Ragu Influencer Program Reviews, Part III

The Miss

Italian Chicken and Potatoes (Ragu)

Against my better judgment, I decided to make the Italian chicken dish with potatoes. I'm not a big fan of potatoes with tomato sauce, and I have discovered that I am not a fan of Ragu Old World Style unless it is the basis for a meat sauce. I initially intended to follow the recipe that they provided exactly, but I found that I had to make a few adjustments.

As written, the recipe lacked flavor, in my opinion. One of the benefits of Ragu Old World Style Traditional sauce is that it is extremely mild, with mostly tomato taste and very little in terms of herb and spice flavor. This makes it perfect for young children, who tend to be picky eaters and whose palates shy away from bold or new flavors. The problem here was that chicken and potatoes are also very mild, leaving the green pepper to become the dominant taste in what was to myself and my husband a very strange way. There was also way more sauce called for than made sense to me, as this is not served over pasta and you end up with a bowl of bland sauce at the end. My children would not eat it, but in some families it may serve as a way to get kids to eat more chicken and to try green peppers.

2 tsp olive oil

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size cubes

2 tsp minced garlic

4 large white potatoes, cut into cubes

1 large green pepper, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 jar (1lb 10 oz) Ragu traditional sauce

1 tsp dried basil

My additions

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper, and more on the table added to taste

I started by cooking the chicken and garlic in the skillet over medium heat. The garlic should be added very late in this process so as not to burn it. I then removed the chicken and added the potato and green pepper to the pan. I doubled the potatoes when I saw how little two potatoes would be given the whole jar of sauce I would be adding.

I cooked this for about 5 minutes, then added the sauce and basil as directed. I brought it to a boil, then simmered over low heat, covered, for 35 minutes.

At this point, the potatoes were done and nicely tender. I added the chicken back in. On tasting, I found it to be very bland. I added the onion and garlic powder, followed by the crushed red pepper. This is how I ended up serving it. My husband found it edible.

If I were to make this again, I would use chicken thighs, as they have a stronger flavor. I would also leave out the potatoes and add a chopped onion when cooking the green pepper, and I would serve it over pasta, thereby changing it completely into Chicken Cacciatore.