Recipe: Chicken Broccoli Skillet Dinner

 

I love the Crazy for Crust e-newsletter: Dorothy Kern has so many great recipes! While I mostly look at her desserts, I thought this recipe for a chicken broccoli skillet meal looked good. So I thought I'd try it!

Ingredients

• 8 ounces whole wheat egg noodles or any pasta
• 3 cups broccoli florets or more, if desired
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ medium yellow onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 10.5 ounce can cream of mushroom soup (see note)
• ½ cup nonfat milk
• ½ cup shredded parmesan cheese use fresh not from the green canister
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• Salt and more pepper to taste
• 2 cups cooked chicken see note

Instructions

• Bring water to boil in large skillet (you can also do this in a separate saucepan). Cook noodles according to package directions adding the broccoli to the pan when there is about 3 minutes of cooking time left for the noodles. Cook until both are cooked, drain and set aside.
• Using the same pan, heat the olive oil. Cook the onion and garlic until onions are translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the soup, milk, parmesan, and pepper. Whisk or stir to combine. Add the chicken to the pan to heat it through then add the noodles and broccoli to the pot. Stir to combine.
• Add more shredded parmesan for serving, if desired.

Notes

1. I used Campbell’s Healthy Request condensed soup, use what you prefer. You can also use cream of chicken or cream of potato soup in place of the cream of mushroom.
2. You can also use rotisserie chicken in this recipe in place of my instant pot shredded chicken.
3. If you are using FRESH chicken that is not already cooked: dice chicken into small bite sized pieces. After the noodles and broccoli have been removed from the pan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan. Add the chicken and cook, searing on both sides, for about 5-10 minutes (depending on size of chicken pieces) then remove to a plate. You want the chicken almost cooked at that point. Continue the recipe to make the sauce then return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan and let finish cooking in the sauce.

I appreciate the details and notes Dorothy puts in her recipes. I did cook the pasta in a different pot (I used Banza, a chickpea pasta, to be healthy, but the texture leaves something to be desired.), and I cut chicken breasts into smaller pieces and cooked them in the air fryer first. I also used cream of chicken soup as she suggests for an alternative, since Steve doesn't like mushrooms. 

I eye-balled the measurements for the broccoli and chicken, and I probably had too much of both, because I could barely fit everything in my largest walled pan! Or maybe that just means I need to get a proper wok :)

While the recipe is easy to make, I didn't find it very flavorful or saucy (and again, that could have been because of the proportions of my ingredients). If I made it a second time, I might use TWO cans of the soup, and perhaps some more cheese (Can you ever have too much cheese? I think not.). Certainly worth a try!