meals, the chicken dump recipes are the fastest to assemble. Because of that, we tend to choose to make many chicken dump recipes to speed things up. Not wanting to eat the same thing over and over, we have come up with a lot of variations. This lemon mustard chicken dump recipe is a nice one.

With this recipe, I prefer to use chicken thighs because I find that they come out juicier, but it works with either thighs or breasts.

One of the other things I like about this particular recipe is that it uses ingredients that I always have in the house. I buy a huge pail of local honey each year and lemon juice and dijon mustard are just fridge standards in our house.

That means that this recipe is often one that gets made at the end of our freezer meal sessions. I like to buy extra chicken so that we can make extra chicken dump recipes since they are so easy to put together.

If you’re new to chicken dump recipes, watch the video below for full instructions and tips:

Lemon Mustard Chicken Dump Recipe:

4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 8-10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup honey, melted
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. lemon juice (fresh lemon juice or from a jar)
2 tsp. lemon pepper
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

To assemble this meal, open a large resealable bag, fold down the top and prop the bottom so that it stays upright on the counter. It’s easiest to make several of these meals at one time. Prop open as many bags as the quantity of meals you want to make.

Melt the honey. Place the chicken pieces in each bag. Dump in the rest of the ingredients including the melted honey. Squish everything together to combine. Remove the excess air from the bag(s). Seal, lay flat, and freeze.

On the day of cooking, take the bag out of the freezer. Thaw. Bake at °350 for one hour, covered, uncovering the last ten minutes or cook in the crock pot on low for 4-6 hours. This freezer to crock pot recipe is included in our Chicken Dump Recipes book. Check out all the recipes included.

Lemon mustard chicken is gluten free and of course, dairy free. This makes it quite allergy friendly.

If you are on a keto diet, you can make this recipe without the honey. I have made it without the honey and it still tastes amazing.

What side dishes go with lemon mustard chicken?

The flavours of lemon mustard chicken go well with a variety of side dishes. Here is a list of ideas of side dishes to accompany this meal:

wild rice with mushrooms
Jasmine or Basmati rice
simple salad of greens and baby tomatoes
creamed corn
carrots
garlic bread (get our recipe for make-ahead garlic bread here)
sauteed mushrooms
risotto
quick and easy smashed red potatoes
pan fried brussels sprouts with caramelized onions
German braised red cabbage
kale and broccoli salad
balsamic roasted green beans
artichoke and roasted red pepper coleslaw
apple grape salad
baby roasted potatoes
peas
honey roasted butternut squash with cranberries and feta
creamy cucumber salad
garlic fried noodles

You may be interested in some of our other easy chicken freezer meals:

Instant Pot or Crock Pot Salsa Verde Chicken Tacos Lemon Garlic Chicken Dump Recipe Make Ahead Chicken Marsala

Lemon Mustard Chicken Dump Recipe

Course: Main Course

Keyword: chicken dump, freezer meal

Ingredients

4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 8-10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup honey melted
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. lemon pepper
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Instructions

To assemble this meal, open a large resealable bag, fold down the top and prop the bottom so that it stays upright on the counter.
Melt the honey. Place the chicken pieces in each bag. Dump in the rest of the ingredients including the melted honey.
Squish everything together to combine. Remove the excess air from the bag(s). Seal, lay flat, and freeze.
On the day of cooking, take the bag out of the freezer. Thaw.

Oven instructions

Bake at °350 for one hour, covered, uncovering the last ten minutes.

Slow cooker instructions

Cook in the crock pot on low for 4-6 hours.

Easy Chicken Marsala

By Sharla

This easy Chicken Marsala can mostly be made ahead as a freezer meal. It is then heated on the stove in a skillet. This is such a quick recipe to make.

Chicken Marsala is named for its use of Marsala wine. This wine originates in Western Sicily. This dish is a variation of the traditional Italian Scaloppine.

Its bold flavors come from the reduction of the wine as it cooks.

Easy Chicken Marsala Recipe:

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
½ cup flour
1 cup mushrooms, sliced lengthwise
1/4 cup shallots, diced extremely fine
1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped coarsely
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
¾ cup marsala wine
⅓ -½ cup heavy cream (1/3 cup if using 2 chicken breasts, 1/2 cup if using 3)

For the cooking day:

2 Tbsp. of olive oil
optional: more rosemary and parsley for garnish

Pound the chicken breasts with a meat tenderizer. Put the flour onto a plate and place each chicken breast into the flour, flipping it over so that both sides are covered. Place the dredged chicken into a large resealable freezer bag. Seal.

