Feta and Blackberry Chicken Breasts
These Feta and Blackberry Chicken Breasts look and taste fancy, but come together easily for a great weeknight dinner option. My husband absolutely gushed about this recipe and told everyone on his work team they need to make it, so I’d say it was a big hit in our house! Did I specifically title this recipe Feta-And-Blackberry Chicken Breasts so that we can call it FAB chicken? Who’s to say? It is pretty fabulous though.
The chicken breasts are savory and cooked perfectly on the stovetop with salty, tangy, creamy Feta cheese, and the lightly sweet blackberry compote pairs with it perfectly. You can serve the blackberry compote on the side like cranberry sauce or spoon it over the top! Better still, each of these Feta and Blackberry Chicken Breasts are just 355 calories, or 5 WW Points on Weight Watchers (or 6 WW Points if following the diabetic Weight Watchers plan). To view and track this recipe in the WW app, click here!
Recipe Notes
- How to Serve: This chicken pairs well with a variety of different sides! I served it with Ben’s Original Long Grain and Wild Rice in the photos, but it would also be great with roasted vegetables, stovetop green beans, sauteed spinach, mashed or roasted potatoes, or a side salad.
- Feta: I used crumbled Feta in this recipe and I think the saltiness and tanginess paired perfectly with the sweet blackberry compote. If you don’t have Feta on hand, I think crumbled goat cheese would also be delicious!
- Blackberries: I used Driscoll’s “Sweetest Batch” blackberries, which are my favorite, but any blackberries will do wonderfully! The original recipe I adapted this from used fresh figs, so you could definitely try other fruits if blackberries aren’t available to you. I think pears might be a fun and tasty alternative.
- Garlic: You’re not going to cook the garlic in this recipe, it’s just being used to flavor the chicken before cooking. I definitely recommend using fresh garlic cloves and smashing them with the flat side of your knife. Make sure to massage them into the chicken breasts before allowing them to sit together in the refrigerator.
- Herbs: I definitely think the fresh rosemary and thyme are worth it for this recipe! They provide so much flavor to the chicken and compote. However, if you decide to use dried herbs, just remember to use about 1/3 as much as the recipe calls for so as not to overwhelm the dish.
- Chicken Cutlets: You’ll want your chicken cutlets to be about ½ inch thick and of even thickness for this recipe so that they cook evenly. You can do this by pounding your 6 ounce chicken breasts with a meat mallet until the desired thickness is reached. Alternatively, if you’re starting with big, thick chicken breasts, you can slice them horizontally to get a thinner 6 ounce cutlet.
Cutting Up Chicken Breasts
I often buy a big pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts at the store and then use kitchen shears to trim them down to make 5-6 oz cutlets to use in recipes. Everything I cut off to make the cutlets gets cut into chunks to make chicken bites, such as my Barbecue Rubbed Chicken Bites, Lemon Pepper Chicken Bites, or Blackened Chicken Bites. That way, I always have some cutlets and some chicken bites on hand! Buying the bulk packs of chicken breasts is cost-effective, and cutting them into cutlets and bites ensured I have what I need on hand when I go to make a recipe. I find that kitchen shears make this task go quicker and easier than using a knife, so I highly recommend using shears like these (affiliate link).
More Tasty Lightened-Up Chicken Recipes
Looking for more tasty, lightened up chicken recipes like these Feta and Blackberry Chicken Breasts? Check out my Blackened Chicken with Avocado Corn Topping, Mexican Street Corn Chicken, Cheesy Broccoli Stuffed Chicken, Lemon Pepper Chicken Bites, Crispy Onion Dip Chicken, Nashville Hot Chicken Bites, Crispy Chicken Parmesan, Apple and Brie Stuffed Chicken, Maple Dijon Chicken and Squash Skillet, Strawberry Balsamic Grilled Chicken, Blackened Chicken Bites, Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Bake, Cream Cheese and Herb Stuffed Chicken, Tuscan Olive Chicken, Pimento Cheese Stuffed Chicken, Cream Cheese Stuffed Everything Chicken, and many more in the Chicken section of my recipe index!
Feta and Blackberry Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
- 4 (6 oz each) thin chicken breast cutlets, (if you buy large breasts, trim them to 6 ounces each and pound them ½” thin)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
- 2 large garlic cloves, peeled and smashed under the flat side of a knife
- 5 teaspoons olive oil, divided
- 2 oz crumbled Feta cheese
- ¾ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, divided
- ½ cup red wine
- 1 ½ cups fresh blackberries
- 2 teaspoons honey
Instructions
- Sprinkle both sides of the pounded thin chicken cutlets with the salt and pepper and place them in a mixing bowl. Add the chopped Rosemary, smashed garlic cloves, and a tablespoon of the olive oil. Using clean hands, mix together and massage the garlic, oil, and rosemary into the chicken cutlets. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. Once the refrigeration time has passed, discard the smashed garlic clove pieces.
- Drizzle the remaining two teaspoons of olive oil into a large sauté pan and bring over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, lay the chicken breasts in a single layer in the pan. Cook for 4-5 minutes until golden on the bottom. Flip the breasts and sprinkle the crumbled Feta cheese onto the top (cooked side) of each breast and follow by sprinkling on ½ teaspoon (total) of the thyme leaves. Cook for another 4-5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken to a side plate and cover to keep warm.
- Add the wine to the pan and stir up any leftover bites from the pan. The wine will likely start to boil almost immediately. Reduce the heat to medium and let the wine boil until reduced by half (should only take a couple minutes). Add the blackberries, honey, and remaining ¼ teaspoon of thyme leaves and stir to combine with the wine. Cook for about 3 minutes, using a wooden spoon to stir and lightly smash the berries every minute or so to make a smashed blackberry compote (I like to leave a few whole for texture).
- Serve each Feta-topped chicken breast with 2 ½ tablespoons of blackberry compote, either on the side or spooned over the top.
Notes
355 calories, 10 g carbs, 6 g sugars, 13 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 41 g protein, 3 g fiber, 243 mg sodium (from myfitnesspal.com) Weight Watchers Points Plus:
8 per (1 chicken breast + 2 ½ tablespoons compote) serving (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition info below) Adapted from NYT Cooking
This Feta and Blackberry Chicken Breasts recipe is not only easy to make but also packs a punch, making it a special midweek dinner that the whole family will love!
This goat cheese and blackberry chicken breast recipe is not only easy to make but also packs a punch, making it a special weeknight dinner that the whole family will love!
What a detailed tutorial, I can’t wait to try it out
What a detailed tutorial, I can’t wait to try it out
Good Work.
We will try this and not complaining, but the link to track in WW app, actually points to blackened chicken with corn and avocado. We will try that one too.