Chicken with veggie capellini

5
Points®
Total Time
18 min
Prep
5 min
Cook
13 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy
Quick cooking chicken breast cutlets and capellini pasta help this garden-fresh meal come together in snap. In less than 20-minutes, you can have a one-dish meal on the table for your entire family to enjoy. Or, if you’re serving a smaller crowd, leftovers will make an excellent brown bag lunch for either tomorrow or later in the week. The combination of the lemon juice and pasta water creates a silky sauce giving this superfast recipe a luxurious a finish. If you like pasta dishes with a little heat, stir in a pinch or two of crushed red pepper. For variation, you could also substitute peeled and deveined shrimp or mild-flavored, firm fish.

Ingredients

Uncooked whole wheat pasta

½ pound(s), capellini

Olive oil

2 tsp

Uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast

1 pound(s), 4 (1/4-pound) cutlets

Table salt

¾ tsp

Black pepper

½ tsp

Grape tomatoes

2 cup(s), (1 pint), halved

Baby spinach

6 cup(s), packed

Lemon

1 item(s), medium, zest finely grated and juice squeezed

Instructions

  1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1/3 cup pasta cooking water.
  2. Heat oil in large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add chicken to skillet and cook, turning once, until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Transfer to plate.
  3. Add tomatoes to skillet and cook, stirring, until softened, about 1 minute. Add reserved pasta cooking water and bring to boil, stirring to scrape up browned bits from bottom of pan. Add pasta and spinach and cook, tossing constantly, until spinach is wilted, about 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and stir in lemon juice, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Serve chicken over pasta. Sprinkle with lemon zest.
  4. Per serving (1 chicken cutlet and about 1 1/2 cups pasta mixture)