Baked or Grilled Italian Mozzarella Chicken Foil Packets bursting with astonishingly juicy, flavorful chicken and tender, seasoned Potatoes, Carrots and Zucchini all smothered with Mozzarella Cheese!
These Italian chicken foil packets are meal-in-one that are quick to throw together and even quicker to clean up! I’ve included detailed tips and tricks so you can have the best and most successful chicken foil packets every time!
Chicken Foil Packet Dinners are taking the internet food world by storm. And I totally get why. They are sooo versatile, quick, easy, hardly any clean up, can be grilled or baked, are a meal all in one, make amazing make ahead meals (just pull a cooked packet out of the fridge), and completely delcious! Win, win, win, win, win, win, win!
Last month, I experimented with three different Chicken Foil Packet recipes at once (see IG pic HERE). I halved each recipe so I had two identical Chicken Foil Packets of each recipe (6 total) and baked one of each and grilled one of each. Then the fun part, aside from eating them, I asked my IG friends to vote on which Chicken Foil Packet recipe they wanted first:
A) Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Foil Packets with Potatoes, Broccoli and Ranch Crema
B) Italian Mozzarella (Garlic Butter) Chicken Foil Packets with Zucchini, Carrots and Potatoes
C) Cajun Chicken Foil Packets with Sweet Potatoes, Bell Peppers and Lime Crema
B (Italian Mozzarella Chicken Foil Packets) won with a 5 vote lead over A, followed closely by C – but they are were absolutley DE-LISH and I can’t wait to share all the recipes with you!
With all my Chicken Foil Packet experimenting, I found a few important factors in order to make the best, most flavorful, juicy, successful foil packets:
Tips how to make the BEST Chicken Foil Packets
- Microwave your longer cooking vegetables – in this case your potatoes and carrots. While this is one extra EASY step, it ensures you the moistest chicken around. If you don’t microwave your veggies first, then you are grilling/baking until your veggies are tender and this is MUCH longer than the time your chicken requires to cook, resulting in drier chicken. not cool. Also by microwaving your veggies first, you don’t have to be such a stickler for what size chicken you use because you can base your cooking time off when your chicken is done.
- Bake/Grill your chicken just until your chicken is done – we are only able to do this because of the aforementioned step. Overcooking your chicken is a dry sentence.
- Marinate your chicken in a Wet Rub – doing this just while you prep your other veggies makes a world of difference. By slathering your chicken with a combination of olive oil, seasonings and in this case, splashes of lemon juice, Dijon and balsamic vinegar, you ensure your chicken is nice and juicy and seeping with flavor through and through.
- Chop your potatoes small – about 1/4-1/2.” This allows your potatoes to be mostly cooked in the micorwave prior to baking/grilling, otherwise they still might not be cooked through by the time your chicken is done.
- Don’t peak – only check one chicken foil packet at 15 minutes if grilling and 20 minutes if baking becasue every time you open the foil, steam/heat escapes.
Those are a few helpful hints/tips I learned, but don’t stress about them, these Italian Mozzarella Chicken Foil Packets are uber easy and everything you need to do is in the directions for melt in your mouth mozzarella smothered Italian seasoned chicken and veggies.
- Enjoy!
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Italian Mozzarella Chicken Foil Packets
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Ingredients
- 2 8 oz. chicken breasts sliced horizontal to create 4 fillets OR 4 4 oz. chicken breasts pounded to an even thickness
Italian Marinade
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp EACH dried basil, dried parsley, onion powder, salt, dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 tsp EACH pepper, red pepper flakes
Veggies
- 1 1/2 cups zucchini, cut into ¼” slices (approx. 2 medium zucchini)
- 2 cups potatoes chopped into 1/4-1/2” cubes
- 1 1/2 cups sliced carrots (3-4 medium carrots)
- 1/2 small onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter chopped into 8 cubes (optional)
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese more or less to taste
Garnish
- fresh parsley
- fresh lemon juice
Instructions
Marinade
- Whisk together all of the Marinade ingredients in a shallow dish or freezer bag (whatever you are going to marinate chicken in). Remove ¼ cup Marinade for vegetables.
- Add chicken to marinade in bag, remove excess air and turn to coat (it will thick like a Wet Rub). Marinate room temperature up to 30 minutes while you prep your veggies or up to 2 hours in the refrigerator.
- Meanwhile, add potatoes and carrots to a large microwave safe bowl. Add 1 tablespoon water. Cover, and microwave 5 minutes. Drain well.
- Add zucchini and onions to potatoes/carrots in large bowl. Add ¼ cup reserved marinade. Toss to coat. Refrigerate if not using immediately.
Assemble
- Lay out four 18×12-inch pieces of heavy aluminum foil on your counter (or double line if you don’t have heavy duty foil). Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray. Add one piece of chicken to each piece of foil. Evenly divide veggies between foil packets, placing around chicken. Evenly dot veggies and chicken with cubed butter (2 cubes each)(optional). Seal foil packets closed and transfer to a baking sheet.
