I don’t generally make boneless breast of chicken recipes, as I find them a little on the dry and on the boring side. Sometimes, though a recipe like chicken marsala calls for it, and this is anything but humdrum.

I wanted a go to recipe that was easy, approachable and still big, fat, healthy food that could bring a little excitement to the middle of the week.

The best recipes I saw on the internet were from Serious Eats and Tyler Florence. I liked both of them, and took pointers from each, while keeping this on the low-carb side.

Easy and Fast Chicken Marsala

Between prep and cooking you are investing about ten minutes of time.

The prep only involves pounding the chicken and slicing the mushrooms and can be done ahead of time.  If that’s ready to go, this dish will be finished by the time it takes to make the spaghetti.

Gluten Free Approach to Chicken Marsala with Mushrooms Recipe

Most recipes have you dredge the chicken cutlets in flour. I did not do that. It’s not necessary and the flour takes away from the nuanced flavors of the Marsala wine and butter.

I used a gluten free pasta, but this would be great with mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower for a full low-carb dinner.

The sauce can be thin (no flour, no starchy thickener) or the sauce can be thicker from those ingredients. There are other options.

Serious Eats suggests gelatin be added to any store bought chicken broth/stock. Gelatin is flavorless and a trick of many chefs. That’s how he makes his chicken marsala.

This makes sense, as ideally, the stock should be full of it’s own gelatin which would give body to the sauce. The best store bought sauce will not have the same viscosity (body) that a restaurant chicken marsala has.

I often keep chicken bone broth like this me in the freezer in small amounts. When I don’t, I use xanthan gum gel.

How to Save Money buying Premium Quality Chicken for Chicken Marsala with Mushrooms Recipe

I can’t stress enough that the quality of your chicken is important. I wait for organic chicken or Greenwise chicken to go on sale (whole chicken) and buy several packages. I also LOVE Belle Evans brand.

Save money by cutting chicken breasts off the bone. It’s really easy to do. I have a pair of poultry sheers and cut the chicken up the back and cut out thigh/leg combinations and breast. The breasts from a whole chicken can feed yield 2-4 servings, and works perfectly for this recipe.

Slice through each breast piece horizontally, resulting in four substantial pieces. You can freeze the leg/thighs for a different day, and separately freeze the back for broth

I used cremini mushrooms, sliced and added Irish butter to the pan to cook them. Make sure they have released their water and are golden brown before adding marsala to pan.

Prosciutto bring flavor to Chicken Marsala with Mushrooms  

Tyler Florence has an easy recipe for chicken marsala and he includes prosciutto. If you don’t have prosciutto, you could use bacon.

If you don’t eat pork or don’t want to use prosciutto, add in some shallots.

How to Pound Out Chicken Cutlets

Take precautions with raw chicken, as you don’t want to contaminate your surfaces. I never lay cutlets on a wooden cutting board. I have a special “chicken only” color coded mat that I lay over my cutting board or on the counter. I only use my wooden cutting boards for fruits, vegetables, cheese and have devoted mats for meat and fish.

The safest thing to do is to put the chicken in plastic bag and pound it flat, so chicken pieces aren’t flying around, contaminating the kitchen.

The one thing both recipes emphasized was frying the cutlets golden brown. You can still do that without flour, keeping the cutlets at a medium low heat. If the cutlets are cold right from the refrigerator, the low heat is especially important, so that they cook through.

Marsala Wine

Marsala wine is an inexpensive, fortified wine from Sicily. Once open, keep it refrigerated. I’ve seen recipes using it with steak and with veal, so it’s not limited to a chicken marsala with mushrooms recipe.

Never buy cooking wine. Period. It’s full of sodium and tastes terrible.

Use fresh Italian parsley at the end of the dish, and if you like a squeeze of lemon to add brightness.

Serve chicken marsala with mushrooms recipe solo, with pasta, with mashed cauliflower or mashed potatoes.

Make this dish keto friendly with these sides

Make this Keto Friendly. Serve with Mashed Cauliflower Rice, cauliflower rice risotto, or Spaghetti Squash.

