Chicken breasts browned and then braised with onion, carrot, cider vinegar and broth, with chopped strawberries added at the end and the sauce reduced around them. The vinegar is what keeps it savoury.
Vinegar is what makes it savoury
Strawberries and chicken sounds like a mistake until the cider vinegar goes in. Two tablespoons of it, plus eight tablespoons of chicken broth, and the fruit stops reading as dessert and starts reading as the sweet half of a sweet and sour sauce.
The same principle sits behind duck with cherries or pork with apple. Acid and salt on one side, fruit sugar on the other, and the two hold each other in place.
The strawberries go in last
Everything else is done before they arrive: the breasts browned and set aside, the onion and carrot softened in the same pan, the chicken returned and braised covered until tender.
Only then do the chopped strawberries go in, uncovered, for a few minutes. Long enough to soften and give up their juice into the sauce, short enough to still be pieces of fruit.
Cooked further they surrender completely. The sauce goes pink and smooth and tastes of jam.
Brown the chicken and take it out
The second step browns the breasts and then removes them, which is not fussiness. The onion and carrot need the pan to themselves to colour properly, and chicken left in while they do it overcooks.
It also means the browned bits the chicken left behind get picked up by the vegetables and then dissolved by the vinegar and broth, which is where the sauce gets its depth.
Reduce, then taste
The last stage is uncovered so the liquid can go. Eight tablespoons of broth and two of vinegar is not much to begin with, and it wants to be a coating rather than a puddle.
Salt goes at the end, after reducing. A sauce that has been reduced concentrates whatever salt is already in it, so seasoning early is how you overshoot.
More chicken
- Creamy mushroom chicken — the savoury pan sauce.
- Crispy parmesan chicken breasts — breaded and fried.
- Chicken with creamy spinach sauce — another sauce in the same pan.
- Grilled chicken breast — when there is no sauce at all.
Chicken in Strawberry Sauce FAQ
No. Two tablespoons of cider vinegar against 250 grams of strawberries pull it firmly savoury, and it reads as a sweet and sour sauce rather than a dessert. Anyone expecting jam on chicken will be surprised.
At the very end, after the chicken is already tender, and they stay in the pan for minutes rather than longer. They soften and release juice while holding their shape.
They collapse. The pieces disappear, the sauce turns uniformly pink, and what was a sauce with fruit in it becomes a purée.
So the sauce reduces. The chicken cooks covered, which keeps it moist, and then the lid comes off so the vinegar and broth can concentrate around the strawberries.
Yes, but expect more liquid and give them less time. Freezing has already ruptured the cell walls, so they break down faster than fresh ones.
Something plain that will take the sauce: white rice, mashed potato, or bread. The sauce is the point and it wants somewhere to go.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breast fillets
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 1 carrot (chopped)
- 250 g strawberries (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 8 tablespoons chicken broth
- Salt and pepper
- Oil (a little, for the pan)
Notas
Instructions
- Heat a little oil in a skillet over medium heat.
- Season the breasts with salt and pepper, lay them in the skillet and brown them on both sides. Lift them out and set them aside.
- Chop the onion and carrot and brown them in the same pan. When they are ready, return the breasts and pour the vinegar and the chicken broth over them.
- Cover the skillet and cook for a few minutes more, until the chicken is tender.
- Chop the strawberries and add them to the pan. Carry on cooking for a few minutes, this time uncovered.
- When the sauce has reduced, taste it, adjust the salt and serve.
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