Healthy Marry Me Chicken with Cottage Cheese
Servings 4 servings
This healthy Marry Me chicken is the perfect one-pan dinner. The juicy chicken breast is tossed in a creamy sun-dried tomato sauce tastes absolutely decadent, but this lightened up version only feels indulgent. It's naturally high in protein and lower in fat so you can enjoy it any day of the week. It'll be love at first bite! {Gluten-free}
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts about 4 small
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- Dash of red pepper flakes (optional)
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- ¾ cup cottage cheese
- 3 tablespoons jarred sun-dried tomatoes in oil
- 1 cup fresh baby spinach, packed
- ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- Fresh chopped basil, parmesan cheese, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes for garnish
Instructions
- Pound chicken breasts with a meat mallet until uniform in thickness and season with salt and pepper. Heat a large, heavy non-stick or cast iron pan over medium high heat. Add the olive oil and then the seasoned chicken to the pan and cook, undisturbed until the chicken breast is golden brown, about 4-5 minutes per side.
- While the chicken is cooking; in a high powered blender, blend together the cottage cheese, ½ cup of the chicken broth and sun dried tomatoes until smooth. If necessary, you can add in the remaining ¼ cup chicken broth to the blender to help get it a smooth consistency. Set aside.
- When chicken is browned, remove it to a plate and add in the garlic, tomato paste, oregano and red pepper flakes and cook for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant and the tomato paste has darkened slightly. Stir in the cottage cheese mixture and whisk until fully combined. If you find the sauce to be too thick, add in the rest of the chicken broth or a splash more if you need it. The sauce will loosen as it heats up. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low and place the chicken breasts back into the pan. Cover and simmer until the chicken is almost cooked through, about 10-12 minutes, stir in the spinach and parmesan cheese and replace the lid, cook until the chicken reaches 165℉ on an instant read thermometer, and the spinach has wilted down, about 2 more minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Remove from the heat and garnish with chopped basil, grated parmesan cheese and chopped sun dried tomatoes. Serve with pasta or crusty bread and a salad.
Notes
- I used a drier, small curd cottage cheese for this recipe. If your cottage cheese is more soupy, you may wish to strain it before blending to avoid a sauce that is too liquidy. A 2% or 4% fat cottage cheese would work best for this recipe. I recommend avoiding fat free versions, as you want a little bit of fat to give the sauce that creamy mouthfeel of using a heavy cream in the traditional recipe, and the lower the fat, the more chance your dish will curdle instead of being smooth.
- I used the sun dried tomatoes that are jarred in oil for this recipe. I find that the dried tomatoes in the bags tend to be very fibrous and tough and don't break down in the sauce as well. If this is your only choice, I would consider soaking them in some boiling hot water first to soften them.
- Depending on the amount of moisture in your cottage cheese, you may wish to add more or less chicken broth to the sauce. This is why I like to start with only adding a ½ cup and then seeing if I need more before adding it to the sauce. You may find that you wish to add some more as it cooks to thin it out a bit.
Nutrition
Calories: 342kcalCarbohydrates: 7gProtein: 47gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 120mgSodium: 914mgPotassium: 994mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 1141IUVitamin C: 18mgCalcium: 208mgIron: 2mg
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