More Chicken Recipes from Spinach Tiger

• Low Carb Keto Chicken Picatta
• Greek Chicken Kabobs
• Chicken Francaise
• Chicken Stuffed with Ricotta
• Mayonnaise Parmesan Chicken Bake
• Chicken Breasts with Mustard Cream Sauce

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Chicken Marsala

Easy chicken marsala, twenty minutes start to finish, with gluten free pasta.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 large chicken breasts
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons unsaltedbutter
• 4-6 slices prosciutto thinly sliced
• 2 cups cremini mushrooms about 8 ounces
• 1/2 cup marsala wine
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 package unflavored gelatin
• chopped parsley for garnish
• lemon wedge optional

Instructions

• Slice chicken breasts horizontally.
• Put chicken breasts in ziplock bag, pound about 1/4 inch thick.
• Season with salt and pepper on both sides.
• Heat oil and 1 tablespoon butter in frying pan on medium heat.
• Brown chicken a few minutes on each side, until golden.
• Remove chicken to a warming plate.
• Add prosciutto to pan, lower heat, cook for a minute, stirring.
• Add sliced mushrooms, saute until golden, about 5 minutes.
• Add Chicken back in, add marsala wine, cook down for a few minutes.
• Sprinkle gelatin onto broth. Stir in.
• Add broth and remaining butter into pan. Sauce should thicken rapidly.
• Add parsley.
• Squeeze a little lemon for brightness (optional)
• Serve immediately.

The post Chicken Marsala with Mushrooms and Prosciutto appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

This chicken pasta bake will become a go to dish. It’s easy, fairly healthy, kid friendly, minimally processed. You know that Spinach Tiger is always looking out for you, especially you moms and dads who are trying to bring your family satisfying comfort food without spending hours in the kitchen. I hear you.

Before I even tell you about how comforting and delicious gooey, cheesy dish is, I have to give a shout out to gluten free Ronzoni pasta.

This is NOT a sponsored post. This is me telling you that I have tried about ten brands this year and while most are pretty good, or “not bad” we loved Ronzoni’s penne pasta best for this pasta chicken bake recipe.

Spinach Tiger is Italian and doesn’t enjoy compromising. The test to the pasta is how well it heats up the next day. Usually, gluten free pasta is pretty yuck reheated and penne especially will fall apart. Unlike most other gluten free pastas, Ronzoni^® Gluten Free is made from a unique 4 grain blend: white rice, brown rice, corn and quinoa. I remember the days of brown rice pasta which was gummy and unattractive. We’ve tried corn-based pasta which tends to crumble.  Ronzoni’s four-grain blend seems to take care of some of these previous issues, and is, so far, the best wheat based pasta we have tried.

Ronzoni’s penne did not fall apart. It reheated the way we like it, softening up against those three cheeses. My mother, Retro Rose, who is full-blooded first generation Italian,  and she especially doesn’t eat anything gluten free. Mr. Spinach Tiger ate it for lunch and double helping for dinner.  

The Cooking Process for Pasta Chicken Bake Recipe

I cubed boneless chicken breasts, and sauteèd them first in some olive oil. You could use left over chicken, or frozen chicken strips, that’s up to you.

The pasta bake takes only about  twenty minutes in the oven, and this entire dish was done in about 40 minutes. You could use a jarred sauce, but I encourage you to follow my instructions for the sauce.

I took one large can of San Marzano Tomatoes, and sauteed on high in a frying pan until it was very reduced down (almost like a paste, but not quite). The idea of the sauce in this recipe is that less is more. This is not baked ziti or lasagna. The tomatoes are more of an accent ingredient, but very important.

The stars of this show are the three cheeses, and each cheese is important to the balance of this dish. The pecorino romano gives the dish it’s oomph, because it’s salty and tangy. The mozzarella holds everything together and the ricotta cheese brings the creaminess. I use Galbani Ricotta because it’s rich and has a low water content.

Once the chicken is cooked, (with a little onion and garlic), the tomatoes are reduced and the pasta is near cooked, you can assemble. First, toss the pasta, chicken with a generous full cup of freshly grated pecorino. Then you will add in half of the mozzarella, raw spinach, tomatoes and toss again. The ricotta is spooned here and there and more mozzarella tops the dish.

There are other options for this three cheese pasta bake.

You can use mini meatballs, crumbled meatballs, ground beef, ground pork,   crumbled Italian sausage, or even left over roast instead of chicken. This is a wonderful way to use your leftovers.

This dish will disappear quickly. We were quite surprised how well the Ronzoni Pasta faired heated up.

You may also like these chicken pasta recipes from Spinach Tiger.

Mexican Chicken Pasta

Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti

Chicken, Tomato, Spinach Pasta Stir Fry

Thai Peanut Noodles with Chicken

Chicken Marsala

Lemon Chicken with Asparagus, Spaghetti

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll be back with more Italian recipes, so please take a moment to subscribe and please visit my youtube cooking channel.

