Tag: chicken breast

Smooth Chicken and Carrot Puree

A bowl of smooth deep orange chicken and carrot puree in a shallow bowl.

Nutrition Snapshot

  • About 30 grams of protein in one bowl, from chicken breast blended into the puree rather than served beside it.
  • Carrots bring about 5 grams of fiber and a full day’s vitamin A, and the olive oil adds the calories a small eater often needs.
  • The trade-off: broth is the salty part even in the low-sodium version. The card shows the amount, and the notes show how to lower it.

Chicken breast, a pound of frozen carrots, onion, and garlic poached together in low-sodium broth with cumin, smoked paprika, and thyme until everything is soft. The whole pot goes into the blender with a spoon of olive oil and blends for two full minutes, until no fiber is left. The zest of a lemon goes in at the end.

It comes out a deep orange, thick enough to hold a shape on the spoon, and it tastes like a chicken stew that has been cooking all afternoon.

Why This Puree Is Great When Texture Is Gone

When food has to be pureed, after a stroke, with advanced dementia, or with a swallowing disorder, most of what makes eating pleasant is removed at once: the crust, the chew, the difference between one bite and the next. What is left is flavor and temperature, and most pureed food has been robbed of both, boiled without seasoning and served lukewarm and beige.

A bland puree is refused, and the refusal is read as a lost appetite, when it is often a reasonable response to food that tastes like nothing.

Turn the Flavor Up

The fix is to season a puree harder than a normal dish, because there is no texture to carry it. This one is built like a stew: browned onion and garlic, cumin, smoked paprika, thyme, and a finish of lemon zest, all blended in. It is eaten because it tastes like something.

It also carries about 30 grams of protein a bowl, because the chicken is blended into it rather than pureed separately and left on the side.

How to keep the protein in pureed food, and how to reach the right thickness without a commercial thickener, is in Soft and Pureed Without Losing the Protein.

Season Like a Stew, Blend Like a Soup

Every flavor in this dish is one that survives a blender: warm spices, browned onion, garlic, herbs, and acid. Crunchy or fresh garnishes are pointless on a puree, so the effort goes into the pot instead. Smoked paprika does the work that a seared crust would do in a stew, and lemon zest at the end gives the brightness that texture usually supplies.

The same approach turns any favorite dish into a puree that gets eaten: cook it as it would normally be cooked, seasoned fully, and blend it with enough of its own liquid to reach the right thickness. A puree of a well-made chili tastes like chili; a puree of boiled chicken tastes like boiled chicken.

Getting to Completely Smooth

Pureed food at IDDSI level 4 has no lumps and no fibers, and it holds its shape on a spoon without running off when tilted. A blender does this better than a food processor, and two full minutes matters; most purees are stopped too soon.

Rub a spoonful between two fingers, and if anything gritty remains, blend again or press it through a sieve. Cooled purees thicken, so thin a reheated portion with a spoon of warm broth.

A bowl of smooth deep orange chicken and carrot puree in a shallow bowl.
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Smooth Chicken and Carrot Puree

Chicken breast poached with frozen carrots, browned onion, garlic, cumin, smoked paprika, and thyme in low-sodium broth, blended with olive oil for two full minutes until completely smooth, and finished with lemon zest. Four bowls at IDDSI level 4, about 30 grams of protein each; freezes well.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Total Time35 minutes
Course: dinner, lunch
Cuisine: American
Keyword: carrot puree, chicken puree, dysphagia recipe, high protein puree, IDDSI level 4 recipe, pureed chicken recipe, pureed food recipe
Servings: 4 bowl (about 1 cup)
Calories: 281kcal

Equipment

  • Medium pot
  • Blender (a high-speed blender works best)
  • Fine sieve

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil plus 1 tablespoon for blending
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic chopped
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut in 2-inch pieces
  • 1 pound frozen sliced carrots
  • 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt added at the end
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

  • Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Cook the onion until browned at the edges, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, paprika, and thyme and stir 1 minute.
  • Add the chicken, carrots, and broth. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until the chicken is cooked through and the carrots are very soft, about 15 minutes.
  • Pour everything into a blender with the second tablespoon of oil. Blend on high for 2 full minutes, until completely smooth with no fibers. Blend in the lemon zest, salt, and pepper.
  • Test a spoonful between two fingers; if anything gritty remains, blend 1 minute more or press through a sieve. The puree should hold its shape on a spoon and fall off slowly when tilted; thin with warm broth a tablespoon at a time if it is too thick.
  • Serve warm. Keeps 3 days in the refrigerator or 2 months frozen in single portions; thin with a spoon of warm broth when reheating.

