breadless chicken parm
I don’t feel that this recipe really needs any background or description as to why I made it. I love all Italian dishes and chicken parm is no exception to that. I will say though that I decided to make it breadless for two reasons: 1. it makes this a lighter version and 2. because I need it to be gluten free and sometimes just leaving out the bread substitutes in gluten free recipes works better and tasted better than using them.
Disclaimer: eating gluten free is not a diet choice for me. If I could eat normal bread/pasta/other gluten filled items I 100% would. My grandmother makes the BEST homemade Italian dishes that contain gluten 80% of the time and I would do anything to devour those! Unfortunately, I have celiac so I have to eat gluten free. Just want to throw that out there since I promote my fitness and nutrition business and I don’t want anyone to think that I am choosing to do this because I think there is an incredible health/diet benefit! Typically, gluten free items tend to be more processed than their regular alternatives because they have to do so much work to turn foods into flour and make it not taste like cardboard. Just a thought—if you choose to eat gluten free just because you want THAT IS OK!!! YOU DO YOU!!! :) Just want to clarify my why.
ok now onto the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 pack of boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 box of pasta (you choose! I used gluten free fettuccini, Joel used regular penne)
2 14 oz. cans of petite diced tomatoes
2 medium zucchinis
6 slices of munster cheese
1 cup of mozzarella cheese
1 T cooking oil (I use olive oil or avocado oil)
cooking spray (I use an avocado oil spray)
garlic powder to taste
onion powder to taste
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
parsley + grated parmesan cheese to garnish
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425.
Remove skin from zucchini and cut into small bite size pieces. Spray your baking dish with cooking spray evenly across the bottom and sides. Then add in the zucchini and pour the entire content of both cans of petite diced tomatoes. Season with garlic powder, onion powder, salt + black pepper to your liking. (I tend to go heavy on the garlic + onion powder, medium on the salt and light with the pepper) Mix around until tomato and zucchini are well seasoned.
In a mixing bowl, combine the chicken thighs, 1 T cooking oil and garlic powder, salt + black pepper. Mix ingredients together until chicken is coated with the seasonings. (I use the same seasoning breakdown ratio that I did with the tomato/zucchini mixture above)
Place the seasoned chicken thighs on top of the tomato/zucchini mixture so they are evenly spaced. Then place in the oven for 45 minutes or until the chicken thighs are cooked through.
Once the chicken has about 15-20 minutes left, start to boil water and cook your pasta to the directions on the box. Note if you are using a fresh pasta, you can wait a little to start the pasta as it doesn’t take as long to cook!
Once the chicken is done, remove from the oven and set the broiler to high. Layer the munster cheese over the chicken, then add the layer of mozzarella cheese on top.
Place the chicken dish back into the oven once the broiler is set and let the cheese melt and brown for about 3-5 minutes. Keep an eye on it ;)
Once done, remove from the oven and let the dish sit for about another 3-5 minutes until some of the bubbling settles.
When the pasta is done cooking, remove from water and place at the bottom of your eating dish. Layer the chicken over top the pasta and use a ladle to add some of the sauce, tomato + zucchini over top of the pasta.
Garnish with parsley and a little extra grated Parmesan cheese and enjoy :)
Note: I am in no way a professional chef nor do I ever intend to be. All of my cooking knowledge has come from growing up in a household with a mother who is 100% Italian and a father who is 50% Italian and 50% Greek (he never cooked though but he was the first person to show my how to open up an Oreo and put peanut butter inside!). My cooking knowledge and influence has come mostly from my mom and grandmother (also 100% Italian) and inspiration from recipes that my amazing aunts/uncles/cousins have made. Enjoy :)