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Three Cheese Pasta Chicken Bake with a Killer Ingredient

Easy, three cheese chicken pasta dish with gluten free option. Ricotta, mozzarella, pecorino romano make for a cheesy, Italian comfort dish.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil more as needed
• 1/2 onion finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 boneless chicken breasts about 1 pound
• 1 can San Marzano tomatoes chopped,
• 1 pound pasta
• 2 cups mozzarella
• 1 cup pecorino romano
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 handful spinach leaves or more if you prefer
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

• Cut chicken breasts into cubes. You may wish to pound them thinner if they are very thick.
• Heat oil in frying pan. Saute, onions until softened. Add garlic for one minute. Do not burn.
• Saute chicken, on both sides. You may need to do this in two sessions, so as not to crowd.
• Remove chicken and set aside.
• Add can of tomatoes to the pan, reserving some of the juice for a different use.
• Reduce tomatoes down to an almost thick tomato puree. This will take about twenty minutes.
• In the meantime, cook pasta according to directions, minus a few minutes, as pasta will continue to bake in oven.
• Once pasta is complete, drain and toss with grated pecorino romano.
• Put into a large baking dish, toss with tomatoes, spinach and half of the mozzarella, keeping enough to top the dish.
• Spoon ricotta cheese just here and there.
• Top with mozzarella.
• Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes or until all the cheese is melted on top.
• Serve immediately.

The post Three Cheese Pasta Chicken Bake with Our Favorite Gluten Free Pasta appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Mexican chicken avocado pasta is part of the big fat healthy chicken pasta series. See the links below to find easy, family friendly meals that keep you healthy and smiling.

If you’re new here, please understand I really mean it when I say big fat healthy food. It’s Spinach Tiger saying, “take a few minutes out of your busy day to make good food fast and perk up your senses.”

Nothing perks up the senses like food with a Mexican flair.

The corn quinoa gluten free pasta takes the “gluten worry” out. The pico de gallo can be homemade as I did here, or you can just pick some up at the store, as long as it’s freshly made. If you want it hot, go ahead and get it hot. Do be sure to pick up some fresh cilantro, as there is nothing like fresh herbs and cilantro just happens to be an herb with lots of health benefits.

Avocado makes everything better and it’s what gives this pasta dish it “mouth” of creamy, so do splurge on this. Did you know you can peel avocados.

Lime is the acid that brightens the dish and moves the avocado from good to great (along with some sea salt).

I used boneless breasts of chicken, which I marinated so they wouldn’t be dry. I’m not a fan of white meat chicken, but they make sense for this dish. You can substitute boneless, skinless thighs. Thighs have more flavor, but I didn’t discover this until mid adulthood.

Mexican chicken avocado pasta was developed for the busy mom or dad.

You can marinate your chicken in a plastic bag in the morning, pick up the ingredients or already made pico de gallo at the store. While the pasta is cooking, you can have the chicken grilling. You can also sauté the chicken breasts on top of the stove.

You can make Mexican Chicken Pasta your own, by adding more ingredients.

I’ve kept the dish dairy free, but you can add in queso fresco or queso blanco. Try frying this cheese in bite sized pieces and adding it in. You could also add in a can of beans. (Just rinse off in the can, heat and drain first.)

I hope you’re enjoying these Spinach Tiger easy chicken pasta dishes, and please let me know if you make them. You can follow me on instagram. Take a picture,  and tag any dish you make with the #spinachtiger hashtag.

More Healthy Chicken Pasta Dishes from Spinach Tiger

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Chicken Linguini Avocado, Tomato, Salsa

Easy, Healthy Chicken Pasta, Mexican Style.

Course Entree

Cuisine Mexican

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 limes
• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 avocado
• 2 cups pico de gallo recipe below
• queso fresco optional
• 8 ounces gluten free pasta
• !Homemade Pico De Gallo found here
• 6 roma tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons red onion finely chopped (can use white onion or shallots)
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 serrano or jalapeño pepper seeded, minced
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro for garnish
• heavy dash of salt
• 1/2 lime for garnish slices

Instructions

• Whisk olive oil, juice of one lime in bowl. Marinate chicken breasts one to three hours. If you find you're don't have time, just marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• You can pan fry, grill, or bake in oven. For this recipe, I prefer to grill on medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side.
• While chicken is grilling, cook pasta according to package directions. I used a gluten free corn/quinoa rotini pasta which compliments the dish.
• Reserve a cup of pasta water in case you need it.
• When chicken is grilled, allow to sit five minutes
• Slice avocado.
• Toss drained hot pasta with pico de gallo. Add chicken to dish. If pasta seems dry, drizzle in some olive oil and tablespoon or two of pasta water.
• Right before serving, add avocado. Squeeze lime. Season with salt and pepper.
• Add garnish of chopped cilantro.

Notes

You can also add in some queso fresco as an option

The post Mexican Chicken Pasta with Avocado appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Welcome to the third dish in the Big Fat Healthy Chicken Pasta Series.

