Busy families need quick healthy meals! Why stop at the local pizza shop on your way home from sports practices when you can have this quick One-Pot Chicken Florentine with Sun-Dried Tomatoes on the table in less than 30 minutes.
This month's Recipe Redux theme is "Spring Cleaning". We were challenged with making a meal with at least 3 ingredients we had on hand. Reduxer's were also encouraged to try to NOT go to the store to purchase additional ingredients. My One-Pot Chicken Florentine with Sun-Dried Tomatoes was made with all ingredients that I already had in my refrigerator and pantry.
Our family eats a lot of chicken, which is pretty common among my clients as well. I usually have boneless, skinless chicken breasts and/or tenders in the freezer. Our local Wegman's grocery store sells value packs of chicken breasts. We can buy 12 chicken breasts for about $12.00. The breasts are individually packaged so easy to divide up. Perfect for a quick and easy meal.
Shrimp Scampi is my favorite dinner, so we always have a box of thin spaghetti in our pantry. I really try to control our portions of pasta, so a box of $.99 pasta stretches for about 4-6 meals. For quick dinner meals, it's important to me to have a box or two of pasta in our pantry.
I keep spinach in my refrigerator usually for smoothies, however, fresh baby spinach is excellent in salads and egg dishes. Spinach cooks really quick, so it a perfectly quick side dish. Adding spinach to your recipes adds an excellent source of iron too!
Recipe
One Pot Chicken Florentine with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons Olive Oil
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced into cubes
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- ½ tablespoon butter
- ½ tablespoon flour
- 1 cup chicken broth low sodium if you have it
- 1 cup low-fat milk
- ¼ cup white wine
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon dried basil
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- 1-2 cups thin spaghetti or pasta of your choice I use fast cooking pasta that only takes 3 minutes to cook
- 1-2 cups fresh baby spinach
- ⅓ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
- ¼ cup Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese
Instructions
- In a skillet heat oil over medium heat.
- Add chicken to skillet and cook for 3-5 minutes until browned.
- Add garlic to skillet cooking for about 1 minute.
- Place butter in the skillet and stir to melt.
- Sprinkle flour into skillets stirring to coat chicken.
- Slowly pour in broth, milk, and wine, stirring continuously to begin to thicken the sauce.
- Add in basil, black pepper, and red pepper.
- Bring sauce to a slow boil.
- Add in dried pasta and simmer until cooked through, about 3-5 minutes if using fast cooking pasta.
- Stir in baby spinach, cheese, and sundried tomatoes.
- Cook for another 1-2 minutes until spinach wilts and cheese melts.
Nutrition
We are a pretty active family. At the end of a long workday, my family still finds time to eat dinner together, though. Some nights are harder than others if we have dance class, sports practices, games, or meetings, but we try to cook a home-cooked meal as much as possible. I see so many families who resort to fast food and take-out too often because their schedules are so busy.
With a little planning and some quick family meal recipes like this One-Pot Chicken Florentine with Sun-Dried Tomato recipe, you and your family can enjoy a healthy home-cooked meal. No need to waste money or eat dinner on the run!
Leftover Spinach? Try these other recipes to avoid waste!
Roasted Pepper and Spinach Egg Muffin
Beth says
In the "One Pot Chicken Florentine with Sun-Dried Tomatoes" recipe it reads:
1 low-fat milk
I assume that means 1 cup?
Jennifer Lynn-Pullman says
Yes, 1 cup. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.
Margaret Fowler says
We loved the chicken but my sauce didn’t really thicken, even after adding corn flour. I thought maybe I used too much milk , as I assumed you meant 1 cup. I now see that was correct, any idea what I could have done wrong? Thanks
Jennifer Lynn-Pullman says
The sauce is not super thick. You can try reducing the liquid a bit. Try using 1/2 the chicken broth next time. I haven't made this in a while, but have some spinach I need to use up.