I previously posted a Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe that my family loves, but a few months back I tried a new recipe and although it is quite different from the other one, it isvery yummy too. One thing I love about this one is that it is simple and it uses up some of my salad dressing! You know all those salad dressings we are able to score for next to nothing? Ever wonder how your going to use it all, or what to use it on? Well, this here is the answer to all your salad dressing woes… that’s right, this recipe uses Catalina salad dressing as a main ingredient!
Sweet and Sour Chicken
8 large chicken breasts ( thawed)
16 oz. Catalina salad dressing
12 oz. jar of apricot preserves
1 pkg. dried golden onion soup mix
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a 13 x 9 baking pan, mix the Catalina dressing, apricot preserves, and onion soup mix until well combined. Add chicken and stir so that chicken is well coated.
Bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until done. Serve over rice.
To freeze: add all ingredients with raw chicken to a freezer safe gallon sized bag. Label and freeze. Add to oven day of and bake as directed.
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I use Italian dressing to marinade chicken. I got a ton of chicken from the Zaycon foods deal last year and it was more than I realized so I dumped about half a bottle of dressing per 2-3 chicken breasts and froze. I then either bake or grill. YUM! I would also love to hear what other people do with the dressing. I am the only one in my house who eats it as well as salads so I have not bought much unless for donation.
I use the Italian for pasta salads, I also put a few tablespoons in veggies when I steam them. You can put a little ranch in with whipped potatoes or in your twice baked potatoes.
What is the best way to prepare this for a freezer meal? Cooked or raw chicken ? Thx for sharing your food adventures and secrets with us. 🙂
I cook the chicken and then freeze in bags. 🙂
Anxious to try some of the meals!!
Hi! Thank you so much for all of your recipes! I want to try this one for my husband and was confused about the freezer part. Should you cook it and then freeze it to heat up later? Or if you just put the ingredients together, do you cook the chicken first? If so, how would you cook it? Sorry for all of the questions, I’m still at the beginner level in the kitchen 🙂
No problem! Ask away! You could do it either way. Depending on how much time I have I either cook the chicken first and add the ingredients and then freeze it OR I just add all the ingredients into a ziploc bag with raw chicken and then freeze it. Once it is frozen you can pull it out of your freezer the day before and let it thaw and the cooking time will be shorter or you can still cook it at 350 degrees completely frozen but it will take longer to cook. Good luck! I love freezer meals!
Hi. Thanks for all your help with meals. I do have a question. This recipe says its for the crock pot in the table of contents. But you have it as a oven recipe. How do i make this in the crock pot? Do I just thaw and throw in crock pot for 6-8 hours?
I wouldn’t even thaw it but just empty the bag into the crock pot until it is hot and ready probably about 4-6 hours.
So I helped a friend make this in November with zaycon chicken! She loved it and so did her picky husband and child! I am desperately seeking catalina dressing that is red dye free for my son, or might have to try and make a homemade version. I was a bit hesitant at first, but the smell made me so hungry while making up her bags of this. They ate it up soo fast!
If I bake the chicken prior to freezing it, would the re-heating directions still be to bake for 45 minutes?
Yes, even though it is cooked before once it is frozen you want to make sure that the chicken is still brought back up to safe temperatures. You can check it earlier but use a meat thermometer to make sure the chicken is warmed through. 🙂
Russian salad dressing is what we use in this one- wonderful recipe we eat it often. Thank you so much for this site- I am going to try quite a few of these !!!
Could you cut up the chicken and add vegetables like broccoli , carrots, etc. bake it and then freeze it?