When you’ve had a long day and you want something filling and satisfing but don’t want to spend a long time in the kitchen. Try my spicy chicken with tomato gnocchi, you can have this dinner, on the table in 30 minutes.
If you enjoy meal prepping this recipe reheats really well. The sauce and the gnocchi helps to keep this recipe nice a juicy! No more dry, over heated meal prep recipes!
Variations of this Spicy Chicken with Tomato Gnocchi:
I know many people do not enjoy spicy, I am not that person, I say the more spice the better. However, if you are one of the people that do not enjoy spicy, here is how you can alter this recipe.
- Less or No Spice: If you like a little spicy, simply reduce the amount of serrano and cherry hot peppers used. If you want to remove the spiciness all together, remove them completely.
- Looking for a replacement to these peppers? Try adding a little diced red or green bell pepper. Adding them to the recipe at the same time you would have added the serrano or cherry hot peppers.
How to make this Tomato Gnocchi:
Equipment:
- Large Stove Top Pan with Lid
Ingredients:
- 18 oz Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breast
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
- ¼ tsp Garlic Powder
- ½ tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- ¼ cup Yellow Onion, diced, (about ½ an onion)
- 2 tbsp Serrano Peppers, sliced, (about 1 an pepper)
- ¼ cup Cherry Hot Peppers, sliced, (about 3 an peppers)
- ¼ cup Scallions, sliced, (about 2 an stalks)
- 1¼ cup Velvet Pioppini Mushrooms, any mushroom will work, rough chop
- 3 cup Trader Joe’s Tomato Stuffed Gnocchi, (1 bag)
- ¾ cup Tomato Sauce, Any brand is fine, but I used a trader joes jar tomato sauce.
Instructions
- Heat a stove top pan to medium heat, while the pan is heating season the chicken breast on both sides, using black pepper and garlic powder.
- Once the pan is hot, add 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil to the pan.
- Place the chicken immediately in the pan, leave it there on medium heat for 2 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Both sides should start to become golden brown, but the center will still look uncooked…if not golden, give each side another minute…your pan wasn’t hot enough. Then turn the heat to low and cover the chicken with a lid.
- Let it cook for about 9 minutes, then flip and cover again for additional 9 minutes. After 9 minutes on each side covered, the chicken should be done. But this does depend on the size of the chicken breast…these times are based on 9 oz breasts.
- My rule of thumb is, once covered, cook the chicken for 1 minute per ounce per side. Therefore you will want to adjust your cooking time based on the size of your chicken breast. I find that this delivers a perfect juicy chicken breast every time. However, It is always best to check the internal temperature of the chicken before serving.
- While the chicken is cooking, slice and dice your onion, peppers, scallions, and mushrooms.
- Once the chicken is done, remove the chicken from the pan, leaving the juice from the chicken in the pan.
- Now add your diced yellow onion and sliced peppers to the pan. Cook them in the chicken juice stirring for about 3 minutes.
- Then add the gnocchi and mushrooms to the pan. Stir everything together for 1-2 minutes, ensuring the gnocchi has an even coating of the sauce around each gnocchi. Then cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes. Stopping to toss everything together halfway thru.
- While the gnocchi is cooking shred your chicken breast with a fork and knife. After the gnocchi has cooked for 5 minutes. Add the chicken and ¾ cup of tomato sauce to the pan. Toss everything together cooking for an additional 1-2 minutes, just enough to heat the sauce thru. Season with additional black pepper and garlic powder.
- Serve and enjoy or portion out into your meal prep containers.
Tip:
My rule of thumb for cooking chicken breast is: Cook on medium high for 2 minutes on each side. Then once each side has started to brown, turn the heat to low, cover with a lid and cook for 1 minute, per ounce, per side. My chicken breasts always turns out fully cooked, but still tender and juicy following this method.
NOTES FOR MEAL PLANNING:
This recipe reheats really well. You can store this meal in the fridge or in the freezer making this a FANTASTIC Make Ahead Meal!
NOTES FOR MEAL PREP and Storing this Spicy Chicken with Tomato Gnocchi
- Room Temperature: You will want to store this recipe in either the fridge or freezer immedately after it has cooled to room temperate. You do not want to allow the chicken to sit out for too long or it could become unsafe to eat.
- Fridge Storage: This recipe will last in the fridge up to 5 days. To reheat you can use either the microwave, or the stove top. Cooking until just heated thru.
- Freezer Storage: This recipe will last in the freezer for 3-6 months when stored in an air tight container. Check out my Guide for Freezing Your Meal Prepped recipes. When reheating you will want to pull this recipe out of your freezer and store in the fridge overnight to defrost. Then reheat on the stove or in the microwave.
