The near constant dreariness around here is making me regress slightly and crave comfort foods, like the Skinny Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo I made for dinner tonight.
Seasoned chicken, steamed broccoli & tender pasta are enveloped in a light-yet-luscious alfredo sauce dreamed up by Courtney at Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life. Love that girl’s recipes!
This is the kind of meal that makes you sit back and sigh with satisfaction when you’re done. Healthy, filling, and indulgent tasting. Seriously yummy stuff!
Start by cooking 8oz short-cut pasta in salted, boiling water. Don’t forget to salt the water with at least a Tablespoon of salt – it makes all the flavor difference in the world. Before draining the pasta, reserve about 1/2 cup of the cooking water. You’ll use it in a bit.
While the pasta is cooking, heat 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Add in a couple cloves of minced garlic, then cook until the garlic turns golden brown, about a minute.
When the garlic is golden brown and fragrant, whisk in 2 Tablespoons flour and cook, whisking constantly, for about another minute.
Next, slowly whisk in 1 cup chicken broth, incorporating it with the flour, then whisk in 1/4 cup milk.
Add 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt plus salt and pepper, then let the sauce bubble until slightly thick and bubbly.
Finally, stir in 3/4 cup parmesan cheese and 2 chopped, cooked chicken breasts.
Assembly time!
Add the alfredo sauce and chicken to the cooked pasta, then add in 2 cups cooked broccoli. If you’re smart, you’ll cook the broccoli in with the pasta during the last 3-4 minutes of cooking time. If you’re me, you’ll forget, drain the pasta, then have to steam the broccoli in a separate pan. Blerg! At any rate, add in some of the pasta cooking water at this time if you feel the sauce is too thick, and stir everything together.
This alfredo sauce is creamy, cheesy, silky and decadent. Just like the real thing, but skinny! You could easily make this dish gluten-free by using GF pasta, too!
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Skinny Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo
Description
Skinny Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo is everything you love about alfredo, but without all the fat and calories!
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, seasoned with salt & pepper then cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 cups cooked broccoli
- 8oz rotini
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup milk, any kind
- 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
- salt and pepper
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Directions
- Cook pasta according to package directions, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking water before draining. Set aside.
- Heat extra virgin olive oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until golden brown, about 1 minute. Sprinkle in flour then whisk to incorporate and cook for 1 additional minute.
- Slowly whisk in chicken broth, then milk. Whisk in Greek yogurt, salt and pepper, then turn the heat down to low and let the mixture simmer until thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Turn the heat off then stir in parmesan cheese, then chicken. Pour over cooked pasta then add broccoli and stir well. Add a little reserved pasta cooking water if sauce is too thick. Serve.
Notes
Barely adapted from Celebrations.com
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
Although…I’m pretty sure Skinny Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo stops being so “skinny” after the second or, cough, third bowl. Worth it!
Skinny Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo | Table for Two 02.03.2014
[…] [donotprint]Source: from Iowa Girl Eats[/donotprint] […]
Jaime 01.19.2014
Found this on Pinterest tonight and decided to try it out. Holy moly! I think this is way better than regular afredo sauce. The tangy taste from the Greek yogurt makes ALL the difference. It’s so delicious. I too only had almond milk on hand so that’s what I used. I didn’t have broccoli either so I used zucchini and added diced tomatoes and spinach for extra veggie and decreased the amount of pasta. So yummy!
