Do you ever reach for a healthy cookbook or see a healthy recipe online just to get disappointed because it requires ingredients that aren’t even in your pantry, let alone you have no idea where you are going to purchase said ingredients? I admit I have cooked some delicious healthy recipes that took me days to find the right ingredients for. What is worth it in the end? Yeah, it was. However, you can cook some healthy and delicious recipes without needing to seek out an ingredient from a secret village in Scotland from a plant that only grows once a decade. Some of the best recipes call for some of the most basic kitchen staples.
I could do a whole series on which spices you can throw into a dish to really vamp up the flavor profile but for today, I will just share with you one of my favorite spices to take things like boring ol’ grilled chicken breast and give it a whole new delicious flavor. Today, let’s talk about smoked paprika.
Smoked paprika comes from peppers that have been smoked before they were crushed. Oak is often used, although woods will vary by manufacturer. Smoked paprika has, just that, a strong smokey flavor so if you aren’t into smokey flavors then wait for another blog where I talked about another spice that can be great at making dishes delicious without adding unhealthy ingredients to them.
Not only is smoked paprika great to season meats with, but it can also help create an almost meaty, BBQ-like feel to vegetable-based dishes too. This may sound silly but think of red based recipes or foods and those are the ones that smoked paprika typically pairs especially well with things like tomato soup, tomato sauce, red pepper soup, and red pepper hummus.
Don’t let the name spice fool you, this spice is not spicy. Plus, quite possibly the most impressive qualities of paprika is the amount of antioxidant power it packs in just one serving, it may have incredible power against autoimmune conditions, and it also has great potential in treating and/or preventing cancer to name a few of its benefits.
Here is an easy recipe to take some bland chicken breast and create a whole new flavor profile by just adding a few pantry staples.
Smoked Paprika Chicken Breast
ingredients
4 skinless chicken breasts
1 TBS smoked paprika
2 TBS olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 TBS chopped fresh basil leaf
1⁄2 tsp salt
1⁄4 tsp cayenne pepper
instructions
- Mix together all of the ingredients minus the chicken breasts.
- Massage this mix into the chicken breasts and allow to stand for about 20 minutes.
- Heat a pan over medium heat, and saute on both sides until chicken is golden brown and cooked through-about 8 minutes each side depending on the thickness of your fillets.
