I love summer, especially because that means grilling season. Grilled chicken is so delicious and with fresh tomatoes on top, done bruschetta style, this is a winning dish. Its light, satisfying and big on flavor. I love anything with tomato, basil and garlic, and if you do too, I think you’ll really like this recipe!
This is a great dish to serve at a BBQ, although I just made it for a weeknight dinner. It looks fancy, but it was really easy to make. Plus, I couldn’t get enough of the bruschetta topping….so delicious! The leftovers were great the next day. Warmed up or even served cold.
Since you pound out the chicken breast to make it thinner, it really lessens the cooking time of the chicken. I simply made the bruschetta while the chicken was cooking so it made for a really quick dinner. If you aren’t in a time crunch, you could make the bruschetta a couple hours ahead of time (without the basil) and let it sit for a while to allow the flavors to mingle. The basil should always be added at the last minute though, to retain its vibrant green color. Also, if you don’t want to go to the trouble of pounding out chicken breasts, you could always buy chicken cutlets instead, which are already thinner and smaller. But I found the cost of cutlets were more expensive, so I decided I was just going to do the chicken flattening on my own.
- 1.5 lbs chicken breast, pounded down to even thickness
- 3 cups chopped ripe tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- Heat your grill to medium high heat (around 375 degrees F)
- In between 2 pieces of plastic wrap, pound out your chicken breasts until they are about ½ inch to ¼ inch thick. Mine were quite large when pounded out, so then I cut them into two parts to make them more like cutlets.
- Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper (optional).
- Spray your grill with oil to prevent sticking. Cook on each side for 4-5 minutes until cooked through. Since they are thinner they won't take that long to cook.
- Meanwhile, make the bruschetta. Chop the tomatoes, garlic, then the basil.
- In a medium bowl, add in the tomatoes, garlic, basil, salt & pepper, oil and balsamic vinegar.
- Once the chicken is done, spoon the brushetta on top of the chicken.
- Store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge.