You're 3 Ingredients Away From Ina Garten's 'Easiest' Dinner Ever

Who better to source a delicious and easy dinner from than the Barefoot Contessa herself? Ina Garten took to Instagram to share a three-ingredient dish that will fill you up, satisfy your taste buds, and you can make in no time for your last chowdown of the day (just 35-40 minutes). It's a simple combination of oven-baked chicken with goat cheese and basil.

Garten said of this meal, "It's juicy ... It's moist. It's flavorful. It's about as easy as dinner gets." Garten likes to use boneless chicken breasts for this dish, a large basil leaf to add some mild spice to her meat, and she prefers to use herbed goat cheese (which is also the secret ingredient for her ultra-creamy mashed potatoes). Garten tucks her cheese and basil underneath the skin of the chicken so it imparts delicious flavor into the meat as it bakes in the oven. After seasoning her meat, she lets it cook until it's ready to be devoured.

Instagrammers commented on Ina Garten's post, sharing how great this three-ingredient meal is. One user explained how the simplicity of this delicious dish benefited them as a cooking newbie. They said, "When I first started cooking more regularly at home, this was one of the best "getting comfortable in the kitchen" recipes (which helps with building confidence as a home cook). I especially love the goat cheese with the chicken."

Another poster shared that they substitute their preferred seasonings in their recipe but still love the dish so much that it's become a staple in their kitchen. They commented, "I make this all the time. I use lemon pepper instead of plain pepper and it is soooo good!"

Garten's signature dinner is so great that it actually inspired the child of one Instagrammer to pursue a life in the kitchen. The user recounted, "My son watched you make this recipe on television about twenty years ago when he was 8 years old! He was so excited, wrote it down and made it that weekend (with a little help from mom;)! He never stopped cooking, went to culinary school and is a successful chef. Thank you for your inspiration." 

This isn't the only nostalgic recipe the Barefoot Contessa shared on Instagram. Garten once posted a video of a 20-year-old "Barefoot Contessa" recipe.

Ina Garten shared the "easiest dinner she knows how to make," so it can become one of the easiest dinners you can always enjoy. But if you make your own oven-baked boneless chicken with goat cheese and basil, Garten has one suggestion that will take your dinner from great to amazing. The Barefoot Contessa says to rest that freshly baked chicken at room temperature for 10 minutes before you eat it because that rest period will make your dinner even more delicious. 

You should take Garten's advice because if you slice your baked chicken fresh out of the oven, most of its juices will trickle out of the meat. This will leave it so dry that you'll have wasted the short time it took to cook your dish — it just won't taste as good. When freshly cooked meat rests, its juices are redirected toward the ends of the meat. By following Garten's tip, you'll indeed have a succulent chicken dinner. And that doesn't just go for baked chicken. You should also rest fried chicken before eating it.