In another freezer bag, add the mushrooms, finely diced shallots, 1/2 of the rosemary, wine, and the heavy cream. Take out the excess air and seal. Staple the bags together above the seal and freeze.

On the day of cooking, take the bag out of the freezer to thaw.

Place 1 Tbsp. of oil into the skillet on medium heat and heat. Once the oil is heated up, place the floured chicken breast into the pan. Cook the chicken on each side for 5-8 minutes per side. Add the remaining oil to the skillet and add the contents of the other bag with the chicken.

Lower the heat. Cook for 7-10 minutes. Allow the wine to reduce slightly, cooking until it is nice and fragrant.

Keep a careful eye on the sauce because of the cream, making sure that it doesn’t break. If the sauce does break, add more cream.

Remove skillet from the heat. When you plate the chicken, cover it with the sauce. Garnish with leftover rosemary and parsley.

Serve over angel hair noodles or with rice and a side of vegetables. Asparagus goes beautifully with this meal.

Check out these delicious freezer meals:

Make-Ahead Apple Pork Chops Make-Ahead Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa

Easy Chicken Marsala Recipe

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Chicken Marsala

Servings: 4

Calories: 409 kcal

Ingredients

2-3 chicken breasts boneless, skinless
½ cup flour
1 cup mushrooms sliced lengthwise
1/4 cup shallots diced extremely fine
1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary chopped coarsely
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
¾ cup marsala wine
⅓ -½ cup heavy cream 1/3 cup if using 2 chicken breasts, 1/2 cup if using 3

For the cooking day:

2 Tbsp. olive oil
optional: more rosemary and parsley for garnish

Instructions

Pound the chicken breasts with a meat tenderizer. Put the flour onto a plate and place each chicken breast into the flour, flipping it over so that both sides are covered.
Place the dredged chicken into a large resealable freezer bag. Seal.
In another freezer bag, add the mushrooms, finely diced shallots, 1/2 of the rosemary, wine, and the heavy cream. Take out the excess air and seal. Staple the bags together above the seal and freeze.
On the day of cooking, take the bag out of the freezer to thaw.
Place 1 Tbsp. of oil into the skillet on medium heat and heat. Once the oil is heated up, place the floured chicken breast into the pan. Cook the chicken on each side for 5-8 minutes per side. Add the remaining oil to the skillet and add the contents of the other bag with the chicken.
Lower the heat. Cook for 7-10 minutes. Allow the wine to reduce slightly, cooking until it is nice and fragrant.
Keep a careful eye on the sauce because of the cream, making sure that it doesn't break. If the sauce does break, add more cream.
Remove from the heat. When you plate the chicken, cover it with the sauce. Garnish with leftover rosemary and parsley.

Recipe Notes

Serve over angel hair noodles or with rice and a side of vegetables. Asparagus goes beautifully with this meal.

Lemon Pesto Chicken Freezer Meal

By Sharla

It just does not get any easier than this 4 ingredient Lemon Pesto Chicken recipe! Not only is it fast and easy to make, but it’s also a freezer meal, saving you even more time.

This freezer meal recipe is gluten-free. It’s a very easy meal to put together, but it is a bit different than chicken recipes with just a marinade.

I make this often, but I always forget to take a picture of it once it’s on the plate with sides. All I have are pictures of it in the freezer bag and in the casserole dish fresh out of the oven. I decided to put this recipe up here anyway so that others could benefit from the recipe even though the pictures aren’t so pretty. You’ll just have to take my word that it looks better on a plate!

Lemon Pesto Chicken Recipe:

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup jarred pesto sauce
1/8 cup lemon juice
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
optional: 1 tsp. lemon rind

Put the shredded Mozza cheese in a medium resealable bag and seal.

Place the chicken breasts in a large-sized resealable bag. Add the pesto, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. If you want some extra zip, toss in some lemon rind. Remove the excess air from the bag and seal. Staple the medium bag to the large one above the seal to ensure there are no leaks. Lay flat in the freezer.

On the day of cooking, thaw. Put the chicken in a casserole dish. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes, covered. Uncover and top with the mozzarella cheese and bake for another 5 minutes. Turn the oven to broil and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

This recipe is included in our Family Favourites Freezer Meal Plan along with other family-friendly make-ahead recipes, prep and shopping lists, and printable labels.

