This Mango Chicken Bake is a simple flavourful oven baked dish that has just 10 minutes of prep and uses fresh seasonal ingredients combined together to create a summer version of comfort food with attitude. Bright colours, rich thick sauce, sweet mango juiciness and just hint of chilli to wake up the tastebuds.
This is a dish packed with flavour that’s a delicious combination of sweet with a little bit of spicy, just like this Honey Chilli Chicken with Cashews and this Thai Garlic Chicken with Chilli.
Recipe Tips For Making Mango Chicken Bake
- Chicken: make sure to buy skinless chicken thigh and that any fat is trimmed off
- Spice Mix: Make the spice mix first in a bowl and tip into a large plastic bag. Add the chicken pieces one at a time and massage in the spices to thoroughly coat. Remove chicken thigh from bad after its coated, and do another one, repeating until all are done.
- Cooking: heat the pan before hand to medium high with a little coconut oil, then pre cook the chicken for 2 to 3 minutes each side until light golden brown. This will seal in the juices and make it more flavourful.
- Mango: canned or fresh mango will work. I prefer large chunks so that they stay chunky during the cooking process
- Sauce: tomato passata or tomato puree will work. I used roughly sliced red onion, red and green capsicum (peppers), however you could also substitute in zucchini or green beans
- Baking: Avoid baking uncovered as the chicken will become too dry and the sauce thick and crusty. Cover with foil (shiny side down), ensuring its pressed firmly all the way around to lock in the heat.
Time Saving Tips & Shortcuts
- Garlic: instead of peeling and chopping fresh garlic, use the garlic in a jar. Do make sure the one you buy has nothing else added and I always use more garlic from a jar than fresh garlic because I find it to be less intense.
- Ginger: use the ginger paste you get in a jar, but do make sure there are no other nasties added. Alternatively, you could add some freshly ground ginger.
- Mango: If mango is out of season, use canned mango. I find it is just as good and begin able to make this dish year round with canned mango is super convenient
- Serving: If you’re really pressed for time, microwavable brown rice has been my lifesaver at time. I’ve also seen pre-made zucchini noodles and cauliflower rice in the vegetable section of the supermarkets – a great time saver for busy weeknights.
What To Serve With Mango Chicken Bake
Healthy Option: Brown rice or jasmine rice are great simple serving options. Even Sweet potato is a winner with this dish as it can soak up the sauciness
High Protein Option: Quinoa, or high protein pasta such as Edamame pasta or chickpea pasta
Low Carb: Cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles or your favourite low carb pasta.
How To Adjust The Level of Spiciness To Suit Your Taste
I haven’t added any chilli to this recipe directly, which means it is already mild to begin with – there really isn’t any heat or spiciness in it at all.
To add a little bit of spice to this dish there are two ways you could do this:
- Add 1 teaspoon of Sambal Olek at step 7. Sambal Olek is a Malaysian condiment – basically crushed chilli in a jar, usually found in the Asian food section of supermarkets. It is quite hot so do use it sparingly.
- Add 1 teaspoon of dried chilli powder, or cayenne pepper at step 7.
To add even more heat, try this in addition to the above:
- Sprinkle a small amount of dried chilli flakes over the rice just as you’re about to serve
- Finely dice a long red chilli (seeds out for less heat, seeds in for more heat), and sprinkle fresh diced chilli over the rice before serving.
Recipe Variations To Try
- Chicken Breast/Turkey Breast: If you’re opposed to thigh meat, could can make this recipe with chicken breast or turkey breast, but it will cook much quicker than the chicken thigh. Follow the same process with coating the meat, and pre cooking until golden brown, cover with foil and bake for around 25 to 30 minutes
- Rich and Smoky: If you love smoky chicken, increase the amount of smoked paprika by adding an extra teaspoon to the spice mix.
- More Greenery: add Fresh baby Spinach Leaves at step 7 when arranging the sauce into the baking dish, mix in 1 cup of spinach leaves, place the chicken and mango on top, and spoon some sauce up and over the chicken
- Extra Protein: add 1 cup of chickpeas to the sauce at step 7, stirring them through before adding the chicken and mango
- Extra Saucy: Double up on the sauce by making a double quantity, or add 1 can of diced tomatoes to the sauce at step 7.
If you love saucy chicken dishes, you might like to check out this 20 minute thai Chicken Pineapple Curry that can be made as mild or as spicy as you like, or these healthy Thai Chicken Meatballs with Delicious Peanut Sauce – it’s one of my most popular recipes!
