Pan sauces for the win! Making a quick sauce in the skillet after browning meat is one of the easiest ways to make a really spectacular meal. Those little browned bits on the skillet (called fond) are ultra flavorful and shouldn’t be wasted. This time, I used a mixture of balsamic vinegar, garlic, thyme, soy sauce, brown sugar and butter to turn some plain chicken thighs into this decadent Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms. You’re going to love the rich and tangy taste, and how easy it is to throw together!
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Garnished with fresh thyme.
What to Serve with Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms
I served my Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms with Garlic Herb Mashed Potatoes and some steamed green beans. The buttery balsamic sauce would also pair beautifully with Browned Butter Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes, Roasted Vegetable Couscous, or Grilled Vegetable Pasta Salad.
What Kind of Mushrooms Should I Use?
I used baby bellas for this Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms, but I think white button mushrooms would work just as well. The sauce is so flavorful on its own that a less flavorful mushroom, like white button mushrooms, wouldn’t make or break the dish.
Don’t Fear the Fond!
If looking at a skillet full of brown gunk stuck to the bottom makes you cringe because you think you’re in for a lot of hard scrubbing to get it clean, it’s time to learn how to make a pan sauce! Those little brown bits are caramelized proteins and they have a LOT of flavor! The process of making a pan sauce dissolves them off the bottom (no need to scrub later!) and brings all that flavor back onto your plate.
How to Make a Pan Sauce
Pan sauces are simple:
- Brown a meat or other protein in a skillet or pot with butter or oil, then remove it from the skillet.
- Add a liquid (broth, stock, wine, balsamic vinegar, etc.) and stir to dissolve the browned bits.
- Let the liquid simmer and reduce by half.
- Add butter and stir until melted. The butter thickens the sauce and adds body.
- Drizzle the pan sauce over your cooked meat and enjoy!
Other options for pan sauces: add other flavorful ingredients like garlic, shallots, herbs, spices, or even jams and jellies.
Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms
Servings 4Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar ($0.55)
- 1.5 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.18)
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.04)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme ($0.02)
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1.25 lbs. total) ($3.02)
- 1 pinch salt and pepper ($0.05)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 8 oz. mushrooms ($1.69)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.26)
Instructions
- Prepare the balsamic sauce first. In a small bowl, stir together the balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, minced garlic, and dried thyme. Set the sauce aside.
- Season the chicken thighs with a pinch of salt and pepper on each side.
- Heat a large skillet over medium. Once hot, add the olive oil and swirl to coat the surface. Add the chicken thighs to the skillet and cook on each side until browned and cooked through (about 8 minutes first side, 5 minute second side). Remove the chicken to a clean plate and cover to keep warm.
- While the chicken is cooking, clean the mushrooms and then slice them in half. After removing the chicken from the skillet, add the mushrooms in their place, and sauté in the remaining oil and fat until the mushrooms are slightly tender and browned on the outside (5-7 minutes).
- Turn the heat down to medium-low. Add the prepared balsamic sauce to the skillet and stir to dissolve any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Allow the sauce to come up to a simmer. Simmer the balsamic sauce with the mushrooms, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced by half.
- Add the butter to the skillet and stir until it is melted into the sauce. Add the chicken back to the skillet, turning it to coat in the sauce, and allow it to simmer for a few minutes more to rewarm the chicken. Serve hot and drizzle the pan sauce over the chicken and mushrooms.
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Equipment
- Color Cutting Boards
- Chef’s Knife
- Stainless Steel Pots and Pans
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms – Step by Step Photos
Prepare the balsamic sauce first. In a small bow, stir together 4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1.5 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, 2 cloves minced garlic, and 1/4 tsp dried thyme. Set the sauce aside.
Season four boneless, skinless chicken thighs with a pinch of salt and pepper on both sides.
Heat a large skillet over medium. Once hot, add 1 Tbsp olive oil and swirl to coat. Add the chicken thighs and cook until they are browned on both sides and cooked through (about 8 minutes first side, 5 minutes second side). Don’t worry if some of it sticks to the skillet, you actually want that to happen! :)
While the chicken is browning, clean and slice 8 oz. mushrooms in half.
Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the skillet to a clean plate and cover to keep warm (foil or a second, upside down plate). Add the mushrooms to the skillet and cook them in the leftover oil and chicken fat.
Sauté the mushrooms until they are slightly tender and browned on the outside (5-7 minutes).
