While dieting or watching your weight, you may find yourself craving some of your guiltier culinary pleasures. This "skinny" chicken parmesan does just the trick without near as many calories.
Some chicken parm recipes can rack upwards of 1,000 calories with more than 35 grams of fat. Not this one, though. With this recipe, you'll be able to eat your chicken parmesan and not feel guilty about it.
- Calories: 330
- Fat: 11
- Carbs: 15
- Protein: 39
(Calorie calculations made using the Fat Secret Calorie Counter)
Ingredients (makes two servings)
- 1/2 spaghetti quash (cut vertically from stem-to-butt)
- 2 whole chicken breasts
- 1/2 c spaghetti sauce
- mozzarella cheese
- Italian seasonings, oregano, basil
- salt & pepper
Preheat the oven for 375 degrees.
Clean out the seeds from the inside of your squash. Spray lightly with vegetable oil cooking spray and cut-side-down on a baking sheet, like a little igloo and bake for 40 minutes (or until a sharp knife can piece the outside easily).
Ptotip: Line your baking sheet with aluminum foil for quick and easy cleanup.
Using a small sauce pan, heat your sauce with whichever seasonings you may want to add. A few sprinkles of Italian seasonings, oregano, and some basil are enough to punch up a cheap can of tomato sauce, especially if you're pinching pennies. Let that sit at low on the burner while you're working on everything else and the flavors will all blend together beautifully.
Cook your chicken breasts until they hit 165 degrees internal temperature (treat yourself and buy a meat thermometer). If you're gonna cook them stove-top, just heat the burner to 5 out of 10 (medium) and remove once the inside is no longer pink (15+ minutes, depending on the size).
Protip: shorten cooking time by chopping chicken into smaller pieces before cooking. smaller pieces = more surface area = less time to heat all the way through. Do not eat chicken that is not fully cooked. Cooked chicken will not be pink or produce pink juice.
Once your squash is done, remove it from the oven. (caution: The dome will trap a lot of steam, be careful!) Now use a fork to pull out all the pulp inside; it will be stringy like spaghetti, but with less flavor.
Similar to when cooking with tofu, using a bland/less flavorful ingredient makes the rest of your flavors stand out more, but could also detract if not properly seasoned. Sprinkle your "spaghetti" with some salt and pepper to taste.
Plate your food and sprinkle a handful of mozzarella on everything. Add the cheese on top of the chicken, underneath the sauce to make sure it gets extra melty!
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