Mango Chicken Bake is an easy recipe that can be easily adjusted to suit varying tastebuds for those that don’t like any spice or heat, to just a little, to a lot. Its also a great recipe if you’re looking for low carb dinner ideas because you can totally enjoy this saucy chicken with zucchini noodles, cauliflower rice, or low carb pasta.
Put this recipe on your must make list if you like dishes with little prep, lots of flavour, easily adjustable to suit fussy eaters, makes great leftovers for lunch, and is healthy saucy comfort food. Just like this Apricot Chicken Curry Casserole – Healthy comfort food you can eat all year round.
Have you ever tried a Spanish Chicken Tray Bake? If you love chorizo and juicy chicken with a little bit of char, this Spanish inspired dish with kale, olives and paprika will immediately transport you to the backstreets of Spain. Or maybe this Clean Eating Butter Chicken might be more your thing – its made entirely from scratch (no store bought pastes), oven baked and surprisingly easy to put together with little effort and maximum flavour.
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Mango Chicken Bake
Ingredients
- 500 grams/1 pound Skinless chicken thigh
- 1 cup Tomato puree/tomato passata
- ½ cup water or Chicken Stock/broth
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon Crushed garlic
- 1 teaspoon Grated ginger
- ½ teaspoon Sea salt
- ½ teaspoon Pepper
- 1 ½ cups Mango chopped in big chunks
- 1 medium Red Onion sliced thinly
- 1 Red Capsicum/Pepper sliced
- 1 Green Capsicum/Pepper sliced
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Spice Mix
- 1 teaspoon Garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon Onion salt
- 1 teaspoon Dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon Dried Basil
- 1 teaspoon Smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Sweet paprika
- 2 tablespoons plain flour
To Serve
- 1 ½ cups of cooked Jasmine or Brown Rice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
- Make up the spice mix and place in a plastic bag or bowl
- Coat each of the chicken thighs. Shake off excess and set aside on a plate
- Heat a pan on the stove on high heat. Add the coconut oil and chicken thighs.
- Arrange chicken thighs in pan and cook for 2- 3 minutes each side or until just golden, then set aside
- Transfer all chicken pieces to a large baking dish
- In the same pan, on high heat, add the garlic, ginger, onion, capsicums/peppers, tomato puree, water and worcestershire sauce. Stir through until heated.
- Pour the tomato mix on top of the chicken thighs
- Add chunks of mango on the top, gently poking them in a little
- Cover firmly with foil (shiny side down)
- Bake in oven for40 minutes at 180 degrees C
- To Serve: ½ cup of cooked jasmine rice or brown rice, or cauliflower rice for a low carb option.
Notes
- Mango: If mango is out of season, use canned mango. I find it is just as good and begin able to make this dish year round with canned mango is super convenient
- Chicken Breast/Turkey Breast: If you’re opposed to thigh meat, could can make this recipe with chicken breast or turkey breast, but it will cook much quicker than the chicken thigh. Follow the same process with coating the meat, and pre cooking until golden brown, cover with foil and bake for around 25 to 30 minutes
- Rich and Smoky: If you love smoky chicken, increase the amount of smoked paprika by adding an extra teaspoon to the spice mix.
- More Greenery: add Fresh baby Spinach Leaves at step 7 when arranging the sauce into the baking dish, mix in 1 cup of spinach leaves, place the chicken and mango on top, and spoon some sauce up and over the chicken
- Extra Protein Chickpeas: add 1 cup of chickpeas to the sauce at step 7, stirring them through before adding the chicken and mango
- Extra Saucy: Double up on the sauce by making a double quantity, or add 1 can of diced tomatoes to the sauce at step 7.
- More Spicy: Add 1 teaspoon of Sambal Olek at step 7. Sambal Olek is a Malaysian condiment – basically crushed chilli in a jar, usually found in the Asian food section of supermarkets. It is quite hot so do use it sparingly.
- Seriously Spicy: Sprinkle a small amount of dried chilli flakes or finely diced fresh red chilli over the rice just as you’re about to serve
- Alternative Serving Options: Sweet potato (Mashed or roasted), Quinoa, high protein pasta (eg: edamame pasta or chickpea pasta), or low carb options including cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles or low carb pasta
- Nutritional Info: nutritional information includes 1/2 cup of brown rice (recipe serves 3 people)
- This recipe contains no added sugars.
Nutrition
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