Chicken with Pasta & Puttanesca Sauce

Chicken with Pasta & Puttanesca Sauce

6
Points®
Total Time
45 min
Prep
10 min
Cook
20 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy
Puttanesca—a tomato sauce seasoned with capers, anchovies, and olives—is traditionally tossed with spaghetti for a simple, rustic meal. For a more protein-forward approach, this dish spoons the pungent sauce over crispy pan-fried chicken breast and whole-wheat penne pasta. Thinly slicing the chicken before coating allows the poultry to cook through without the crust overbrowning.

Ingredients

Uncooked whole wheat penne

4 oz

Seasoned breadcrumbs

½ cup(s)

Egg

1 large egg(s)

Uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast

20 oz, 4 (5-oz) skinless boneless chicken breasts, each thinly sliced into 2 cutlets

Olive oil

2 tsp

Plum tomato

6 medium, finely chopped

Uncooked zucchini

½ small, finely chopped

Olives

8 olive(s), large, large Sicilian, pitted, chopped

Uncooked anchovies

3 item(s), fillets, finely chopped

Garlic

2 clove(s), finely chopped

Capers

1½ Tbsp, drained

Balsamic vinegar

1 tsp

Red pepper flakes

¼ tsp

Instructions

  1. Cook the penne according to the package directions. Drain the pasta and keep warm.
  2. Meanwhile, spread the breadcrumbs onto a sheet of wax paper. In a large shallow bowl or pie plate, lightly beat the egg. Dip the chicken into the egg, then coat on both sides with the breadcrumbs, pressing lightly so the crumbs adhere.
  3. In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium. Add the chicken and cook until browned and cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes, turning once. Transfer to a platter and keep warm.
  4. Add the tomatoes, zucchini, olives, anchovies, garlic, capers, vinegar, and crushed red pepper to the pan. Increase heat to medium-high and cook until the tomatoes are softened, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve with the pasta.
  5. Serving size: 1 cutlet, ½ cup sauce, and ½ cup pasta