This low-carb Chicken alla Puttanesca is packed with flavour but low on calories. Serve with spiralized zoodles (a.ka. courgette noodles).
I am so in love with this recipe for low-carb Chicken alla Puttanesca. It ticks all the boxes for me – wonderfully tasty, easy to make, beautiful to look at and healthy to boot.
Spaghetti alla puttanesca charmingly translates as “spaghetti in the style of a whore” – got to love Italians 🙂 Puttanesca sauce is made of tomatoes, olive oil, anchovies, olives, capers and garlic – it is a flavour sensation!
Since I am not currently eating (much) pasta I thought about serving it with courgetti, i.e. no-carb zucchini noodles, a.k.a. zoodles.
But although the combination is great, it wasn’t substantial enough to keep my belly happy… and so I added chicken breasts.
Normally skinless chicken breasts are pretty insipid (unless you add lots of cream, garlic and wine that is… sigh) but this sauce is so punchy with flavour that it transforms them utterly.
Please don’t be put off by the anchovy paste in the recipe – it simply adds a lovely salty edge to the dish. On the other hand if you love anchovies feel free to add some fillets, either whole or diced.
The cherry tomatoes are optional but the look so pretty still on the vine and they burst with salty-sweetness on the tongue when cooked. I could go on and on about how tasty this is but I think you should try it for yourselves!
Have you made my Low-carb Chicken alla Puttanesca?
Post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #supergoldenbakes. I can’t wait to see your take on it!
Low-carb Chicken alla Puttanesca
Ingredients
- salt and pepper to season the chicken
- 4 large skinless chicken breasts
- 2 onions peeled and diced
- 3 garlic cloves smashed (or chopped)
- 1 tbsp anchovy paste or you can use anchovy fillets
- 1 x400g | 14oz can chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
- 3 bunches cherry tomatoes on the vine (optional)
- 3 tbsp black pitted olives
- 3 tbsp mini capers
- 1 tbsp large capers optional
- pinch ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tbsp crushed chillies
- olive oil to fry
- splash sweet vermouth optional
Instructions
- Pat the chicken breasts dry with kitchen towel and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large pan and then sear the chicken breasts on both sides until nicely coloured. Set aside.
- Add a small splash of vermouth (or water) to the hot pan to deglaze – scrape any bits of chicken that may have stuck on the bottom. Lower the heat and add the garlic, anchovy paste and chopped onions. Cook until the onions are translucent and soft – 5-10 minutes.
- Turn the heat up and add the chopped tomatoes and a pinch cinnamon. Fill the empty can with water and add to the pan. Stir in the the olives and capers and bring to the boil.
- Lower the heat to a simmer and add the chicken breasts into the pan. Nestle the cherry tomatoes on the vine among them. Sprinkle with the crushed chillies.
- Cover, and cook for 20 minutes. Take the lid off and cook for a further 10 minutes or until the chicken breasts are thoroughly cooked and sauce is slightly thickened.
- Sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve either with spaghetti (toss them in with the sauce) or with courgette (zucchini) noodles.
Notes
Jacklyn says
Such a healthy, colourful and easy recipe to try out, gorgeous pictures love it!
katy says
also planning to make this with shirataki noodles wish me luck!
Lucy Parissi says
Do you mean those zero calorie noodles? I think it would work but would prefer it with veggie noodles
katy says
do you know the exact nutrition information for just the sauce?
Lucy Parissi says
Hi Katy – am in the process of updating my recipe plug in which should provide nutritional info but it may take a couple of months… Will look into it
k says
I've tried this recipe before and LOVED it, but I'm curious how it's low carb since both onions and tomatoes have a significant of hidden sugars in them? When I added this recipe to MyFitnessPal, it showed 20 g of carbs (15 g of net carbs) per serving. I don't trust MyFitnessPal completely, but have no other way to calculate carb content in my foods. Would love some guidance! Thanks!
Anonymous says
I served with spaghetti squash. Flavors were delicious! I would cook the chicken less. I will serve this again.
Lucy Parissi says
So glad you liked it! Yes, my chicken breasts were really thick so it took them a long time to cook!
Lucy Allen says
Looks really good – how do you make your courgetti? with a special thingy? must try this v soon
Lucy Parissi says
I would say buy in a julienne peeler – they are very cheap on Amazon. If you like making courgetti I would recommend a spiraliser. Some of the pricier ones are good for vegetables that aren't as soft as courgettes.
Elizabeth says
Loving the sound of this – and it's something I could actually eat right now while slimming! Yum!!
Lucy Parissi says
It's so good for dieting! And the good thing is you can serve some with pasta to those who think courgette noodles are madness (i.e. my husband). I think it would work well with white fish too
Gingey Bites says
This looks so good! I've just been out for dinner and it's still making my tummy rumble! One to try for sure!
Jennie // scarletscorchdroppers says
I've been waiting for this recipe, it looks so darn incredible!! Can't wait to try it 🙂
Jennie
Kate Glutenfreealchemist says
This looks incredibly delicious Lucy. I swear your photos get better & better!
Coriander Queen says
Wow this looks amazing! So hearty and yet so fresh! The flavours are perfect, love the slight saltiness from anchovy – proves you don't always need wine/cream etc to make skinless chicken breasts taste fab! Yum!
Julia@Vikalinka says
Oh I am completely smitten with this Puttanesca! We must operate on the same wavelength! I just whipped up a puttanesca-ish sauce the other day and thought to myself, "Ooh it's good, I should blog it!" 🙂 The photography is simply stunning in this post, Lucy, I can stare at the photos for ever! No joke. Wow.
Lucy Parissi says
I can't believe I haven't blogged this much sooner… And it is so tasty it almost makes up for lack of pasta. Almost…
I was lucky with the photos – the dish was so vibrant it was just doing all the work for me.