Check out these other delicious freezer meals:

Chicken and Vegetable Casserole with Crispy Onion Topping Chicken and Spinach Alfredo Bake

Lemon Pesto Chicken Recipe

Course: Main Course

Keyword: lemon pesto chicken

Servings: 6

Calories: 275 kcal

Ingredients

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup jarred pesto sauce
1/8 cup lemon juice
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
optional: 1 tsp. lemon rind

Instructions

Put the shredded mozza cheese in a medium resealable bag and seal.
Place the chicken breasts in a large sized resealable bag. Add the pesto, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. If you want some extra zip, toss in some lemon rind. Remove the excess air from the bag and seal.
Staple the medium bag to the large one above the seal to ensure there are no leaks. Lay flat in the freezer.
On the day of cooking, thaw. Put the chicken in a casserole dish. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes, covered. Uncover and top with the mozzarella cheese and bake for another 5 minutes. Turn the oven to broil and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

Chicken in Mango Cream Sauce Over Pasta

By Sharla

This is one of my favorites. I’ve been making Chicken in Mango Cream Sauce over Pasta for years. Now that I mainly only make freezer meals, I was missing its flavors, so I adapted the recipe into a freezer meal. I wasn’t sure if it would be as good once frozen and heated, but it’s amazing! It’s one of those recipes where the kids squeal when they find out we’re having it.

I am going to put myself out there and admit something. On the very rare occasions that there are leftovers of this, I hide them. I’m not proud of it, but it’s true. I hide them in a container in the far back of the fridge.

It tastes so good the next day heated up with some chili flakes and asiago cheese on top. Yum!

The fact that I have to hide in the bathroom to eat it so that I don’t have to share only slightly detracts from the experience!

Chicken in Mango Cream Sauce Recipe:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1/2 purple onion, sliced thinly
1/2 green pepper, sliced
2 tsp. garlic, minced
1 heaping Tbsp. Madras curry paste
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup mango tangerine juice
1 cup evaporated milk
1 Tbsp. mango chutney
1 tsp. red chilies

For serving:

spaghetti or other long noodle pasta

To cook the chicken, I like to use the oven. I make many freezer meals at once, so this is the most efficient way. Put the chicken breasts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 50 minutes at 350° before cubing.

Place the cooked, cubed chicken, onions, garlic, peppers, flour, and curry paste into a large, resealable freezer bag. Give it a good shake to coat the chicken and veggies with flour and curry paste. Add the chicken broth, juice, evaporated milk, chutney, and red chili flakes. Squish together to combine. Remove the excess air from the bag, seal, and freeze.

To cook, take the bag out of the freezer to thaw. Reheat the sauce in a large skillet or in the microwave. Serve over long noodles such as spaghetti.

If desired, top your chicken in mango cream sauce pasta with more chili flakes and grated Parmesan or asiago cheese.

You can find similar make-ahead recipes ready in a splash in our Dinner in 20 Freezer Meal Plan. It includes everything you need: shopping lists, prep lists, recipes, and printable labels.

Other freezer meals you may enjoy:

Spinach and Chicken Penne Alfredo Casserole Beefy Rice Crock Pot Casserole

Chicken in Mango Cream Sauce Recipe

Course: Main Course

Keyword: chicken, freezer meal

Servings: 6

Calories: 208 kcal

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts boneless, skinless, cooked and cubed
1/2 purple onion sliced thinly
1/2 green pepper sliced
2 tsp. garlic minced
1 heaping Tbsp. Madras curry paste
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup mango tangerine juice
1 cup evaporated milk
1 Tbsp. mango chutney
1 tsp. red chilies

For serving:

spaghetti or other long noodle pasta

Instructions

Put the chicken breasts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 50 minutes at 350° before cubing.
Place the cooked, cubed chicken, onions, garlic, peppers, flour, and curry paste into a large, resealable freezer bag. Give it a good shake to coat the chicken and veggies with flour and curry paste.
Add the chicken broth, juice, evaporated milk, chutney, and red chili flakes. Squish together to combine. Remove the excess air from the bag, seal, and freeze.
To cook, take the bag out of the freezer to thaw. Reheat the sauce in a large skillet or in the microwave. Serve over long noodles such as spaghetti.

Recipe Notes

If desired, top with more chili flakes and grated Parmesan or asiago cheese.