Notes

Thickness: at IDDSI level 4 the puree holds its shape on a spoon and does not drip through the tines of a fork; add broth to thin or simmer uncovered a few minutes to thicken. Season more than seems right; a puree needs more salt, spice, and acid than the same dish with texture. Lower-sodium version: skip the salt and use no-salt-added broth. Chicken thighs work in place of breast and blend a little richer. For more protein, blend in 1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt or cottage cheese per batch, about 3 grams a bowl more; for more calories, a second tablespoon of olive oil.

Nutrition

Calories: 281kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 30g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 1.9g | Sodium: 322mg | Potassium: 855mg | Fiber: 4.8g | Sugar: 6.9g | Calcium: 79mg | Iron: 2.3mg | Magnesium: 55mg | Phosphorus: 342mg | Choline: 109mg

Gluten Free

Chicken, carrots, onion, garlic, olive oil, lemon, and the spices are naturally free of gluten. For people with celiac disease, check the broth for wheat or barley-derived flavorings and the cumin and paprika for wheat flour used as a filler. People who avoid gluten by preference can use any brand.

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Lentil and Chicken Skillet With Spinach

A plate of lentil and chicken skillet with spinach and a lemon wedge in a dinner plate.

Nutrition Snapshot

  • About 39 grams of protein and 11 grams of fiber in one plate, from lentils and chicken, paired with the lentils’ carbohydrate in the same bite.
  • Lentils and spinach bring about 7 milligrams of iron and a large dose of folate, two of the nutrients pregnancy needs most, and the tomatoes’ vitamin C helps the iron absorb.
  • The trade-off: this is a plate with about 395 calories and real carbohydrate in it, on purpose. The card shows the figures for checking against a meter.

Onion, garlic, cumin, and smoked paprika cooked in a big skillet, then dry brown lentils, a can of tomatoes, and low-sodium broth, simmered until the lentils begin to soften. Diced chicken breast goes in for the last ten minutes so it cooks through without drying out, and a bag of frozen spinach goes in at the end and wilts into the pan.

It is a thick, savory skillet of lentils and chicken, four plates, eaten with a spoon and a squeeze of lemon.

Why This Skillet Is Great for Blood Sugar in Pregnancy

A diagnosis of gestational diabetes usually comes with a list of foods to cut, and many women respond by cutting carbohydrate almost to nothing. That is the wrong lesson. The baby runs on glucose, and a pregnancy needs a steady supply of carbohydrate; what it cannot handle is carbohydrate that arrives alone and fast.

The rule that works is pairing. When carbohydrate is eaten together with protein and fiber, it leaves the stomach more slowly and enters the blood as a low, long curve instead of a spike. A meter an hour after the meal shows the difference.

Pairing Built Into the Food

This skillet does the pairing inside the food itself. Lentils are about a third protein and a quarter fiber by their dry weight, so their carbohydrate cannot be separated from the two things that slow it down. The chicken adds another 19 grams of protein a plate, and the spinach adds fiber and bulk.

The result is a plate with about 45 grams of carbohydrate wrapped in about 39 grams of protein and 11 grams of fiber. That is the shape of a meal that keeps a post-meal reading in range. How to build that shape at every meal, and in what order to eat the plate, is in The Blood-Sugar-Friendly Plate: Pairing, Order, and Portion.

Why Lentils Are the Carbohydrate to Keep

Among the starchy foods, lentils and beans raise blood sugar the least, because their starch is bound up in fiber and protein and digests slowly. A cup of cooked lentils has about the same carbohydrate as a cup of rice and about a third of the effect on blood sugar. For a woman who needs carbohydrate and cannot spare a spike, they are the starch to build dinners on.

Lentils also cook from dry in twenty-five minutes with no soaking, which makes them the fastest dried legume in the pantry.

The Iron and Folate Come Along

Iron needs almost double in pregnancy, and lentils and spinach together supply about 7 milligrams a plate, with the tomatoes’ vitamin C helping the body absorb the plant form. Lentils are also one of the richest food sources of folate, the B vitamin that prevents spinal defects, and spinach is another.

Which other foods carry the pregnancy nutrients that are hard to get, and how much a day calls for, is in The Pregnancy Plate: Choline, Iron, Folate, and DHA From Food.

