- Chicken Parmigiana with Zucchini Noodles
This is for you Susan!
Upon request from one of my bestest friends I created this dish. She has been requesting a high protein low carb recipe and this is what I came up with. If love Italian food, but need to cut the carbs you are pretty much up a creek, but this dish is the perfect cure for that pasta crave.
I got this idea while watching Iron Chef America the other night. It was battle zucchini and Bobby Flay made a dish were he used zucchini as noodles. I filed this in the back of the recipe box in my head. I was very, very pleased with the results it was absolutely delicious. The zucchini noodles were light and had just a bit of crunch. I breaded the chicken breast in panko bread crumbs which are surprisingly very low in carbs, 1/2 a cup of panko bread crumbs only has 24 g of carbs. I was able to bread 3 chicken breast with just 1/2 cup of crumbs, which means each breast only had 8 g of carbs. Sweet right? The panko was great on the chicken breast, made them light and crunchy.
Here we go….
This is the crew, minus the green onions, I decided I didn’t need them.
Take 3 large chicken breast and place in a 1 gallon Ziploc bag. Take a rolling pin and pound them out to about 1 inch.
Fill a shallow pan, (I used a pie dish) with 1 cup reduced fat buttermilk. Let them soak for about 5 minutes.
While the chicken sits in the butter milk, fill another shallow pan or plate with 1/2 a cup of panko bread crumbs.
Add to the panko crumbs 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp basil, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 kosher salt & 1/4 pepper. Mix well.
Take your chicken breast and transfer to the panko, coating the chicken on both sides.
Transfer to a baking sheet brushed with 1 1/2 Tbs of olive oil. Bake in the oven at 350 for 25 minutes, turning the breasts half way.
While the chicken is in the oven take you zucchini and cut in half. I used 6 small zucchinis.
Now this is where I did some improve. If you have a spiral slicer use it, if you come up with another way to do this leave me a comment. This is what I did. This is what I used.
Take the zester and run it down the zucchini. Like so….
Do this along all the sides till you get to the core. Discard the core.
Do the same thing with 1 yellow squash.
Make sure you have 2 generous cups of zucchini and squash. Set aside.
Thinly slice 1 shallot.
Mince 3 garlic cloves.
Dice 1 vine ripe tomato.
Slice 1/4 cup of roasted red pepper and 1/4 cup of fresh basil, which I forgot to photograph. 😀
Check your chicken, do you need to flip it?
Heat a 1 Tbs of olive oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and shallot and saute till they just beginning to get translucent.
Add 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and half of your basil. Stir and cook at a medium heat for 2 minutes.
Add tomatoes and red peppers, stir and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the zucchini noodles.
Toss with the sauce and saute at a medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. You don’t want to the zucchini to over cook and get soft.
Pull the chicken from the oven and sprinkle with mozzarella.
Transfer to broiler and cook on normal until the cheese melts and bubbles. Mmmmmm….
Serve the chicken over the pasta, garnish with fresh basil, diced tomato and drizzle with olive oil.
Consume with vigor because it is Ohhhhhhh so YUM-E!
Chicken Parmigiana with Zucchini Noodles (2 servings w/ 1 left over chicken breast)
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1 cup reduced fat buttermilk
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 6 small zucchinis
- 1 large yellow squash
- 1 shallot
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 vine ripe tomato
- 1/4 cup tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup roasted red pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
- 1/2 cup mozzarella
- 3 tbs olive oil
Take 3 large chicken breast and place in a 1 gallon Ziploc bag. Take a rolling pin and pound them out to about 1 inch.
Fill a shallow pan, (I used a pie dish) with 1 cup reduced fat buttermilk. Let them soak for about 5 minutes.
While the chicken sits in the butter milk, fill another shallow pan or plate with 1/2 a cup of panko bread crumbs.
Add to the panko crumbs 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp basil, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 kosher salt & 1/4 pepper. Mix well.
Take your chicken breast and transfer to the panko, coating the chicken on both sides.
Transfer to a baking sheet brushed with 1 1/2 Tbs of olive oil. Bake in the oven at 350 for 25 minutes, turning the breasts half way.
While the chicken is in the oven take you zucchini and cut in half. I used 6 small zucchinis.
Take a zest-er and run it down the zucchini. Do this along all the sides till you get to the core. Discard the core. Do the same thing with 1 yellow squash. Make sure you have 2 generous cups of zucchini and squash. Set aside.
Thinly slice 1 shallot, mince 3 garlic cloves, dice 1 vine ripe tomato, slice 1/4 cup of roasted red pepper and 1/4 cup of fresh basil.
