Baked Balsamic Chicken

With a new baby in the house, when it comes to dinner these days, our motto is the easier the better.  Bonus points if it's healthy.  Fortunately this delicious Baked Balsamic Chicken dish is both easy and healthy!  The marinade takes minutes to prepare and then is poured in the bag with the chicken.  Let that sit in the refrigerator until you're ready to bake.  Then you just pour the chicken and marinade in a baking dish and bake.  Simple!

I had been trying to find a balsamic chicken recipe for a while and decided to take matters into my own hands, using my other baked chicken dishes as reference.  What I like about this recipe is that flavors are very complementary and nothing overpowers.  In the recipe below, I listed oregano, but any of your favorite herb(s) would work well here.  I made the recipe for 2, but it can easily be multiplied to serve more, if desired.  I'm thinking this might be the perfect dinner for our Valentine's Day this year!

Baked Balsamic Chicken
Yields 2 servings

Ingredients
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (or other herb, such as thyme, basil, rosemary, or Italian herb mix)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt, adjust to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, adjust to taste
2 4-6 ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Cooking spray

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, put vinegar, oil, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper and mix until combined.
2. Put chicken in a ziploc bag.  Pour vinegar mixture in bag with chicken, seal bag and spread marinade over chicken.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes to overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray small baking dish with cooking spray.
4. Put chicken in prepared baking dish and pour marinade over chicken.  Cover and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked thoroughly.  Let sit for 5 minutes and then serve.