20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (2024)

Published: by Kelsey Smith

These easy 4-ingredient chicken recipes use simple ingredients and are perfect for a busy weeknight to feed the whole family.

There are many different ways to make an easy meal out of different cuts of chicken. Boneless skinless chicken breasts are a go-to in my house, but chicken thighs are a favorite for moist and juicy chicken.

You will love these recipes because...

  • Cooking time: Head to the 30-minute meals below for a fast dinner recipe.
  • Easy dinner recipes: Perfect for busy people who want a nice hot meal
  • Basic ingredients: With only four ingredients, you'll spend less time in the kitchen.

Four ingredients or less: Generally, salt, pepper, water, cooking oils, and optional garnishes or side dishes don't count toward the total ingredient count since these are either common ingredients or optional additions.

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20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (1)
20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (2)
Jump to:
  • 30-Minute Meals
  • Slow Cooking
  • Instant Pot
  • Air Fryer
  • Whole Chicken
  • 5 Ingredients or Less
  • FAQ
  • Food Safety
  • 💬 Comments

30-Minute Meals

For a really simple recipe, bookmark these family favorite meals for a busy night.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (3)

Apricot Glazed Chicken

Apricot glazed chicken is a quick and easy meal ready in under 20 minutes made with boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts, apricot jam, fresh ginger, and apple cider vinegar.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (4)

Garlic Parmesan Chicken Tenders

These garlic parmesan chicken tenders are made with chicken tenderloins, mayo, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and salt for an easy dinner in under 30 minutes.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (5)

Chorizo Chicken

Add some spice and flavor to your meals with this super easy one pan chicken skillet recipe. Simple to make, this chorizo chicken is ready to serve in around 30 minutes.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (6)

Bacon Wrapped Cranberry Brie Stuffed Chicken Breasts

These delicious cranberry brie stuffed chicken breasts are simple to make, and loaded with brie cheese and cranberry sauce before being wrapped in bacon.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (7)

Juicy Cast Iron Chicken Breasts

This cast iron chicken breast recipe makes perfect pan-roasted chicken breasts in under 30 minutes. A cast iron skillet is all you need.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (8)

Spicy Italian Barbecue Grilled Chicken

Chicken breast is marinated in italian dressing, barbecue sauce, and hot sauce for 24 hours and then grilled until it’s cooked and juicy. It’s sweet, savory, spicy and so good.

Slow Cooking

The slow cooker is one of my favorite kitchen tools because you can set it and forget it. Slow cookers cook your food low and slow, so you can set it up in the morning, and dinner is warm and ready with little effort.

Crockpot chicken is especially good if you want shredded chicken. I use a Crockpot 6-Quart Cook and Carry.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (9)

Onion Soup Mix Chicken

Try this easy 4-ingredient Crockpot chicken recipe. With chicken breasts, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and dry onion soup mix, it's a flavorful meal with minimal effort. Enjoy this on its own or serve over egg noodles, white rice, or broccoli.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (10)

Slow Cooker Crack Chicken

This crack chicken is creamy ranch flavored chicken that’s cooked in the crock pot until tender. An easy slow cooker recipe that contains 4 ingredients or less.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (11)

Slow Cooker Pesto Ranch Chicken

Dump-and-go with this quick, easy recipe using jarred pesto and ranch dressing mix.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (12)

Zesty Italian BBQ Chicken Slow Cooker Recipe

Shredded slow cooker chicken with BBQ sauce and zesty Italian dressing, perfect for BBQ chicken sandwiches and sliders.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (13)

Slow Cooker Maple Dijon Chicken

This crockpot maple dijon chicken is an easy, hands-off dinner made with boneless, skinless chicken breasts and a few kitchen staples.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (14)

Slow Cooker Chicken Drumsticks

These slow cooker chicken drumsticks are coated in a spice rub and barbecue sauce, then cooked to tender perfection in the crock pot.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (15)

Slow Cooker Chicken with Stuffing

This 4-ingredient slow cooker chicken with stuffing recipe is filling and flavorful. All you need is 10 minutes to prep and the slow cooker does the rest.

