6 Weeks of Extreme International 1-Dish Chicken Dinners

If your family is bored of eating store-cooked chickens try these flavorful, yet elegant, low-prep 1-dish international chicken dinners. The same basic ingredients are used to create every meal with only a few additions, for distinctively different low-prep easy-eating family meals.

Delectable International Dinners from Minimal Ingredients

Get creative with an oblong-baking pan, a whole chicken (thoroughly rinsed off) with inexpensive boxed, flavored rice, pasta, or potatoes poured directly onto the pan bottom, along with the corresponding cheese or seasoning packets. Include several cups of water, as stated on box instructions, place the chicken on top, add a few additional ingredients, and then bake it all together in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

The uncovered chicken bakes effortlessly into a golden, sizzling-crisp skinned chicken, with moist, tender meat that falls off the bone, and a perfectly cooked, international side dish in a single pot. Keep in mind you can also use your garden-fresh (or dried) herbs, fruits, and vegetables, as recommended in "How to Grow an EMERGENCY Garden", along with the seasonings your family prefers.

Savory International 1-Pot Meals

1. Salsa Chicken with Spanish Rice & Beans

Just add a can of pinto, kidney, or black beans, along with boxed Spanish rice, spice packet, can of tomato sauce, and water (as called for on box instructions). Pour an entire jar of mild-red salsa over the entire chicken (prior to cooking) for authentic Mexican flavor, and bake. Allow to cool, and serve with warm flour or corn tortillas.

2. Greek Lemon-Garlic Chicken with Herb Rice

Add to the rice and seasoning packet, a can of small black-pitted olives and fresh lemon slices, adding water according to the box instructions. Cover the chicken with lemon and garlic slices to brown on the skin (turns the garlic into tiny flavorful chips when cooked) and bake. Allow to cool, and then mix a small container of plain, Greek yogurt into the rice before serving (baked lemons will naturally sweeten the dish). Serve with cherry tomatoes on the side.

3. Italian Chicken Parmesan & Rainbow Pasta

Pour rainbow pasta into the baking pan, cover entirely with water, and then add the chicken. Spread an entire jar (or can) of spaghetti sauce over the chicken and surrounding pasta, prior to cooking and then bake it. After removing from the heat, sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese, and serve with optional seasoned-bread sticks.

4. Asian Sesame-Lemon Chicken with Broccoli Rice

Combine fresh or frozen broccoli tops with boxed broccoli rice, seasoning packet, and recommended water (from box instructions). Add chicken, cover with fresh sliced lemons, sprinkling­ with soy sauce and sesame seeds, and then bake. Serve with optional veggie tray.

5. German Sauerbraten Potatoes & Chicken

Rinse, trim, and slice a sweet red pepper, a green bell pepper, and an onion, layering them within the contents of boxed scalloped potatoes, in a baking dish. Add the water, milk and cheese-sauce packet per box directions. Add the chicken over the potato/sweet-pepper mix, and pour half a cup apple cider vinegar over it, and then bake.

6. Chicken L'Orange in Noodles with French Cream Sauce

In the cooking dish add Alfredo noodles with suggested water and milk (according to box instructions, omitting the butter). Add the seasoning packet, plus 1 cup of frozen peas, and 1 tsp. ground nutmeg, and then add the chicken. Juice 3 oranges, pour it over the chicken, and bake. Serve with orange slices on the side.

Shopping Guide

For minimal shopping, and ease-of-preparation you will need to buy:

6 Whole chickens (with or without the gizzards inside)

Different boxed varieties of seasoned rice, potatoes, and pastas - Alfredo noodles, scalloped potatoes, Spanish rice, broccoli cheese, and herb rice

Bags of - rainbow vegetable-enriched pasta curls, sesame seeds, corn or flour tortillas

Cans of - pinto, red kidney, or black beans

Containers of - cherry tomatoes, and Greek yogurt (unsweetened)

Jars of - salsa, and spaghetti sauce

Bottles of - soy sauce, and apple-cider vinegar

Shaker containers of - Parmesan cheese, and ground nutmeg

Frozen bags of - peas, and broccoli tops

Fresh bags of - oranges, and brown onions

A couple - lemons, sweet red & green bell peppers, and garlic

Optional: veggie-tray, bread sticks, chopsticks

Each 1-dish chicken dinner will serve a family of 4 to 6, in 1 hour. Also see "8 Weeks of Extreme-Americana 1-Dish Family Chicken Dinners".