I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to getting dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes, I’m normally batting a cool zero. Sure, I’ve had my moments where all my mise is done and I can quickly throw something together, but I’ve fully accepted the fact that I live in an ingredient household, and it’s a badge I wear proudly. If it’s taco Tuesday at my house, I’m probably making the tortillas, guac, and at least two salsas. I firmly believe that mashed potatoes should never come from a box, and tomato soup is best made from scratch.
Could I be a bit quicker in the kitchen sometimes? Absolutely! And I’m sure my partner, Kendall, would vehemently agree. It’s not that I like taking all day, although I live for a project—it’s just that sometimes I don’t have the forethought to prep hours in advance. And there’s not really a world where you can rush making cassoulet—know what I mean? Okay, so maybe I could choose simpler dishes to make on a weeknight, but where’s the fun in that? Who says I have to wait until the weekend to enjoy arancini with a homemade marinara sauce? Clearly, I’m not the problem here.
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That being said, something tells me that blaming the construct of time isn’t going to fly for too much longer, so it might be best to actually find ways to cut down the amount of time I’m spending poring over dishes. To give myself some credit, I have started to rely on cans every now and then, and instead of making dumplings from scratch (all the time), I’ve switched to picking up Laoban. I’ve even started exploring other quick fixes, and my latest game-changing find might just be the solution I didn’t know I needed.
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To be fair, cooking chicken on a weeknight isn’t the hardest thing in the world, but if you want flavorful, juicy, drool-worthy chicken, it’s best to marinate it for a few hours, if not overnight. Then there’s the business of trimming it, dicing it up, and thoroughly cleaning everything to make sure there’s no raw chicken juice lingering behind—it’s all just too much. Luckily, Easy Street takes care of all of that, so all you have to do is toss it into a pan and go. This quick and easy dinner find is available in three delicious flavors—Rotisserie, Korean BBQ, and Street Taco—and comes in 1.25-pound packages for just $5.99.
Easy Street Rotisserie-Style Chicken
Kenn Bivins
Each pack contains approximately four decent-sized servings of fresh, pre-trimmed, diced, and dry-seasoned chicken thighs, which claim to take no more than 7 minutes to cook. Simply, heat a pan to medium-high heat, add a little oil, and toss in the chicken. It’s literally that easy. As good as all that sounds, though, you know I had to put it to the test. I went with the rotisserie option for dinner a few days ago and decided to prepare jasmine rice and green beans as the accoutrements to my dish.
The Juicy Time-Saver I Didn’t Know I Needed
If you’re already calculating time in your head, both sides are pretty speedy, with the rice taking about 15 minutes plus an additional 10-minute rest and the green beans taking around 7 minutes. Considering you’re probably using multiple burners, that brings the time to about 25 minutes, excluding the chicken. Fortunately, Easy Street literally only takes 7 minutes max, so you’re looking at about 32 minutes start to finish.
Courtesy of Kenn C. Bivins
Even if you’re not accustomed to using several burners, you can still get dinner on the table in less than an hour, thanks to the no-fuss, low-effort, easy-peasy staple—and it’s incredibly delicious to boot. Each bite-sized morsel was exceedingly tender and tasted like fresh herbs, garlic, and lemon. Best of all, there was no messy marinade or raw chicken juices left to clean up afterwards, and for a payoff like that, Easy Street has earned a permanent spot in my fridge.
How to Use Easy Street Rotisserie-Style Chicken
Beyond just enjoying it as is, you can throw it into a wrap, make a flavor-packed rice bowl, turn it into nachos, or even make a tasty quesadilla. Unfortunately, you won’t find this speedy time-saving dinner upgrade everywhere just yet, with their initial launch being limited to just 10 states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington D.C., and West Virginia.
Image Courtesy of Easy Street
You can find it at Aldi, Giant Eagle, Giant Food, Harris Teeter, Market Basket, Weis, and ShopRite stores for now, but hopefully, we’ll get a wider rollout soon. The only thing left to do now is figure out what to do with all the time I just saved. Maybe I’ll take up knitting.
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