Chili garlic chicken with yogurt dipping sauce

I realize that we can't all spend 6 hours in the kitchen every day. Even I have recently become more practical in my kitchen endeavors. My kitchen marathons have become fewer and further between. I still make dinner 3 nights a week and once a week make us muffins for breakfast. But I have tried to make the dinners a little more reasonable. No more homemade pasta on Wednesday nights. No more making the pumpkin puree to then make the pumpkin muffins to then go on and make coq au vin.

This week for example, all I wanted was to make jagerschnitzel with braised cabbage and spaetzle (my husband's german family would be proud). This meal has four fairly labor intensive components. My goal was to do this on a Wednesday night but I then thought the better of it and decided to wait for the weekend, where I could put my husband in charge of part of the meal. Look how practical we've become. 

This meal is a perfect example of one of those nights where I needed dinner to be really easy but still tasty, always tasty. This does require you plan ahead and either marinate the chicken the night before or at least two hours before. The marinade only takes about 5 minutes to throw together. After the marinade, the dinner takes about 15 minutes to get ready. 

The chili garlic sauce gives the chicken great depth of flavor. The honey in the marinade gives the chicken a nice crisp in the pan. The yogurt sauce is simple but provides a nice tangy counterpart to the sweet garlic burst of the chicken. This has the making of a new staple in our household. 

Chili garlic chicken with yogurt dipping sauce 

Serves 3, adapted from How Sweet It Is

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1" cubes

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

3 tablespoons chili garlic paste (Asian aisle of the grocery store) 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil (to cook chicken)

Yogurt sauce

1 cup plain greek yogurt (I used 2%) 

2 tablespoons snipped chives

1 lime juiced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

In a large tupperware, whisk together olive oil, honey, chili garlic paste, salt, and pepper. Add the chicken a stir until coated. Marinade in the refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight. 

In a large saute pan over medium high heat, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Once the oil is hot add the chicken to the pan and cook until browned on both sides and cooked through, about 5 minutes a side. 

In a small bowl, mix together all the yogurt ingredients. Either dip the chicken straight into the yogurt or serve over the top of the chicken.