Healthy Italian Chicken Recipes

Dried porcini give an earthy, punch to this Italian classic. Although it tastes great hot from the oven, the fennel-and-mushroom combination mellows beautifully overnight.

Radicchio is a brawlingly bitter green that becomes impossibly meek and mild when simmered. Paired with some cheese and the meat from a rotisserie chicken, it cooks up quickly into a memorable pasta dish.

The bold flavors of garlic, crushed red pepper and lemon make up for the fact that this white chicken pizza recipe has less sodium than a typical pizza. Not a fan of bitter greens? Opt for broccolini or broccoli instead. To save time, look for prepared whole-wheat pizza dough at your supermarket, fresh or frozen, made without partially hydrogenated oils.

This healthy pizza recipe is inspired by the Vietnamese sandwich called banh mi. Spread on the pizza dough, the curry sauce adds just the right amount of Thai seasoning and spice.

A semi-firm cheese that's nonetheless quite creamy, fontina melts into pure heaven. Combined with caramelized onions, fontina becomes a nutty, gooey, irresistible filling for chicken breasts.

Gorgeous-looking and lively tasting, this dish is rich in omega-3s, thanks to a double-hit of walnuts (nuts and oil). And although it's a bit pricy, walnut oil adds a distinctive, complementary flavor. You can also use it in a vinaigrette to top an accompanying salad.

A cacciatore was a hunting-lodge dish, a way to slow-simmer tough game birds to tenderness. Flavorful chicken thighs need no special treatment but they do take so well to the traditional wine, tomato and mushroom sauce.

“Sub”? “Hoagie”? “Grinder”? “Hero”? It depends on where you grew up. But we can all agree that the addition of spinach, and the omission of a greasy fried breading, give this old-school favorite a deliciously healthy profile.

Here's an easy, new take on pizza: pita rounds that hold a fennel and chicken saute and that are then baked until the cheesy topping melts. Although great warm, they're just like pizza: a fabulous lunch out of the fridge the next day.

In this healthy stuffed chicken recipe, pounded chicken breast is stuffed with a flavorful chard, prosciutto and mozzarella filling and then simmered in store-bought marinara sauce. Serve over whole-wheat fettuccine tossed with parsley or on polenta.

This Marsala chicken stew recipe gets its richness from plenty of mushrooms and onions. Make it a meal: Soak up all the saucy goodness with whole-wheat egg noodles and serve with a green salad.

This recipe is an example of a favorite Italian trick--getting two dishes out of one. The chicken is served as an entree, and its sauce is tossed with pasta. While it is traditional to serve the pasta as the first course of the same meal, either chicken or sauce could be saved for another night.

Escarole adds an assertive bite to an Italian-themed soup that would otherwise be just another chicken and rice soup.

An ovenproof skillet is the key to this easy recipe. Breaded stuffed chicken breasts are browned on one side on the top of the stove, carefully flipped and transferred--still in the pan--to the oven to finish cooking. This guarantees a nice brown crust and moist, tender chicken.

Gremolata, a mixture of herbs, garlic and lemon zest, is stuffed under the skin, contributing its extraordinary fragrance to the chicken. To ensure moist and succulent meat, the skin is left on for roasting, but removed before carving. This is an excellent treatment for all kinds of poultry; for a turkey, make a double or triple batch of gremolata. Serve with plenty of Garlic Mashed Potatoes to soak up the sauce.

A marvelous blend of fresh citrus, herbs and spices flavors the chicken. The dish is also quite good when served cold. Make it a meal: Stir extra citrus juice and chopped fresh mint into cooked bulgur to echo the flavors of this dish.

Salsa verde, a piquant Italian herb sauce, dresses up basic grilled chicken breasts. The versatile sauce is also excellent with fish or pasta.

This healthy grilled chicken recipe gets tons of flavor from fresh rosemary sprigs. For a sophisticated meal, slow-cooked onions and a savory black olive paste provide the perfect accompaniment.

Stuffing a chicken breast is relatively simple, but your guests need not know that. We use Gorgonzola and prunes here, but try it with any favorite combination of dried fruit and flavorful cheese. Serve over quick-cooking barley with broccolini or a steamed artichoke on the side.

A twist on the classic Italian dish vitello tonnato--poached veal marinated in tuna sauce--is popular on hot summer nights. Make it a meal: Serve with grilled vegetables, whole-grain baguette and a glass of pinot grigio.

Swap vegetables for noodles in this healthy lasagna-inspired recipe. Stuffing zucchini boats with chicken sausage, tomato, ricotta and herbs gives you all the flavors of lasagna without all the carbs.

Inspired by the northern Italian dish vitello tonnato, or veal in tuna sauce, this sandwich features the unusual combination of chicken or turkey with creamy tuna sauce and roasted peppers.