Running out of Chicken Dinner Ideas? Use Brainstorming!

You might feel like brainstorming is something that’s reserved for school or maybe the office. But think about it: you use brainstorming all the time when you’re planning meals and vacations, holiday gift lists and beyond. You can expand your brainstorming ability by using some of the techniques we’ve highlighted below.

Use the bait-and-switch technique. In this case, bait-and-switch is a good thing! Hop on the internet and reel in some chicken dinner ideas. Now, think of ways to switch-up those dishes to make them a little more exciting. For example, you see an idea for BBQ chicken but you need it to be more outside-the-box. Write down the BBQ chicken idea and then cross it with different ethnic foods. What would Italian BBQ chicken look like? BBQ chicken pizza! What would Mexican BBQ chicken look like? BBQ chicken tacos! What would Chinese BBQ chicken look like? BBQ chicken lettuce wraps! No idea has to be entirely duplicated, but it can certainly be adjusted. For each idea you see, simply write an alternate version.

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Consider strengths and weaknesses. Anytime you try to come up with new ideas, you need to know your strengths and weaknesses. Before getting started, make a list of the kinds of foods you’re great at making, then compare that to a list of things you’ve struggled with. Are there types of dishes you’ve never tried making? Include everything, then start looking for new dinner ideas. You might find that chicken curry is much easier to make than you ever anticipated because it’s similar to another dish you’re great at making. You’ll find that identifying your strengths and weaknesses makes it easier to organize your thoughts and ideas into areas that could be considered “Try now” and “Try another time.”

Try mind mapping. Building a mind map can be a great way to connect menu items separated by several degrees. Mind mapping is by no means the easiest way to create a direct path from your original idea to your best ideas. It’s going to take work and using word association to continue to build out your mind map. If you’ve never built a mind map before, start with your topic in the center of a piece of paper and draw a circle around it. In this case, you’ll write “Chicken Dinner.” Then, draw a few lines coming out like spokes and put an idea on each. You’ll want to draw a circle around each idea, so you can draw spokes coming out from each. Your ideas might include “Baked,” “Sauteed,” “Slow cooker,” “Fried”, “Grilled,” and others. Use word associations to build your mind map and come up with great chicken dinner ideas.

Get creative with figure storming. You don’t always have to brainstorm as yourself. You can take on a figurative mantel of your favorite chef to come up with ideas. It doesn’t mean that you have to be as great of a chef as your favorite celebrity chef, but you can certainly take ideas from them. “What would “Gordon” cook?” “What would “Rachel” love to eat?” If you’re not coming up with any ideas, visit their website and look up recipes. If you’ve exhausted recipes from one chef, move on to another. You might find that there’s a variation on something you love that you’ve never tried before. There are always more recipes to find.

Use the random word picker. Sometimes all it takes to come up with a great idea is a single word. In the case of brainstorming chicken dinner ideas, you might need only one ingredient. Get a few small pieces of paper and jot down something like a key ingredient you like to cook with, a style of food, or a cooking method, then fold them up and throw them in a bowl. Shake up the papers and draw one out. You’ll go through and list as many dishes as you can think of that are associated with what’s on the piece of paper. For instance, if you draw Chinese Chicken, you would write things like sweet and sour chicken, orange chicken, or anything else you think of. The random word picker technique helps to narrow down your thought process, so you’re not searching the broad topic of chicken dinners.

Go with crazy eights. Crazy eights is a technique that makes it easy to come up with several chicken dinner ideas in one sitting. Get a piece of paper or use your favorite note-taking app and draw eight boxes on it. Then you’ll set a timer for eight minutes and try to come up with eight chicken dinner ideas during that time. If you’re completely out of ideas, head to the internet and look for eight new ideas. If the timer goes off and you don’t have eight new ideas, it’s fine. At least you have a few new dinner ideas you can work with.

Use any or all of these brainstorming techniques to come up with new chicken dinner ideas. You’ll find that you’re a more efficient brainstormer,and trying to think of new ideas won’t be such a hassle.