A plate of lentil and chicken skillet with spinach and a lemon wedge in a dinner plate.
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Lentil and Chicken Skillet With Spinach

Dry brown lentils simmered in one skillet with no-salt-added tomatoes, cumin, smoked paprika, and low-sodium broth, diced chicken breast added for the last ten minutes, and a bag of frozen spinach wilted in at the end. Four plates with about 39 grams of protein and 11 grams of fiber each, finished with lemon.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Course: dinner, lunch
Cuisine: American, Mediterranean
Keyword: blood sugar friendly dinner, gestational diabetes dinner, high fiber dinner, lentil and chicken skillet, lentils and spinach, one pan lentils, pregnancy dinner
Servings: 4 plate (about 1 3/4 cups)
Calories: 395kcal

Equipment

  • Large deep skillet with a lid, or a wide pot

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 cup dry brown or green lentils rinsed and sorted
  • 1 can (14.5 ounces) no-salt-added diced tomatoes
  • 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 3/4 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut in 3/4-inch pieces
  • 1 bag (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt added at the end
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 lemon cut in wedges

Instructions

  • Heat the oil in a large deep skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, and paprika and stir 1 minute.
  • Add the lentils, tomatoes with their juice, and broth. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer 15 minutes.
  • Stir in the chicken. Cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the lentils are tender, 10 to 12 minutes more; add a splash of water if the pan looks dry.
  • Stir in the frozen spinach and cook, uncovered, until hot and wilted and the liquid has thickened, about 4 minutes.
  • Add the salt and pepper, taste, and serve with lemon wedges. Keeps 4 days in the refrigerator or 3 months frozen.

Notes

For a meter check, this plate carries about 45 grams of carbohydrate; for a smaller carbohydrate portion, serve 1 1/4 cups with a green salad and save the rest. Eat the chicken and a few bites of spinach first, then the lentils, which lowers the after-meal reading a little more. Red lentils cook faster and go soft; keep brown or green for a plate with texture. Chicken thighs work in place of breast. A spoon of plain Greek yogurt on top adds 3 grams of protein and cools the spice. Lower-sodium version: skip the salt at the end.

Nutrition

Calories: 395kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 39g | Fat: 8.4g | Saturated Fat: 1.5g | Sodium: 469mg | Potassium: 1274mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 6.1g | Calcium: 193mg | Iron: 6.6mg | Magnesium: 125mg | Phosphorus: 444mg | Choline: 150mg

Gluten Free

Lentils, chicken, spinach, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and the spices are naturally free of gluten. For people with celiac disease, buy lentils labeled gluten-free, since dried lentils are sometimes packed on lines shared with wheat, and rinse and sort them for stray grains.

Also check the broth for wheat or barley-derived flavorings and the spices for wheat flour used as a filler. People who avoid gluten by preference can use any brand.

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Chicken and Butternut Squash Soup

A bowl of thick chicken and butternut squash soup with white beans in a deep soup bowl.

Nutrition Snapshot

  • About 35 grams of protein in one bowl, from chicken breast and white beans, about three times what a typical vegetable soup carries.
  • Butternut squash, white beans, and carrots bring about 7 grams of fiber and a large dose of vitamin A, which the squash gets its color from.
  • The trade-off: canned beans and broth make this a moderately salty soup even with the low-sodium versions. The card shows the amount, and the notes show how to lower it.

Onion and frozen carrots softened in a pot, then low-sodium broth, a bag of frozen butternut squash, thyme, and whole chicken breasts, simmered until the chicken is cooked through. The chicken comes out and gets shredded with two forks.

Half the soup is blended smooth with a can of white beans, which thickens it and turns it gold, and then the chicken and the second can of beans go back in. It is a thick, sweet-savory soup that eats like a stew, and it is better the next day.

Why This Soup Is Great for Muscle After 40

Muscle starts to go in the forties, at a rate of a few percent a decade at first, and nobody notices, because the scale does not move and the mirror barely does. Strength is what gives it away, years later: a jar that will not open, a suitcase that got heavy.

By then a good deal of muscle is gone, and getting it back is slower than keeping it would have been.

The first thing to change is the protein at each meal. Muscle rebuilds in response to a dose of protein of about 30 grams at a time, and most meals fall short of that dose even when the day’s total looks fine. Dinner is often a soup or a pasta that carries 12 or 15 grams, which is below the amount that switches rebuilding on.

