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# Weeknight Chicken Creole
- URL: https://chefnfood.com/recipes/weeknight-chicken-creole/
- Published: 2026-10-05T20:52:47.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-05T20:52:47.000Z
- Description: Chicken simmered with tomatoes, peppers, and celery in a lightly spiced Creole-style sauce. One skillet, thirty minutes, and it tastes like it took longer.
- Author: Chris Smith
- Tags: Quick Dinners, chicken, one-pan, light, #time-30, #serves-8, #difficulty-easy, #source-usda, #featured

Prep10 min

Cook20 min

Total30 min

Servings8

DifficultyEasy

Chicken simmered with tomatoes, peppers, and celery in a lightly spiced Creole-style sauce. One skillet, thirty minutes, and it tastes like it took longer.

## Ingredients

- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch strips
- 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, with their juice
- 1 cup chili sauce
- 1 large green bell pepper, chopped
- 2 medium celery stalks, chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- Cooked rice or pasta, for serving

## Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the chicken strips in a single layer and cook 3–5 minutes, turning once, until browned and cooked to **165°F**.
2. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the tomatoes with their juice, chili sauce, bell pepper, celery, onion, garlic, basil, parsley, and cayenne.
3. Bring to a boil, then drop the heat to low, cover, and simmer 10–15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and the sauce has pulled together.
4. Taste and adjust the cayenne — the heat should sit in the background, not the front.
5. Serve over hot cooked rice or pasta.

## Chef’s Take

The chili sauce is doing quiet double duty here: it brings vinegar, sugar, and body all at once, which is why a thirty-minute sauce tastes like it simmered all afternoon. Don't swap it for ketchup — ketchup brings the sugar without the vinegar and the sauce goes flat.

**Pro tip:** cut the chicken into even strips and pull the pan off the heat the moment they hit temperature in step 1\. They finish in the simmer, and the two-stage cook is what keeps breast meat from drying out.

## Substitutions

- **Chicken thighs:** work well and are more forgiving; add 2 minutes to the first cook.
- **No chili sauce:** 1 cup tomato sauce plus 1 tbsp each vinegar and brown sugar gets you close.
- **Fresh herbs:** use 1 tbsp each chopped fresh basil and parsley, stirred in at the end instead.
- **Heat level:** double the cayenne for a real kick, or drop it entirely for kids.

## Storage and reheating

Refrigerate up to 4 days. The flavor improves overnight, which makes this a strong meal-prep candidate. Reheat gently on the stove with a splash of water. Freezes well up to 3 months — freeze the sauce and chicken without the rice.

## Serving suggestions

Steamed white rice is the classic. Buttered egg noodles or whole wheat pasta both hold up too. A few dashes of hot sauce at the table for the people who want more.

Adapted from the USDA MyPlate Kitchen collection.