NOTES FOR COUNTING MACROS:
PROTEIN:
The main source of protein in this recipe is the chicken, making this recipe super easy to increase or decrease the amount of protein per serving.
- Every 1 ounce of chicken has 8.8 grams of protein.
CARBOHYDRATE:
The main source of carbohydrate in this Spicy Chicken with Tomato Gnocchi. Adjusting the amount of gnocchi either increases or decreases the amount of carbs.’
- For every 1/3 cup (50g) of gnocchi you increase or decrease the carbs by 11.2 grams.
FAT:
The fat in this recipe comes mainly from the oil that the chicken is cooked in.
You could choose to cook the chicken in more or less oil, or remove the oil all together. If removing all together you will want spray the pan with a little non-fat stick cooking spray before placing the chicken in the pan. .
- For every 1 teaspoon of oil there is 4.6 grams of fat.
When making adjustments to the macros in this spicy chicken with tomato gnocchi recipe, you will want to keep in mind the number of servings you are making.
Spicy Chicken with Tomato Gnocchi
Equipment
- Large Stove Top Pan with Lid
Ingredients
- 18 oz Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breast
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
- ¼ tsp Garlic Powder
- ½ tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- ¼ cup Yellow Onion diced, (about ½ an onion)
- 2 tbsp Serrano Peppers sliced, (about 1 an pepper)
- ¼ cup Cherry Hot Peppers sliced, (about 3 an peppers)
- ¼ cup Scallions sliced, (about 2 an stalks)
- 1¼ cup Velvet Pioppini Mushrooms any mushroom will work, rough chop
- 3 cup Trader Joe's Tomato Stuffed Gnocchi (1 bag)
- ¾ cup Tomato Sauce Any brand is fine, but I used a trader joes jar tomato sauce.
Instructions
- Heat a stove top pan to medium heat, while the pan is heating season the chicken breast on both sides, using black pepper and garlic powder.
- Once the pan is hot, add 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil to the pan.
- Place the chicken immediately in the pan, leave it there on medium heat for 2 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Both sides should start to become golden brown, but the center will still look uncooked if not golden, give each side another minute your pan wasn’t hot enough. Then turn the heat to low and cover the chicken with a lid.
- Let it cook for about 9 minutes, then flip and cover again for an additional 9 minutes. After 9 minutes on each side covered, the chicken should be done. But this does depend on the size of the chicken breast these times are based on 9 oz breasts.My rule of thumb is, once covered, cook the chicken for 1 minute per ounce per side, I find that this delivers a perfect juicy chicken breast every time.It is always best to check the internal temperature of chicken before serving.
- While the chicken is cooking, slice and dice your onion, peppers, scallions, and mushrooms.
- Once the chicken is done, remove the chicken from the pan, leaving the juice from the chicken in the pan.
- Now add your diced yellow onion and sliced peppers to the pan. Cook them in the chicken juice stirring for about 3 minutes.
- Then add the gnocchi and mushrooms to the pan. Stir everything together for 1-2 minutes, ensuring the the gnocchi has an even coating of the sauace around each gnocchi. Then cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes. Stopping to toss everything together half way thru.
- While the gnocchi is cooking shred your chicken breast with a fork and knife. After the gnocchi has cooked for 5 minutes. Add the chicken and ¾ cup of tomato sauce to the pan. Toss everything together cooking for an additional 1-2 minutes, just enough to heat the sauce thru. Season with additional black pepper and garlic powder.
- Serve and enjoy or portion out into your meal prep containers.
Nutrition
The bag states to boil them, however I find them makes them mushy and soggy I have found that the best way to cook them is by sautéing them in a pan with a little bit of butter and/or oil, covering them for a few minutes to ensure that the cook all the way through.
Typically any recipe with a decent about of sauce is freezer friendly and allows for good reheating. However, you will want to avoid cream based sauces as they can curdle or separate during the freezing or defrosting process.
Looking for more Make Ahead Recipes? Below are some of my all time favorites, add any one of these to your Meal Prep this week!
- Ground Beef and Zucchini Casserole
- Thai Chili Noodle Bowl
- Sweet Potatoes and Chicken
- Keto Mexican Taco Skillet
- Spicy Chicken Sausage One Pot Meal
- Tomato Chicken and Orzo
- Meatballs with Cauliflower Rice
- Salmon with Farro and Scallions
Maybe you are trying to get better at having snacks planned. Here are some of my top Meal Prep-able Snacks that will keep you on track with your health goals.
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