A Soup Built to the Dose

This soup is built to reach the dose. A pound and a quarter of chicken breast and two cans of white beans across six bowls put about 35 grams in each. The squash and beans make it filling enough to be dinner on its own. Why 30 grams, and how to get there at breakfast and lunch too, is in How Much Protein in One Meal Builds Muscle After 40.

The Difference Between a Soup and a Meal

Most homemade soups are vegetables and broth, and they carry 5 to 12 grams of protein a bowl. That is why a bowl of soup for dinner often ends in a snack an hour later. The chicken here is a pound and a quarter, where most soup recipes call for a single breast, and the beans add another 8 grams a bowl.

The protein is also what makes the soup hold as a dinner in the freezer; a portion thawed and heated is a full meal, with nothing to add.

Blend Half, Leave Half

Blending half the soup with one can of beans gives a thick, creamy body with no cream, and leaving half whole keeps pieces of squash and shredded chicken to chew. An immersion blender in the pot for thirty seconds does it; a regular blender works with half the pot, lid ajar for steam. For a fully smooth soup, blend everything, chicken included.

A bowl of thick chicken and butternut squash soup with white beans in a deep soup bowl.
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Chicken and Butternut Squash Soup

Whole chicken breasts poached in low-sodium broth with frozen butternut squash, carrots, onion, and thyme, then shredded; half the soup blended with white beans for a thick gold base, the rest left whole. Six bowls, about 35 grams of protein each, freezes well.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Course: dinner, lunch
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chicken and white bean soup, chicken butternut squash soup, freezer soup, high protein soup, make ahead soup, protein after 40
Servings: 6 bowl (about 1 3/4 cups)
Calories: 353kcal

Equipment

  • Large pot or Dutch oven
  • Immersion blender or regular blender
  • Two forks for shredding

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 2 cups frozen sliced carrots
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 bag (20 ounces) frozen cubed butternut squash
  • 1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 cans (15 ounces each) low-sodium white beans rinsed and drained
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt added at the end
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice or cider vinegar

Instructions

  • Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the onion and carrots until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme and stir 1 minute.
  • Add the broth, squash, and whole chicken breasts. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat and simmer gently, partly covered, until the chicken is cooked through, 15 to 18 minutes.
  • Lift the chicken onto a plate and shred it with two forks. Add one can of beans to the pot.
  • Blend about half the soup smooth with an immersion blender, leaving plenty of squash pieces, or blend half in a regular blender and return it.
  • Stir in the shredded chicken and the second can of beans. Heat through, then add the salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Taste and adjust.
  • Serve hot. Keeps 4 days in the refrigerator or 3 months frozen.

Notes

Lower-sodium version: skip the salt at the end and use no-salt-added beans, which cuts the sodium by about a third. Canned beans are convenient; a pound of dried white beans cooked ahead and frozen in 1 3/4-cup portions replaces the two cans, costs less, and skips the can lining. Chicken thighs work in place of breast, with a little more fat and about 20 minutes to cook. Frozen sweet potato or a can of pumpkin works in place of butternut squash. A spoon of plain Greek yogurt on top adds 3 grams of protein a bowl.

Nutrition

Calories: 353kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 6.8g | Saturated Fat: 1.4g | Sodium: 538mg | Potassium: 1265mg | Fiber: 7.4g | Sugar: 6.4g | Calcium: 133mg | Iron: 4.8mg | Magnesium: 95mg | Phosphorus: 397mg | Choline: 90mg

Gluten Free

Chicken, butternut squash, white beans, carrots, onion, and thyme are naturally free of gluten. For people with celiac disease, check the broth for wheat or barley-derived flavorings and the canned beans for wheat-based thickeners. People who avoid gluten by preference can use any brand.

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Chicken and Broccoli Lentil Pasta

A plate of lentil pasta with seared chicken and broccoli in a wooden board.

Nutrition Snapshot

  • About 46 grams of protein in one plate, from lentil pasta and chicken together.
  • Lentil pasta and broccoli bring about 10 grams of fiber, about four times what a plate of regular pasta gives.
  • The trade-off: Parmesan makes this a moderately salty dinner. The card shows the amount, and the notes show how to lower it.

Pasta made from lentil flour, tossed with thin slices of seasoned, seared chicken breast and frozen broccoli browned in the same pan. Garlic, lemon, olive oil, and a handful of grated Parmesan finish it. It looks and eats like a weeknight pasta, and it is on the table in 25 minutes.

A quarter of the recipe is a full plate.

