The Right Way to Cook Your Chicken with Kale

There are 3 million chicken recipes on the internet. We're here to show you the good ones. Win, win.

Today: Kale takes a supporting role in this sweet, tangy, and completely addictive maple-curry chicken recipe.

Kale is the best friend we never had. It brightens our dreariest days, rolls with the punches, is always willing to get down, and makes a fantastic dinner companion. So it should come as no surprise that this Maple-Curry Chicken with Kale caught our eye—though what we found was surprising. While we expected kale to take its expected place at center stage, it instead surrenders the starring role to maple and curry.

More: This isn't the first time we've given kale a supporting role.

The result is a spicy, tangy main course where the sweetness of the dark maple syrup is balanced by curry and just a cup of chopped kale. We hope our back-pocket kale salad doesn't get too jealous while our knife and fork go on double dates with our new favorite duo, curry and maple. But like any good friends, I'm sure we'll pick up right where we left off—but not before we enjoy this dish with our actual, human friends.

Maple-Curry Chicken with Kale

Serves 4

1/3 cup salted butter, melted (optional, but if omitting, be sure to grease the baking dish)
1/2 cup dark, grade B maple syrup
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
3 to 5 teaspoons curry powder, or to taste
1 cup finely chopped kale, spinach, or chard
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 4 equal-sized pieces, or left whole
2 cups water
1 cup bulgur wheat

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photo by James Ransom

Is there an undiscovered Food52 chicken recipe you love? Send us a paragraph or two at [email protected] about why you love it, and it could be next week's Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.