BAKING INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes OR until veggies are tender and chicken is cooked through (internal temp of 165 degrees F).
- Carefully open foil and sprinkle each chicken breasts (and surrounding veggies if desired) with mozzarella. Leave foil open and broil until cheese is melted. Garnish with fresh parsley, lemon juice and freshy cracked salt and pepper if desired.
GRILLING INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat grill to medium-high heat. Add foil packets, CLOSE LID, and grill at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes OR until veggies are tender and chicken is cooked through (internal temp of 165 degrees F).
- Carefully open foil and sprinkle each chicken breasts (and surrounding veggies if desired) with mozzarella. Leave foil open and close grill lid until cheese is melted. Garnish with fresh parsley, lemon juice and freshy cracked salt and pepper if desired.
Notes
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Allie says
Oh my, this is a keeper and I haven’t even tried it yet!
And, what’s this? This posting came through at 3:04 am!
Guess I’m going to be setting my alarm clock earlier……..
Oh, and I do know about this foil dinner packs. In fact I have a tab for “Foil Pack Meals” in my recipe file.
Here’s a link to another foil dinner (I’ve made over the past 50 years). Serve it over rice.
See “#2. Swiss Steak Bliss
I thought I had the recipe somewhere in my files, but guess not. I guess I always just make from memory.
I hope you are having a good day 🙂
Jen says
Thanks Allie! I have the recipes set to automatically post at 3:00am PST the day after I post them so they will be there to greet you in the morning 🙂 That is awesome you have a whole tab dedicated to “Foil Pack Meals!” They really are awesome in every way! Your Swiss Steak Bliss sounds heavenly, I’ll have to do some experimenting with Steak Foil Packets next 🙂 Hope you love this recipe just as much!
Diego Lopes says
This is one of the most delicious looking things I have ever seen… I’m definitely not skilled enough to make it myself, but maybe with some help =D
Jen says
Thank you so much Diego, I hope you can make it with someone soon!
Allie says
Hi Jen,
Forgot to give you the link to Swiss Bliss if you want to check it out…….
I hope you are having a good day. It’s expected to be 99 degrees today. The forecast today in Redding ( 25 minutes from me…where I need to go to do any major shopping) ………..is 113 degrees!
Still catching up to your fabulous recipes!!!!
Thank you sooooo much!!!
http://www.food.com/recipe/swiss-bliss-37506
Jen says
Thank you so much Allie, this looks like a winner of a recipe! I’m excited to experminet with it!
Susan says
I made this last night and this is a real conversation that my husband had with me:
husband: “this is awesome, like easily in the top 10 meals.”
time goes by
husband: “no this is top five. like even the zucchini is good and I don’t like zucchini”
me: “yeah I’ve made a lot of her recipes that you’ve liked” I name a few of them.
husband with a look of astonishment: “she’s a nice lady!”
Stay healthy nice lady. We need more of your delicious recipes! 🙂
Jen says
I LOVE this so so much! I’ve read the convo a few times and it just makes me so happy:) From one nice lade to another, thank you for the well wishes and making my day! I wish all the health and happiness as well!
Mary Winstanley says
I am looking for the cajun chicken foil packet. Have you posted that recipe yet?
Jen says
Hi Mary! I haven’t posted those yet, probably sometime in September 🙂
Carmen says
This esa delicious! Thank you!
Jen says
You are so welcome Carmen, so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you!
Melissa says
Best chicken recipe I have cooked in a long time!! The chicken has such good flavor, while staying nice and juicy! Have already shared this recipe with multiple people! Thanks!!
Jen says
Awesome Melissa, I’m so happy you loved it so much! Can’t beat juicy and flavorful! Thank you for sharing it with others!
Tracy says
All the foil pack recipes sound delish…but…bring on the Cajun chicken foil packet! Will be watching for it. YUM!
Jen says
You got it Tracy! I’ll work on that next week 🙂
Janet Crick says
Hey Jen, really love all your recipes I’ve made!! Easy peasy, beautiful cooker girl you are lol. Thank you.
Just wondering if I can make these chicken foil packets with chicken thighs. Thats what I have in the freezer.
I’ll have to cook longer because of bone in, right? So maybe don’t micro wave veggies? And how much longer to cook, if I am correct in the assumptions above?
Thanks again Jen for all you amazing recipes and the time and effort to get them so delicious. Bless you.
Jen says
Wow Janet thank you! I am so sorry for the delayed response! I really hope you followed your gut and made these and that they turned out delicious! It looks like all your assumptions were correct. Thighs usually take 5-10 minutes longer than chicken breasts. I’m so happy you love my recipes! Thanks for taking the time to share your sweet review!!
Casie says
Oodles of flavor in these Italian chicken packets! Winner, winner, chicken dinner. I did use boneless thighs instead. Absolutely delicious.
Jen says
Thank you for giving these a try! I’m so glad they were winners!