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[…] Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo, adapted from Iowa Girl Eats – she’s got some great instructional […]
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[…] Full Recipe at iowagirleats.com […]
Skinny Chicken Alfredo | Fearless Food + Fitness 11.06.2013
[…] of different ways you can make a slimmed down version of chicken broccoli penne or chicken alfredo. This recipe in particular from Iowa Girl Eats caught my eye. I tweaked her ingredients just a tad bit and had a […]
Skinny Chicken Alfredo | Fearless Food & Fitness 08.29.2013
[…] of different ways you can make a slimmed down version of chicken broccoli penne or chicken alfredo. This recipe in particular from Iowa Girl Eats caught my eye. I tweaked her ingredients just a tad bit and had a […]
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[…] of meals via Iowa Girl Eats. July 1st-7th Sunday: Burgers on the grill, corn on the cob Monday: Skinny Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo Tuesday: Leftovers Wednesday: Happy 4th of July! Thursday: Friday: 4th Celebrations! Saturday: […]
Linda 06.11.2013
Delicious! So creamy and flavorful.. So happy to find a healthy recipe for Alfredo that is even more delicious than the original varieties!!!
Bronwyn 06.10.2013
I’ve just been diagnosed with high blood pressure and I need to lose weight, one of my cravings is pasta. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could.. I substituted the flour for wholemeal flour and the pasta for wholemeal penne.. and used a salt free chicken stock and it was DELISH!! Thank you for making me excited about cooking healthy meals that don’t taste like cardboard!
Skinny Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo | needlesspounds 05.16.2013
[…] I felt it was my turn to try it, so here’s my version. I’ll attribute Iowa Girl Eats, as mine most closely resembles hers, although I first saw the dish on Friends On A […]
Lori 04.22.2013
I adapted your alfredo sauce recipe and posted it on my blog! It was tasty!! Thanks for sharing.
Sweet Potato Gnocchi and Alfredo Sauce | My Life of Learning, Eating, and Living 04.22.2013
[…] The alfredo sauce, however, is worth writing about. It was delicious. I had seen several recipes on Pinterest for alfredo sauces using plain Greek yogurt (or light sour cream) instead of heavy cream and butter. A lot of times, the “healthy substitutes” on Pinterest are just bad all around, but I had a feeling they were onto something with this Greek yogurt alfredo sauce. Greek yogurt is a great ingredient and works well as a substitute for many things (like sour cream). So, here’s my recipe (loosely based off of one posted by Iowa Girl Eats). […]
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[…] A tiny bit adapted from iowa girl eats. […]
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[…] much stolen from Iowa Girl Eats. Love her […]
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[…] Today 04:03 PM I'm going to try this: Skinny Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo | Iowa Girl Eats DB is on his way here (he's napping at a rest stop right now ) and he's my recipe guinea pig […]
Jessica 03.16.2013
I don’t usually leave comments on websites, but I have to say that this recipe is delicious. Quick and easy to make too! Sometimes I worry that healthier versions of recipes will taste too bland, but this dish has a lot of flavor. Thank you!
chicken sausage and asparagus alfredo | CHiEATS 03.13.2013
[…] chicken sausage and asparagus alfredo this is adapted from iowa girl eats. […]
Wendy Chapman 03.03.2013
thank you for posting this recipe….it was an answer to prayer!!! I had a bunch of broccoli from a friends garden and needed to feed my family and didn’t want to make a trip to the store :) My eight year old helped me prepare it and it is fabulous and gets everyone’s thumbs up approval.
Blessings, Wendy
Note…I used veggie broth and it made it a really golden color.
Liz 02.24.2013
I tried this recipe and it didn’t come out so great. The faults of mine were that I had Sweetened Almond Milk instead of unsweetened (I recently switched to sweetened Vanilla for a meal replacement shake), I didn’t prepare all ingredients in advance and ended up burning the garlic, and I used about 1/4 less Parmesan than directed (3/4 looked like a lot). In the end, the sauce was sweet, the entire time I was cooking it, it smelled like cake. I attribute this to the sweetened almond milk. Also, it was very dark :-( that problem I’m not exactly sure what occurred. Overall, it wasn’t terrible but I hope to try it again and have pictures like yours. The recipe has so much potential and I was extremely excited about making it.
Ashley 02.20.2013
I can’t wait to make this tonight! Doing spaghetti squash instead and adding tomatoes and spinach :)