9 Best Fancy Chicken Recipes To Try Today

Who doesn’t love a good chicken recipe? They’re often filling and comforting, and often the best way to eat well on a budget too!

However, for some people, chicken has become one of those foods that just aren’t that special.

It’s kind of like the big mac of the meat world.

Sure it’s tasty, filling, and not too pricey, but when it comes to making a meal that stands out from the crowd, it’s just not going to cut it.

(That is, of course, if you’re ignoring actual big macs for a minute, but trust us with this metaphor!)

However, if you know the right recipe to look for, you’ll find that there is plenty of fancy meals that you can make out of this tasty meat!

(at least with the chicken. The jury’s still out on if making big mac’s fancy is possible.

Maybe this metaphor has gotten away from us a little…)

So, if you’re looking for a way to turn your pound of poultry into a perfectly pristine prepared dish for fellow fine diners, then this list, with its 15 exquisitely fancy-feeling recipes for chicken, is just for you!

Table of Contents

1. Prune & Olive Chicken Marbella

Starting off this recipe with a blast from the not-so-distant past, we have this delicious and fancy chicken Marbella recipe for you to try for yourself!

Folks who grew up around and through the 80s will remember this dish being a staple of many households, especially anyone that had a love for Spanish or Moroccan-inspired cuisine (a fact that will become clear as we go through this little guide).

While this does mean that there is a generation or demographic of people that will likely view this dish as more of a homely and hearty dish to fall back on (maybe even a little kitsch), there are plenty of people that are just discovering this fancy dish for themselves, and wondering how they hadn’t heard about it sooner.

And how couldn’t they? With juicy and succulent chicken meat that is equal parts sublime as it is salty and briny, thanks to the inclusion of olives and prunes, you have a dish that will stand out from your everyday chicken meals, and can be served at pretty much any dinner table, private or public, and be just at home on both!

2. Lemon Pepper Chicken

Despite how common the flavor combo had become, the idea that chicken and lemon zest go well together would probably seem a little outlandish, if you had no experience with dishes that use both of these staple ingredients of any pantry.

But as we see in this particular recipe, not only do they taste great, but they make for a dish that is perfect to eat for pretty much any occasion!

Part of this is the fact that both of these ingredients are cooked together with plenty of other complementary spices that help balance out the sweet sourness of the lemon, especially when cooked with a hearty heaping of onions and black pepper.

This helps turn the lemon zest from a sour and bitter aftertaste, into a beautiful zesty flavor that adds just a little extra heat to an excellent dish.

What’s more, this recipe takes just half an hour to prepare for yourself. So not only do you have a fancy chicken recipe on-hand with this dish, but you also have a recipe that can be whipped up on pretty short notice too!

3. Moroccan Apricot Chicken

Told we’d come back to those Moroccan-inspired flavors in this guide! And sooner rather than later, judging by this tasty dish!

And since we’ve already used lemon in the previous example, let’s see what fanciful filling meals can be cooked up with apricot as a staple ingredient!

While people reading this guide may be more familiar with apricot being a staple of many desserts and otherwise sweet recipes, in this dish, it is being combined with some succulent chicken breast and chili paste (or chili sauce, in this case), to create a dish that is perfect to serve to any audience.

The apricots add just a hint of sweetness to this Moroccan chili recipe, creating a dish unlike any other that most people will have tasted!

4. Chef John’s Chicken & Mushrooms

Ah, a staple of any chef’s recipe book, whether they are a novice or a seasoned veteran of the kitchen.

This lends the classic chicken and mushrooms combo a homely feeling to it that, while tasty, might not always be the first meal idea that comes to mind as a fancy dish to serve guests or a larger crowd.

However, thanks to this dish inspired by the many recipes of college-trained and famous online chef, Chef John, this classic of many households has been turned into a dish that is more than professional and tasty enough to serve pretty much anyone.

And not only that, but with an ingredients list that is as surprising as it is short, this is a dish that pretty much anyone will have the ingredients for, or easy access to them, at least!

Plus, it only takes 10 minutes of prep time to get started with this recipe. 10 Minutes!

5. Garlic Butter Chicken Meatball With Orzo

Meatballs are a favorite of any table. But with how much red meat they often contain, making them for yourself doesn’t just feel like a challenge, but can often be a detriment to a diet that you may be trying to stick to.

This is why many more lean meats, such as chicken, are often created as substitutes, even if their texture makes them not the first choice for many people with a more classy palate.

However, this garlic butter chicken recipe turns that idea on its head, turning these chicken meatballs from a meal that you know you should be eating, into a meal that you WANT to eat as well!

Add to that a creamy orzo sauce that is full of tasty extras, such as garlic, rosemary, and Dijon mustard, and it is not hard to see how easy this dish would fit in at any of the higher-class restaurants that come to mind when thinking of ‘fancy food’.

6. White Chicken Enchiladas

Who doesn’t love a good enchilada recipe? They’re practically THE go-to comfort food for many homes across the country!

And that’s part of the issue they face when it comes to being seen as high-class, easy food to make.

They’re just a little too ‘homely’ feeling (whether that’s even a bad thing or not, we’ll let you decide, even if that’s not exactly the point).

So, it’s encouraging to see someone give this recipe the spruce-up that it needs to stand up there with the fanciest of truffle or caviar recipes!

7. Chicken Marsala

When it comes to classy foods, you can’t go wrong with a dish from Italy, where every meal that is prepared right just seems to radiate a cool and fancy feel to it.

Marsala is perhaps a lesser-known dish when it comes to Italian meals, but one that should not be overlooked, as it combines hearty ingredients with a sublime sauce that creates a filling meal that tastes as great as it looks!

With the chicken and mushrooms benign pan fried with a delicious Italian cooking wine that gives this dish its name, as well as plenty of extra herby flavor added to the recipe for good measure, you’ll soon have a new favorite Italian dish on your hands with this one!

8. Chicken Empanadas

Back to Mexican-inspired cuisine, we go with this next excellent recipe!

Empanadas are another staple of home cooking that, whilst often tasting great and being very filling, often have people raising an eyebrow when they are called ‘fancy’.

And that’s a shame, given how much flavor can be packed into these pocket-sized packs of flavor!

So you can imagine just how happy we are to see this dish done justice with this particular recipe!

The trick with this recipe is to make sure that your Empanadas are baked to just the right shade of golden brown, and served immediately.

Whilst they can be served cold once they have been cooked, we reckon that this dish is best served and eaten hot!

And with this dish only taking half an hour at most, it is a recipe that can be made as quick as a flash!

Well, almost, anyway.

9. Old-Fashioned Chicken Potpie

Finally, on this list, we have a classic dish that anyone familiar with home cooking will know and love.

Potpies, also known as crock pots, are a favorite in many households as that dish you fondly remember when you are miles from home.

So, let’s see what a fancier version of this dish looks like!

With a beautifully creamy sauce, as well as the chicken being packed alongside tons of fresh vegetables, this is a dish that will go down great at every table it’s sat at!