Instant Pot

An electric pressure cooker is a great addition to your kitchen. It can cut down on cooking time and is a great way to make one-pot meals. The best part of an Instant Pot meal is you can sauté veggies, brown your meat, and pressure cook all in one. I use the Instant Pot Duo 6-Quart.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (16)

Instant Pot Salsa Chicken

No more complicated recipes. Only 4 ingredients and you’ve got the perfect Instant Pot Salsa Chicken: frozen chicken breasts, taco seasoning, salsa, and chicken broth. Perfect for beginners. This is an easy pantry meal through and through.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (17)

Instant Pot BBQ Pulled Chicken

This Instant Pot BBQ pulled chicken recipe is a family favorite and is so easy to make, makes great leftover pulled chicken, and tastes fantastic. This is the best way to make a big batch of shredded chicken.

Air Fryer

An air fryer is a countertop convection oven. It preheats incredibly quickly because of the circulating air and small oven size, so it cuts down on cooking time dramatically. There are basket-style air fryers and oven-style air fryers.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (18)

Air Fryer Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs

Enjoy these tasty air fryer boneless skinless chicken thighs with herbs and spice for an easy weeknight dinner.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (19)

Quick Air Fryer Chicken Wings

These Air Fryer chicken wings are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and best of all, they’re a breeze to make. This is also a great recipe for game day.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (20)

Air Fryer Pesto Chicken

Full of flavor and so easy to make, enjoy these juicy air fryer pesto chicken thighs as a quick weeknight dinner idea.

Whole Chicken

Making a whole chicken is an affordable option as long as you make use of all of the different chicken cuts. Here are some tips for cooking a whole chicken.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (21)

4-Ingredient Roast Chicken Dinner

Easy and with almost zero prep, this 4-ingredient roast chicken dinner is sure to become a new family favourite. A fail-proof juicy whole roast chicken recipe that lets the oven do all the work.

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (22)

Roasted Lemon Chicken

This roasted lemon chicken, or pollo a limone, is a classic Italian recipe that makes the juiciest and most flavorful chicken. The lemons are pierced and cooked inside the chicken so the lemon juice releases as it cooks.

5 Ingredients or Less

Love these 4-ingredient chicken recipes? Try some of these easy recipes with less than 5 ingredients.

  • 3-Ingredient Sausage Cream Cheese Dip
  • Velveeta Sausage Cheese Dip
  • 27 Easy 3-Ingredient Desserts
  • Cool Whip Cream Cheese Frosting

FAQ

What are some different ways to cook chicken?

Chicken can be roasted in the oven, cooked in an air fryer, instant pot, or a slow cooker, grilled, pan-fried, sous vide, poached, and more.

Food Safety

  • Always wash your hands before and after handling raw chicken.
  • Chicken should reach a minimum internal temperature of 165°F (73.9°C).
  • Refrigerate any leftovers promptly and store them in an airtight container with a tight-fitting lid in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Seemore guidelines at USDA.gov.

More Recipe Roundups

  • 16 Chicken Pasta Casserole Recipes
  • 5 Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream Recipes
  • 19 Recipes Using Graham Cracker Crust
  • 13 Easy Cottage Cheese Dip Recipes

About Kelsey Smith

I am a freelance content writer by day, mommy by night, and a blogger in between. I live in Knoxville, Tennessee with my husband, Xavier. When I'm not working, you might find me here, sharing comfort food recipes.

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  1. Ambet says

    Thank you for this chicken recipe round up!! I'm excited to try many of the recipes!

    Reply

20 Easy 4-Ingredient Chicken Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What should you season chicken with? ›

Aside from classics like salt, pepper, basil and garlic, you could try using chilli powder, ginger, cumin, cayenne, paprika, oregano, sage, rosemary and thyme.