I wanted to bring families some very easy, healthy pasta dishes (including a gluten free option) to put into your rotation that take no longer than twenty minutes to make. All you have to promise me is that you’ll gather your family and sit down at a table and eat together.

This dish is a balance of protein, good fat, healthy organic spinach and grape tomatoes. 

I promise you here is an extra benefit to you, your family, your health if you can gather together and just appreciate the art of family dining.

Instead of those boxed cheesy shells, make this more nutritious meal.

This is my take on simple Italian using pasta shells, which is everyone’s childhood favorite. I used a gluten free version, which is surprisingly good from Ancient Harvest.

This is a great recipe for the busy family that reheats well and is so easy, it’s hard to call this a recipe.

When Making Boneless Breasts of Chicken with Pasta there are three Main Ways to Cook Them

All of the recipes I’m using for this series incorporate boneless chicken breasts. There are few ways you can do this and you can interchange the method. You’re goal is to have a tender piece of chicken.

• Oven Baked as I did in this recipe.
• Marinated and Grilled as I did here.
• Pan Fried in olive oil and/or butter as I did here.

You will end up with tender chicken, using any of these methods, a tricky thing to accomplish with boneless breasts. At any time, feel free to substitute with boneless, skinless thighs. You can also use chicken tenders.

Baking Chicken and Cherry Tomatoes in a Sheet Pan

You can also bake them in the oven at the exact same time, same pan as the cherry tomatoes. You will want to check them at ten minutes and use an instant read meat thermometer. The safe internal temperature for cooked chicken is 165° Fahrenheit (75° Celsius). Please remove the chicken as soon as it hits that temperature.

I pan roasted cherry tomatoes which means no prep is necessary outside of a smattering of olive oil. They will burst open themselves, and taste really good.

I used Gluten Free Pasta Shells for this Chicken Pasta Dish

Today, I chose baby shells.  I used this brand of gluten free pasta. It’s made with corn and quinoa and has enough body to fool you. Feel free to substitute your own favorite. If you’re not eating gluten free, orzo works great in this recipe.

You can cook the pasta while you’re making the chicken, while the tomatoes are in oven, making this a twenty minute dish, start to finish.

Toss in raw baby spinach and kale with the hot pasta. I used fresh basil for flavor, but you could skip this or add in some fresh thyme, oregano, or parsley.

You could also add in some chili pepper flakes to add some heat and fresh herbs such as basil.

This is clean eating, and less is best. If you feel like the dish doesn’t have enough pizazz, add in a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lemon or a drizzle of good balsamic vinegar. Don’t forget salt, as pasta or any starchy addition needs salt to taste good. I use this healthy himalayan sea salt in just about everything.

I’ve made this dairy free, but you can toss with favorite for this kind of cheese. Pecorino Romano is sharp, salty and can give a lift to any dish.  You can go caprese style and add in slices of room temperature fresh mozzarella with fresh basil.

More Chicken Recipes from Spinach Tiger

More Italian Recipes from Spinach Tiger

More Healthy Chicken Pasta Dishes from Spinach Tiger

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Chicken with Gluten Free Pasta Shells, Roasted Tomatoes, Spinach

Healthy, clean eating gluten free pasta shells with chicken breast, roasted tomatoes and chicken.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts or 4 chicken tenders
• 8 ounces gluten free pasta shells I used this
• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• 3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 4 cups organic baby spinach or super spinach
• fresh basil optional
• fresh mozzarella optional

Instructions

• Prepare chicken breasts. If the chicken breasts are thick, slice through lengthwise.
• Make a marinade of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, using 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, chopped garlic.
• Allow chicken breasts to sit out for one hour with marinade brushed on them. You don't have to do this. You could just proceed with putting chicken in oven, but this does add extra tenderness to white meat chicken.
• Preheat oven to 350. Put water on to cook pasta.
• Put chicken breasts on one side of sheet pan, grape tomatoes on other side. Toss tomatoes with a small amount of olive oil.
• Bake in oven at 350 for approximately 20 minutes, checking at 10 for internal temperature of chicken, which should be at 165 degrees F to be safe. Turn chicken breasts over. Tomatoes will burst open on their own.
• Cook pasta according to directions.
• Drain pasta. Toss with olive oil. Immediately add greens while pasta is hot.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Cut chicken breast across about an inch each and add to pasta.
• Add in basil or parsley.
• If you feel the pasta needs more zing, drizzle some very good balsamic vinegar or a squeeze of lime to add in some acid and don't forget to salt.

Spinach Tiger gets paid a commission with affiliated links which appear in this post, which helps to sustain this site.