Turn the heat down to medium-low. Pour the prepared balsamic sauce into the skillet. Stir to dissolve the browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Allow the sauce to come up to a simmer. Simmer the sauce until reduced by half (about 5 minutes).
Add 2 Tbsp butter and stir until it is melted into the balsamic sauce.
Finally, add the chicken back to the skillet, turning it to coat in the sauce. Let it simmer for a few minutes more to warm the chicken through.
Serve the balsamic chicken and mushrooms hot, making sure to drizzle the extra pan sauce over the chicken!
Shown with Garlic Herb Mashed Potatoes and steamed green beans.
Sauce lacks depth, the only flavor that this dish has is reduced balsamic vinegar. Chicken needs more seasoning than just salt and pepper.
Super easy and delicious! I used chicken breasts because it’s what I had so I did have to add a little more olive oil to the pan for the mushrooms but it worked great. I also used ghee instead of butter since I can’t have dairy and the slight nutty flavor added a delicious depth to the sauce. Definitely will be making this again!
I’m curious, is this a freezable dish?
I haven’t tried freezing this one, so I’m not sure how it would turn out. There’s nothing in it that would really break down from freezing and thawing, it just might not be quite as moist.
Absolutely delicious!
It’s a keeper. My husband and I both rated it a 9!
I also served it with your roasted carrots and feta recipe which was wonderful too and a rice pilaf.
I used boneless skinless breast, and flattened it before hand helped, but took longer to cook through. I doubled the sauce, should have tripled. Delicious.
VERY good and relatively easy if you have some basic cooking skill. Decreased soy sauce to 1 tbsp otherwise followed recipe exactly. This is a part of our rotation now. Love that you use dried spices in so many of your recipes, makes it way more affordable and accessible for us!
I’m not a fan of balsamic vinegar, so I didn’t try this myself; but my husband said it was AMAZING and he wants to add this to the menu rotation:)
I actually find the baslsamic sauce benefits from adding a milder vinegar, like rice vinegar.
I initially added 2 Tbsp of rice vinegar to the sauce b/c I thought the balsamic was too strong, and it was excellent. I’ve since tried both with and without, and we definitely prefer it with the rice vinegar. It gives the sauce a little more bite and oomph, and does magical things to the white button mushrooms we tend to use.
Delicious! We’re reducing our sodium intake, so I used low-sodium soy sauce and unsalted butter. This is going on the meal rotation.
This restaurant-quality dish was delicious and took very little time to prepare! The pan sauce is especially tasty! I threw in two more chicken thighs (they were all small thighs, just under 1.4 lbs total) and still had enough mushrooms and sauce to serve with each piece. We enjoyed with some wild rice and steamed broccoli. Adding this yummy meal to our regular rotation! Thanks!
This is delicious! I used 3 chicken tenders that I cut into bite size pieces. I used baby bella mushrooms. I served it over Birdseye frozen rice w/veggies. I will add this to my favorites file!
This recipe is absolutely perfect, so follow it to a T. You will not be disappointed.
This was delicious! It’s in my ‘Best Recipes’ file (on Pinterest). The flavor was wonderful and my husband was very happy with it too! He’s picky and doesn’t like mushrooms! He ate everything.
So good!!!!
I’ve made this with olive oil mashed potatoes twice as prescribed in No Pasta, No Rice Vol. 1. (Still hoping for a volume two of that, my favorite of the meal plans.) Now, because I just bought WAY MORE red potatoes in Week 1 than I needed, I’m thinking about trying a modification to turn this into a sheet pan meal. Think it’ll work?
0. Make the balsamic sauce, coat chicken, marinate overnight. Reserve marinade upon removing the chicken.
1. Preheat oven to 400. Cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces, spread on sheet pan, and drizzle with olive oil, garlic powder, rosemary, and pinch of salt. Roast for 20 minutes while preparing mushrooms.
2. Halve or quarter the mushrooms (and maybe double the amount — both times I’ve made this, I’ve wanted more mushrooms) and drizzle with olive oil and a pinch of salt. Stir potatoes, and add mushrooms and chicken to the pan. (Potatoes on one side, mushrooms on the other, chicken in the middle, as is Beth’s way.) Roast for 40 minutes.
3. Put reserved marinade in small sauce pan, bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer, simmer until amount reduces by half. Remove from heat and mix in butter.
4. When potatoes, mushrooms, and chicken are done roasting, move to plates, spoon sauce over mushrooms and chicken.