Lightened Up Crispy Cheddar Chicken
There’s a delicious-looking recipe for Crispy Cheddar Chicken currently making the rounds on Pinterest. As lovely (and tasty!) as it looks, though, it’s not exactly diet-friendly. I decided to experiment a little and see if I could recreate the same thing without sabotaging my diet. The results? Well, I haven’t tried the original to compare, but the light version got the approval of my family! We’ll definitely be making this one again.
Lightened Up Crispy Cheddar Chicken
Author/Source:
Jimmie @ Onceamonthmom.com
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
- 3/4 of a sleeve of reduced-fat Ritz crackers, crushed
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1/2 cup skim milk
- 1 1/2 cups reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 tsp. dried parsley
- 1 14-oz. can reduced-fat cream of chicken soup (or make your own!)
- 4 tbsp. fat-free sour cream
- 1 tbsp. light margarine
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a 9×13 baking ban with non-stick cooking spray. Place the milk, shredded cheese, and crackers in three separate shallow bowls or pans. Add salt and pepper to the crushed crackers. Dredge chicken pieces, one at a time, in the milk, then the cheese, then the crackers. Place chicken on prepared pan. Once chicken is all coated, cover pan with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
While in the last 10 minutes of baking, pour cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and margarine into a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring well, until heated through. Remove chicken from oven and transfer to serving plate(s). Pour sauce over chicken and serve.
Freezing Directions:
Prepare chicken and sauce as directed, but do not pour sauce over chicken. Let everything cool, then transfer the chicken into a gallon-size freezer bag. Transfer sauce into a quart-size freezer bag, then place both bags inside another gallon-size freezer bag. Label and freeze. To serve, heat chicken from frozen in a 400°F oven for 15-20 minutes or until hot. Place bag of sauce in a bowl of hot water until thawed, then transfer to saucepan and heat on the stove until heated through. Pour over chicken and serve.
Nutritional Information:
1/4 lb. of chicken: 343 calories; 16.4 g carbs; 13.1 g fat; 41.4 g protein; 0 g fiber; 9 WW PointsPlus
Servings: 4
This Post will be linked at:
- No Whine Wednesdays at Food on the Table
- What’s on the Menu Wednesday at Dining with Debbie
- Recipes I Can’t Wait to Try at At Home with Haley
- What’s On Your Plate at Good Cheap Eats
- What’s Cooking Wednesday at Turning the Clock Back
