How To Make The Ultimate Chicken And Spinach Dish

How To Make The Ultimate Chicken And Spinach Dish

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This chicken and spinach dish made anything but ordinary with an unexpected ingredient. We find this dish to be a nutritionally-rich and incredibly delicious meal. It works as lunch for anyone on the 21-Day Clean Program, and it’s a great healthy recipe for any other time.

Make this chicken and spinach dish for your family’s dinner if you’re sticking to liquids at night; you can have the leftovers for lunch the next day. We also wanted to give you a vegetarian option, using chickpeas, which is equally as tasty.

Butternut squash is great for added potassium to our diets, and a lot of dietary fiber, which is important for gut and heart health.

Spinach is not as flashy as kale, but it’s one of the original superfoods. It has more protein than equal caloric amounts of beef. This colorful and flavorful dish is great for protein, minerals, and micronutrients that are available in really bright foods.

Serves 1 as a main dish or 2 as a side

Chicken and Spinach Ingredients:

  • 1 4-5 oz chicken breast or thigh (vegetarians can use ½ cup cooked chickpeas instead)
  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • ¼ teaspoon ground coriander seed
  • 2 tablespoons sliced red onions
  • 1 ripe mango cut into large chunks
  • 1 half butternut squash
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • Several large handfuls of spinach

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven 350F.
  2. Peel the squash and cut in chunks. Steam on stove top pot until soft. Drain well and dry. Mash with potato masher.
  3. Place the chicken breast or thigh in a baking dish and coat with olive oil, sea salt, paprika, cumin seeds and coriander. Bake for 12 minutes or until fully cooked.
  4. Remove from the oven and set aside on a cutting board. Once the chicken is slightly cooled, cut into thin pieces.
  5. Meanwhile, heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon coconut oil. When the oil is melted, add and gently cook the onions for 2-3 minutes. Toss in the mango and cook just until warmed through. Combine with mashed butternut squash. Spread this into an oiled baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes.
  6. Add in the sliced chicken breast, spinach and lemon juice to the pan on the stove while the squash bakes. Gently toss to combine and then cover the pan, allowing the spinach to steam until tender and wilted.
  7. Sprinkle (to taste) with a pinch of sea salt and serve immediately.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like A Simple and Savory Roast Chicken Recipe


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