20 Cozy & Comforting Chicken Dinners in 20 Minutes

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Published on November 25, 2023

One-Skillet Bourbon Chicken — Photo: Photography / Antonis Achilleos, Styling / Christine Keely, Ali Ramee

Make one of these 20-minute meals for dinner tonight. Featuring delicious and versatile chicken, you can enjoy anything from a soup to a stir-fry with the guarantee that it’ll be a warm and cozy option. Recipes like our Quick Lemony Chicken Soup and One-Skillet Bourbon Chicken are easy, flavorful and perfect for the colder seasons.

01 of 20

Warm Up With a Quick Lemony Chicken Soup

Warm Up With a Quick Lemony Greek Chicken Soup in a serving bowl — Kelsey Hansen

This 20-minute dish provides 32g of protein and is just 261 calories per serving. To ensure this comforting soup's velvety texture, whisk a little of the hot broth into the eggs before adding them to the pot; it cooks them gently and prevents curdling.

02 of 20

Chicken Cutlets with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

Chicken Cutlets with Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce

Though a chicken cutlet may be a chicken breast cut in half, this recipe shows how to make chicken cutlets with double the deliciousness. A jar of sun-dried tomatoes does double duty for this healthy dinner idea. The flavorful oil they're packed in is used to sauté the chicken, and the tomatoes go into the cream sauce.

03 of 20

One-Skillet Bourbon Chicken

One-Skillet Bourbon Chicken — Photography / Antonis Achilleos, Styling / Christine Keely, Ali Ramee

Bourbon chicken gets coated in a slightly sweet-spicy sauce for a flavorful dinner that comes together quickly, making it perfect for busy weeknights.

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Creamy Garlic Skillet Chicken with Spinach

Creamy Garlic Skillet Chicken with Spinach — Marty Baldwin

Quick-cooking chicken cutlets are coated in a garlic cream sauce, while spinach adds a boost of color and nutrition in this easy, one-skillet recipe.

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20-Minute Chicken Enchiladas

20-Minute Chicken Enchiladas — Caitlin Bensel

Quick tip: While the sauce cooks, shred the chicken. For a spicy kick, top with chopped jalapeños.

06 of 20

Lemon Chicken Pasta

In this easy lemon chicken pasta recipe, we love the combination of lemon zest and toasted breadcrumbs. This healthy dinner is made with rotisserie chicken, quick-cooking spiralized zucchini and baby zucchini, so you get a complete meal in just 10 minutes.

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Creamy Skillet Chicken with Spinach & Mushrooms

Creamy Skillet Chicken with Spinach & Mushrooms — Marty Baldwin

Chicken cutlets are topped with a spinach-mushroom cream sauce for a flavorful yet healthy dinner. Serve over pasta or grains to soak up the sauce.

08 of 20

One-Pot Spinach, Chicken Sausage & Feta Pasta

A little bit of Sunday meal prep goes a long way in this one-dish pasta recipe. The pasta is cooked ahead of time and stored in the fridge to use for meals all week, but any leftover cooked pasta you have on hand will do. Chicken sausage with feta is especially good in this recipe.

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Warm Chicken Salad with Peas & Polenta

Typical kid-friendly fare gets a zap of fresh flavor from pesto in this easy 15-minute dinner. Make a quick creamy chicken salad with Greek yogurt, pesto and peas and serve over pan-fried polenta. Serve with a salad of greens and balsamic vinaigrette for a healthy dinner the whole family will love.

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Chopped Chicken & Sweet Potato Salad

This easy salad recipe allows for a wonderful use of leftover cooked chicken. Look for escarole in the produce section near the leafy greens; if you can't find it, you can use romaine instead.

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20-Minute Creamy Chicken Skillet with Italian Seasoning

20-Minute Creamy Italian Chicken Skillet — Jason Donnelly

Chicken cutlets cook quickly and are highlighted with a creamy sauce made with tomatoes, zucchini and Italian seasoning. This recipe is sure to become a new weeknight favorite the whole family will love. Serve it with whole-wheat pasta or rice to make it a meal.

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Red Beans and Rice with Chicken

Fiber-rich red beans, whole-grain brown rice and skillet-cooked chicken breast are ready in just 20 minutes.

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Chicken Cutlets with Creamy Spinach & Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Chicken Cutlets with Creamy Spinach & Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Serve these saucy, ultra-quick chicken cutlets over your favorite pasta. This easy dinner recipe is sure to become a new weeknight favorite.

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Spaghetti & Chicken Meatballs with No-Cook Tomato Sauce

This crowd-pleasing and easy dinner recipe takes just 20 minutes to make, start to finish, so it's perfect for weeknights! When tomatoes are at their in-season best, just a quick chop and a few ingredients are all you need to make a spaghetti sauce in minutes. Store-bought chicken meatballs keep the low-effort theme going all the way to the table.

15 of 20

Minestra Maritata (Italian Wedding Soup)

Bowl of Easy Italian Wedding Soup on a gray cloth background

Forget the marble-size meatballs you find in many versions of this Italian Wedding Soup. In this easy recipe, they're full-size, full-flavored and plenty filling.

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Sweet & Sour Chicken with Broccoli

Sweet & Sour Chicken with Broccoli.jpg

This easy chicken and broccoli recipe makes a delicious, healthier alternative to Chinese takeout--and it takes just 20 minutes to make, so it's ideal for an easy weeknight dinner. When toasted, ramen noodles make a tasty, crunchy topping for a stir-fry or salad.

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Spinach & Artichoke Chicken

Spinach & Artichoke Smothered Chicken — Dera Burreson

Inspired by artichoke dip, we made a creamy cheese topping to serve on quick-cooking chicken breast cutlets for an oh-so-satisfying meal.

18 of 20

Gluten-Free Teriyaki Chicken with Broccoli

Everyone loves teriyaki chicken—and this one is better for you with much less added sugar. It's also gluten-free so long as you use tamari (aka gluten-free soy sauce). Feel free to swap out the broccoli for any veggie—carrots, snow peas, green beans—that you have on hand.

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Antipasto Baked Smothered Chicken

We like the touch of heat that pepperoncini give to this briny chicken, but if you really want to turn up the spiciness, swap them for hot cherry peppers.

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Mom's Creamy Chicken & Broccoli Casserole

Mom's Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Casserole — Brian Woodcock; Styling: Cindy Barr

This lightened-up creamy chicken casserole is packed with veggies. The sauce at the heart of this family-friendly casserole uses fat-free milk with a combination of fat-free Greek-style yogurt and a little mayonnaise to give it body.

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