The post Pasta Shells, Chicken, Roasted Tomatoes appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

If you’re like me, you might have taken pasta off the table because you don’t want to eat those carbs or that gluten. What if I told you that there’s a way to eat your pasta guilt free? Did I hear that applause?

Gluten Free Pasta 

The simple recipes are always the best recipes, if you use good ingredients. This is fresh, young asparagus, and only takes a few minutes to cook. I placed it into the hot pasta water once my pasta was finished. I used a gluten free pasta from Barilla. I’m in the middle of testing various gluten free pastas and will give you that report. My husband likes the Barilla best so far, which can be ordered here. 

The old gluten free pastas were simply rice or brown rice and were gummy. I would buy them, cook one bag or box and then leave the remaining rice pasta in the pasta drawer for years. Now some of the brands newer to the market of gluten free are adding in corn, which gives a nice bite to the pasta. By the time I put in the asparagus, the chicken, the butter, the olive oil, the parmigiano reggiano, any lingering taste of corn was nil.

Marcella Hazan

I took inspiration from a recipe from Marcella Hazan’s Essential’s of Classical Italian Cooking adapting her Sauteed Fillets of Chicken with Lemon and Parsley, Siena Style.

This is my all time, life time favorite cookbook.  I wrote a post detailing what I love about her called a Year of Cooking with Marcella Hazan. She wrote this herself, no ghost writers and no untested recipes.  It’s almost 40 years old. It continues to sell every day, although Marcella is no longer with us. She was very old school, giving America authentic Italian recipes and important cooking notes.  It’s all words and there’s not a single glossy picture. If you consider yourself a damn good home cook, this book needs to be in your kitchen.

After her death, her husband published her notes on ingredients, called Ingredienti, Marcella’s Guide to the Market. 

Marcella Hazan talks about Asparagus

She tells us that good asparagus stands up straight, the overlapping leaf part should be taut packed tight. If you’re not eating the asparagus that day, put it upright in a jar with paper towel crunched in and water that reaches an inch over the paper towel. She suggests adding another moistened towel wrapped around the bunch. Make sure you cut the woody stalk part off. It’s too thin to pare away.

Grilled Lemon Chicken also Works Well with this Recipe

A few years ago I made this recipe out of Guilliano Hazan’s Italian Cookbook for grilled lemon chicken breasts.

I’ve made this a few times now and I we really like it. If you’re going reheat it, add in a little more olive oil, as it may dry out.

Spinach Tiger has a lot of Italian food recipes. You can always replace the pasta with gluten free pasta. When I started this blog, the choices for gluten free pasta were not very good. Today, they are greatly improved and I’ll soon be talking about my favorites, so take a minute to subscribe and never miss a recipe.

More Italian Food from Spinach Tiger

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Healthy Asparagus Chicken Pasta Recipe, with Lemon, Gluten Free Option

Sauteed Chicken Breast with Lemon Parsley, Asparagus and Gluten Free Pasta

Course Entree

Cuisine Chicken

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound angel hair pasta or spaghetti.I used this gluten free.
• 1 pound of fresh asparagus
• 2 boneless chicken breasts
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• juice of one lemon
• 4 tablespoons white wine optional
• 6 tablespoons chopped parsley
• lemon slices for garnish
• Pecorino Romano Cheese or Parmigiano Reggiano for serving.

Instructions

• Cook pasta according to directions. You can use either gluten free or regular pasta.
• While cooking pasta, boil asparagus for about 3 to 5 minutes. Drain set aside. (see notes)
• Heat oil and butter in skillet on medium high. When the oil/butter is hot, add chicken filets and cook for one minute each side. Remove to warming plate, season with salt and pepper. You will be cooking through later.
• Deglaze pan. Important: Have a lid ready to put over pan. Acid hitting the grease can cause an eruption.Add in lemon juice, white wine, lower heat, simmer for a minute while scraping bits of pan.
• Add half of parsley, and remaining butter to pan. Add chicken back in to finish cooking.
• Remove Chicken. Add pasta to the pan and toss.
• Cut asparagus into 3-4 inch slices. Cut chicken crosswise into one inch slices.
• Put pasta in large bowl. Add apsaragus and chicken.
• Sprinkle more parsley.
• Add lemon slices for garnish.
• Serve with a pecorino romano cheese.

Notes

To save pots, I removed the pasta from the pot, leaving the water and cooked the pasta in the pasta water. First, reserve 1 cup pasta water to be used for the sauce.

The post Healthy Asparagus Chicken Pasta Recipe, with Lemon, Gluten Free Option appeared first on Spinach Tiger.