What is the easiest method of cooking a chicken? ›

Poached Chicken

Whether you're just poaching chicken breasts or you're poaching a whole chicken, poaching is an easy and delicious method for cooking chicken. Poached chicken is naturally low in fat and always comes out moist and juicy.

What can I add to chicken to make it taste better? ›

Add a touch of spice to your chicken breast by combining paprika, cinnamon, turmeric, cumin, ginger, garlic and olive oil to create a paste.

What is the fastest way to add flavor to chicken? ›

Just sprinkling a little salt on top of your chicken right before cooking it will only season the surface. But seasoning the chicken with salt well ahead of time or brining it in a salt-water solution will draw salt deep into the meat, resulting in a very tasty piece of chicken.

Do you put spices on chicken before cooking? ›

To obtain the most flavor from your chicken, try seasoning before cooking. Eat This Not That says seasoning beforehand allows the spices to penetrate the poultry's meat, yielding lots of flavors while spices coat only the outside of the chicken when seasoned after being cooked, leaving the inside bland and flavorless.

How do you get seasoning to penetrate chicken? ›

Once your chicken is fully seasoned, toss it in the fridge for at least 3 hours before grilling to ensure that the seasonings have enough time to penetrate the meat.

Do you put oil or spices first on chicken? ›

Before adding a dry rub, the chicken should be fully defrosted. Place the protein in a baking pan to avoid the spread of bacteria and blot it with paper towels to absorb excess juices. Once dry, drizzle olive oil on the chicken to help the spices stick.

What cooking method makes chicken most tender? ›

Low and slow cooking methods like braising, stewing, or smoking are most effective when trying to create tender, succulent chicken.

Is it easier to fry or bake chicken? ›

Cooking a boneless and skinless chicken breast in a hot cast iron pan is by far the easiest and most tasty way to cook the breast. You are far less likely to overcook the chicken breast compared to baking it in the oven or poaching it in water.

What's the best way to get tender chicken? ›

Here are four simple steps you can follow to make your chicken dishes as juicy, flavorful, and tender as possible:
  1. Debone the pieces of meat. To tenderize pieces of chicken, you'll need to remove any bones left in the meat. ...
  2. Pound the poultry. ...
  3. Marinate your chicken. ...
  4. Cook at an adequate temperature.
Oct 8, 2021

What are 3 ways to cook chicken? ›

There are so many ways to prepare chicken. We can stir-fry, pan-fry, grill, barbeque, bake or roast chicken.

What is the best kind of chicken for beginners? ›

10 Best Backyard Chicken Breeds for Beginners: Chicken Care 101
  • Orpington. ...
  • Sussex. ...
  • Ameraucana. ...
  • Marans. ...
  • Cochin. ...
  • Brahma. ...
  • Silkie. If you're a beginner looking for a backyard chicken breed, look no further than the silkie! ...
  • Bantam. Bantam chickens are a popular breed for backyard chicken enthusiasts.
Dec 5, 2022

How do you make store bought chicken taste better? ›

Use your favorite preserves, chutney, barbecue sauce, or build your own thick and sticky concoction to coat the bird with. Think honey and lemon or brown sugar and soy sauce; just be mindful of how much salt the glaze contains as most store-bought rotisserie chickens are already seasoned with salt.

What is the cheapest way to cook a chicken? ›

If your family is not keen on skin, this is the method to choose, but if you want a roasted chicken, the air fryer is next in line, if you can fit the chicken in it. The pressure cooker took 32 minutes to cook a small chicken and cost 11p, 28p cheaper than the electric oven and 44 minutes quicker.

How do they make fake chicken taste like chicken? ›

Understanding Vegan Chicken Substitutes. Vegan chicken is a food product designed to mimic the texture and taste of chicken meat. It is generally made from ingredients like vital wheat gluten, vegetable protein, and soy protein. It's usually fashioned into patties, nuggets, or roasts.

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