Why This Pasta Is Great for Losing Fat Without Losing Muscle

When weight comes off, some of it is muscle unless the protein intake is high enough to prevent it. Losing muscle while losing weight is the reason people feel weaker as the number drops. It is also the reason weight comes back, because muscle burns calories around the clock, and less of it means the same food adds more weight later.

The fix is more protein while eating less, which is harder than it sounds, because most filling foods are carbohydrate. This plate solves that by making the pasta itself a protein food. Lentil pasta carries about twice the protein of wheat pasta, so the pasta and the chicken together reach about 46 grams, which protects muscle on a day of eating less.

Full for the Calories

Protein and fiber are the two things that make a meal filling for its calories, and this plate is high in both. A large plate of this pasta ends the meal and holds until the next morning. Why that matters more than counting calories, and how to build other meals the same way, is in Energy Density: Eating More Food for Fewer Calories.

Why Lentil Pasta

Pasta made from red or green lentil flour has become a supermarket staple in the last few years, next to the chickpea kind. Both cook like regular pasta, taste mild, and hold a sauce. Lentil pasta has a little more protein than chickpea pasta and a firmer bite. A two-ounce serving carries about 13 grams of protein, against 7 in wheat pasta, and more fiber.

It overcooks faster than wheat pasta. Drain it a minute before the package says, and it stays firm when the chicken and broccoli are tossed in.

Cook the Chicken So It Stays Moist

Chicken breast turns dry when it is cooked whole for too long. Slice it thin across the grain before cooking, season it, and sear the slices in a hot pan for about three minutes a side. They cook through fast and stay juicy. Thawed frozen breast works as well as fresh, patted dry first so it browns.

A plate of lentil pasta with seared chicken and broccoli in a wooden board.
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Chicken and Broccoli Lentil Pasta

Lentil pasta tossed with thin-sliced seared chicken breast, frozen broccoli browned in the pan, garlic, lemon, olive oil, and Parmesan. A weeknight pasta with about 45 grams of protein a plate.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time25 minutes
Course: dinner, lunch
Cuisine: American, Italian
Keyword: 30 minute dinner, chicken broccoli pasta, gluten free pasta, high protein pasta, lentil pasta recipe, weight loss dinner
Servings: 4 plate
Calories: 475kcal

Equipment

  • large pot
  • Large skillet
  • Colander

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces lentil pasta (red or green lentil penne or rotini)
  • 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, thawed if frozen, sliced thin across the grain
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt plus 1 teaspoon for the pasta water
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 bag (16 ounces) frozen broccoli florets
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 lemon zested and juiced
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (about 1 1/2 ounces)
  • red pepper flakes to taste

Instructions

  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil with 1 teaspoon salt. Cook the lentil pasta 1 minute less than the package says, then drain, saving 1/2 cup of the cooking water.
  • Pat the chicken slices dry and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and the pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and sear the chicken in a single layer, about 3 minutes a side, until browned and cooked through. Move to a plate.
  • Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and the frozen broccoli to the skillet. Cook without stirring for 2 minutes, then stir and cook until hot and browned in spots, about 5 minutes more. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute.
  • Return the chicken and add the drained pasta, lemon zest, lemon juice, and a splash of the pasta water. Toss over the heat for 1 minute so everything is coated.
  • Take off the heat, toss with the Parmesan, and add red pepper flakes to taste. Serve a quarter of the pan a plate.

Notes

Lower-sodium version: skip the salt on the chicken and use 1/4 cup Parmesan, which cuts the sodium by about a third; the lemon does the rest. Lentil pasta overcooks quickly, so drain it early. Chickpea pasta works the same way with slightly less protein. Leftovers keep 4 days and are good cold as a lunch salad with more lemon.

Nutrition

Calories: 475kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 46g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 3.3g | Sodium: 562mg | Potassium: 1044mg | Fiber: 9.6g | Sugar: 3g | Calcium: 184mg | Iron: 5.2mg | Magnesium: 84mg | Phosphorus: 528mg | Choline: 167mg

Gluten Free

Lentil pasta is made from lentil flour and is naturally free of gluten, which is one more reason to use it. Chicken, broccoli, garlic, lemon, olive oil, and Parmesan are also naturally free of gluten. For people with celiac disease, choose a lentil pasta labeled gluten-free, since a few brands are made on lines shared with wheat pasta, and check the grated Parmesan for anti-caking starch.

People who avoid gluten by preference can use any lentil pasta.

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