Low-Calorie Comfort Food Recipes for Chicken

August 27, 2019
Chicken soup recipes, creamy chicken recipes and chicken tender recipes are classic comfort foods. We’ve cut the calories and fat in traditional chicken comfort food recipes to give you healthier, low-calorie chicken recipes your whole family will love. For a creamy chicken dinner, try our Chicken with Creamy Braised Leeks. If you’re in the mood for a healthier fried chicken recipe, try making Crispy Baked Drumsticks with Honey-Mustard Sauce for a family-friendly dinner.Watch Video
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Chicken Potpie

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This chicken potpie is studded with peas, mushrooms, carrots and onions and topped with tender whole-wheat biscuits. The savory sauce gets a rich taste from reduced-fat sour cream, but with less fat and calories. And it ends up just as delicious and comforting as you expect.

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Ham-&-Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

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Making a pocket in the chicken breast to hold the stuffing is easy with a good, sharp, thin-bladed knife. Browning the chicken in a skillet before baking gives it a beautiful golden color, and finishing in the oven ensures that it cooks evenly throughout.

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Chicken with Creamy Braised Leeks

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A touch of heavy cream, a few garlic cloves and thyme sprigs round out the flavor of tender braised leeks with chicken in this recipe. The rich, silky sauce is wonderful over whole-wheat egg noodles or mashed potatoes. Leeks grown in the garden and those that you find at the store can be vastly different in size. Garden leeks tend to be smaller, so if you're using leeks from the garden, make sure you pick enough to fill up the pan.

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Crispy Baked Drumsticks with Honey-Mustard Sauce

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These baked chicken drumsticks are crispy-crunchy outside and succulent and juicy inside. Serve with sweet potato fries and spinach salad.

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Quick Chicken Cordon Bleu

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To make traditional cordon bleu, you layer prosciutto (or other ham) and cheese in between thin slices of chicken or veal, then bread and sauté the whole stack. This quick, easy version keeps the flavors the same, but skips the fussy layering and breading steps. Serve with: Delicata squash and broccoli.

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Chicken Breasts with Mushroom Cream Sauce

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The secret to a good cream sauce is always the same: not too much cream or it can be overpowering, masking the more delicate flavors. Here it contains a bountiful amount of mushrooms and is served over chicken breasts.

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Chicken Sausage with Potatoes & Sauerkraut

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Here's our weeknight version of choucroute garni, “dressed sauerkraut,” made with chicken sausage. The flavor of the dish will vary depending on what type of chicken sausage you choose. We like the taste of roasted garlic sausage or sweet apple sausage in this recipe. And although any type of sauerkraut can be used, we prefer the crisp texture of refrigerated kraut over canned. Serve with roasted carrots and some mustard to spread on the sausage.

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Chicken Piccata with Pasta & Mushrooms

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Our chicken piccata, served over whole-wheat pasta, has a rich lemon-caper sauce that's made with extra-virgin olive oil and just a touch of butter for flavor. If you like, you can use a mild fish like tilapia or even shrimp instead of chicken breast.

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Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta

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This zesty Cajun-style pasta is full of lean chicken, peppers and onions. Serve with sautéed green beans.

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Chicken Breasts with Green Chile-Almond Cream Sauce

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Here we topped seared chicken breasts with a green chile cream sauce that was inspired by green mole. A touch of cream adds an extra smoothness to the sauce, but it can be omitted if you avoid dairy. Serve with brown rice and a tossed green salad with mango and red onion slices.

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Parmesan-Crusted Chicken Tenders

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Crispy, Parmesan-flecked chicken tenders dipped in marinara sauce is an easy dinner the whole family will love. Dipping them in a mixture of plain yogurt with chopped fresh basil would be tasty too. Serve with sautéed green beans and roasted sweet potato wedges.

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Autumn Chicken Stew

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This simple chicken stew stars three of fall's best crops--apples, carrots and parsnips. Serve with toasted sharp Cheddar cheese sandwiches and a brown ale.

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Cornmeal-Crusted Chicken Nuggets with Blackberry Mustard

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Tossing chicken tenders with cornmeal gives these chicken nuggets great crunch without deep-frying. Blackberries (or raspberries, if you prefer) combined with whole-grain mustard make for a sweet-and-savory dipping sauce. Serve with: Steamed broccoli and carrots.

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Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Pimiento Cheese

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Stuffing boneless, skinless chicken breasts with pimientos, scallions and cheese gives them great flavor without a lot of effort. Don't be concerned if some of the filling oozes out while the chicken is baking; just scoop it up from the pan as you serve. Serve with: Sautéed zucchini or summer squash and barley.

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Stuffed Chicken Thighs Braised in Tomato Sauce

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Spinach-Parmesan stuffing provides great flavor in boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Try it with the optional chicken livers in the stuffing for an extra-rich treat. And don't worry, even though when stuffed it looks like the filling will ooze out, it doesn't. The egg in the stuffing acts as a binder to keep everything in place. The recipe makes plenty of sauce, so be sure to cook up some pasta or make mashed potatoes to serve alongside the saucy chicken.

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Spring Chicken & Barley Soup

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You might think of barley as an addition to hearty, wintery soups, such as mushroom-barley or beef-barley soup, but it also works well in lighter soups like this one with chicken, asparagus and peas.

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Creamy Tarragon Chicken Salad

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Reduced-fat sour cream and mayo make a sumptuous, creamy dressing for a considerably lightened take on chicken salad. Oven-poaching the chicken in broth intensifies its flavor and keeps it moist and succulent. Combined with sweet grapes and aromatic tarragon, this is an elegant version of chicken salad that's wonderful on a bed of mixed greens or a sandwich with nutty whole-grain bread.

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Braised Paprika Chicken

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Sweet Hungarian paprika gives this creamy braised chicken the best flavor. This is a good “pantry dish” since you should have the basics on hand and only need to purchase the chicken. You may vary the recipe by using cubed veal shoulder instead of chicken and mushrooms instead of peppers. Serve with whole-wheat orzo flavored with minced parsley or dill.

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