Check your chicken, do you need to flip it?
Heat a 1 Tbs of olive oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and shallot and saute till they just beginning to get translucent.
Add 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and half of your basil. Stir and cook at a medium heat for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and red peppers, stir and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the zucchini noodles. Toss with the sauce and saute at a medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. You don’t want to the zucchini to over cook and get soft.
Pull the chicken from the oven and sprinkle with mozzarella. Transfer to broiler and cook on normal until the cheese melts and bubbles.
Serve the chicken over the pasta, garnish with fresh basil, diced tomato and drizzle with olive oil.
Loved, loved, loved the zucchini noodles!! I had leftover grilled chicken, so I just skipped right to the noodles and heated my chicken in the pan with the rest of the stuff. I added kalamata olives and capers and I didn’t have mozzarella so I just sprinkled on some grated cheese (Locatelli) and it totally satisfied the pasta craving! It was so delicious. Thanks so much!!
Thanks so much for this! This is one of my favorite meals and I have been cutting back on my carbs, so I haven’ t had pasta in a long time. I can just imagine how this will taste and can’t wait to try it!
You got a very excellent website, Sword lily I detected it through yahoo.
Looks yummy, only the name says Chicken parmigiano and then you use mozarella instead of parmesan??
low carb diets are the best for the human body, it is much healther and doesn not promote diabetes*.;
Hi, my name is Adriana and i was looking for something to eat tonight however i am on a diet and hate eating yucky stuff i decided to give your recipy a try and i was delighted i think everyone should add this reciepy to there book of receipys… i will definetly try everything on your website since this one was such a success…..
I watched the iron chef episode you are talking about and got online to find out how to make zucchini noodles…so this made my day. I can’t wait to try it. I love the pictures of the steps too! Thanks!
this is really one of my favorite meals I have found online! Love the picturs, great work!
This worked out great because I happened to have most of the ingredients on hand. Also I just bought a julienne peeler from Pampered Chef, if worked great for the zucchini and squash. It made it so simple. I also put the buttermilk right in the plastic bag with the chicken. I just turned it a couple times during the 5 min. Less dishes, gotta love that. Thanks for the new idea!
Love this recipe idea! I have made noodles from Spaghetti Squash before and that works well – to do that, perhaps saute the garlic & such and then put in your squash half, put squash in oven in a shallow dish or jelly pan with a bit of water in the pan.
You can also turn this to a vegetarian dish by substituting thin slices of eggplant for chicken. (thinner slices make for a milder, more receptive eggplant – just be careful not to overcook, that’s what makes it bitter.)
I’m gonna cook this one tonight!
Used my julienne mandolin for this years ago for a low carb diet alternative and my kids were so curious, they wanted to try the “zuchini pasta” too. They now actually prefer the zuchini to spaghetti noodles
Is there a nutritional breakdown for this recipe for total calories, fat, fiber, etc. for those of following weightwatchers?
No sorry I never worked that out. But I know that weight watchers online has an option where you can plug in the ingredients and it will give you the points.
you can also go to mypyramind.gov and enter in the ingredients and they will tell you everything from carbs to the vitamins in what you’re eating. I love it!
JUST WONDERED WHY YOU DO NOT OFFER PRINTABLE FEATURE ON YOUR SITE,, IF YOU ARE GOING TO PUBLISH SUCH DELICIOUS RECIPES,, YOU MUST KNOW EVERYONE WILL WANT TO PRINT THEM AND TRY THEM,,, THANK YOU FOR THE CHIX PARM WITH ZUCCHINI
It is right above the recipe break down on the bottom, to the right.
L want to try this recipe and make the suchinni noodles but where can I get this tool
I got mine at bed bath and beyond, but if you are going to buy one get a julienne cutter instead. I used this because I didn’t have a julienne cutter yet. 😀
Can’t wait to try this recipe out this week! Thanks for sharing!!
Meseidy,
I love these squash noodles! and I have always used panko crumbs, glad to know they are “so light in carbs”! who would’ve thought?
This looks amazing! Definitely something I will try. I avoid pasta because of the carbs, so any alternatives are welcome. This looks fantastic! I’ll just have to get one of those special peelers.
I love this lighter version! It looks so fresh and delicious!
There is a great tool out now called a julienne peeler that works great for making zucchini noodles, I love it! Works great on carrots too!
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=12949731
Saw this via gawker. Thanks for the inspiration! I’m doing a modified low-carb diet and this will be great. 🙂
THANKS for the shout out and for thinking of me! This looks SO good. I will definitely have to give it a try!