Happy Friday Reader!

Chicken is one of the most affordable proteins at the grocery store, and it’s also one of the easiest ways to get ahead on dinner for the week.

Batch cook your best chicken recipe at the start of the week, add a few pantry ingredients, and suddenly you’ve got the makings of several quick, delicious dinners your family will actually be excited to eat.

That’s what this week’s Chicken Night Done Right is all about — simple chicken recipes that become the starting point for multiple easy meals. Homemade really can be quick, easy and affordable.

Start Here: Batch Cook Chicken for the Week

These three recipes are perfect for cooking at the beginning of the week. They’re simple, flavorful, and incredibly versatile.

Once you’ve got the chicken ready, you’re halfway to dinner for several nights.

​Slow Cooker Chicken Breasts​
Tender, juicy chicken that cooks hands-off in the slow cooker. Perfect for shredding or slicing for multiple meals.

​Perfect Baked Chicken Breasts​
A dependable oven method that gives you juicy chicken every time — great for slicing into casseroles, soups, and salads.

​Southwest Chicken Breasts​
Flavorful, mildly spicy chicken that’s fantastic in tacos, wraps, casseroles, and more.

Now, Turn That Chicken Into Easy, Inexpensive Dinners

When the chicken is pre-cooked, dinner gets a whole lot easier. These recipes are perfect for using up leftover chicken and stretching it into comforting family meals.

Comforting Casseroles

• ​Easy Chicken Casserole Recipe (with crescent dough crust & broccoli)
• ​Million Dollar Chicken Casserole​
• ​Chicken Tetrazzini​

Cozy Soups & Comfort Food

• ​Chicken Pastina Soup (Chicken and Stars)
• ​Creamy Chicken and Noodles​
• ​Chicken Pot Pie Soup​
• ​Jalapeño Chicken Corn Chowder​

Quick Weeknight Meals

• ​Easy Creamy Chicken Tortellini with Broccoli
• ​Creamy Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas​
• ​Chicken and Rice Salad​

Fun Family Favorites

• ​Buffalo Ranch Chicken Melts​
• ​Chicken Street Tacos​
• ​Chicken Crunchwrap Supreme​

All of these affordable, family-favorite recipes start with pre-cooked chicken. That cuts your time in the kitchen and gets dinner on the table quickly.

An Easy Dinner Shortcut

If you’ve got 30 to 45 minutes as you begin your week (or a slow cooker working while you’re at work), you can set yourself up for easy meals all week long.

The simple habit of pre-cooking chicken (and/or ground meat), then storing it in the fridge to use in other recipes, saves you time and money.

If the meat is already cooked, dinner will be faster, more delicious, and less expensive than any takeout option.

It’s one of the simplest ways to make "homemade easy" feel doable, even on your busiest nights.

Cooking at home doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Sometimes it just starts with something as simple as a batch of chicken and a few good recipes to turn it into dinner.

Have a wonderfully blessed weekend, Friend! Enjoy delicious homemade food with the people you love most, and I hope someone else does your dishes. Hugs!

Glenda Embree is the home cook and recipe developer behind Making Homemade Easy — a blog dedicated to helping busy families get affordable, delicious meals on the table without the overwhelm. With more than fifty years in the kitchen and five grown kids of her own, Glenda knows that homemade really can be easy.

Some of My Favorite Tools for Chicken Dinners

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• ​Crock Pot - This is one of three slow cookers I use on a regular basis. Yes, three. lol I mean what does a girl do when she is making Crock Pot Potato Soup, delectable Slow Cooker Chicken Breasts and Slow Cooker Beef Stew all at the same time? lol This beauty is an 8-qt. giant that can handle anything I throw at her. And she was cheap, as crock pots go.
  • Pyrex ​Mixing Bowls​ I use these daily. Of course, they're great for stirring together the ingredients for a recipe. But they're also perfect for storing leftovers and serving dishes like this scrumptious ​Best Easy Chickpea Salad​. Another great feature is that they come with lids, so leftovers can easily go straight to the fridge. For potlucks, I can toss together a quick salad, snap on the lid and go.
  • I pull out this Oven-Sized Air Fryer Basket, several times a week. Even if your oven doesn't have an air-fry setting, it works beautifully on the convection or regular roasting and baking settings. It holds enough for an entire family, so I don't have to make multiple small batches. It's become my go-to for reheating pizza, making taco fries (taco potatoes) or even roasting chicken and veggies. It's become an essential tool in my get-dinner-on-quick kitchen.
  • My ​Deep Dish 9x13 Ceramic Baking Pan​ is perfect for casseroles, ​Tuna Casserole with Cream of Mushroom Soup​, cakes and more.​
  • ​​12 qt. Stainless Steel Stock Pot with Lid​ - This is my ​soup, stew and chili​ go-to pot. And it's the one I reach for when making ​mashed potatoes​ for a big gathering. Plenty of room for making large batches.
  • ​​18x13 Half-Sheet Rimmed Baking Sheets​: I have six of these cookie sheets and I bought them 13 years ago. I LOVE them! They are stainless steel professional grade sheets that are warp resistant. I use them for cookies, brownies, sheet pan dinners and baking bacon. They're an essential tool in my kitchen.​
  • I absolutely love these ​Oven-Safe Cooling Racks​. Obviously they're great for cooling hot things on the counter. But these also fit inside the baking sheets I listed, above. I love being able to roast things in the oven with that little bit of hot air being able to circulate even to the bottom of what I'm cooking.