Healthy Southwestern Marinated Chicken and Zoodles – Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Ingredients for the Marinated Chicken:
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Juice from 3 large limes (approximately ½ cup)
• 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (I used Cholula)
• Zest from one lime
• ½ cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoons cumin
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 4-6 skinless boneless chicken breasts
• 1 gallon size Ziploc baggie

Ingredients for the Pico de Gallo:
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• ½ large onion, chopped
• ½ cup cilantro, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, chopped
• ½ lime, juiced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for the Zoodles:
• 3 large zucchini, stem removed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Special equipment: Spiralizer (You can substitute with julienned zucchini if you don’t have a spiralizer)

Instructions

Make the marinade and cook the chicken:
1. Pour the olive oil, lime juice, soy sauce, and hot sauce into a medium mixing bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined. Add the lime zest, cilantro, shallot, garlic, cumin, and red pepper flakes and whisk until incorporated. Pour the marinade into a gallon size Ziploc baggie. Add the chicken to the marinade approximately 6 to 12 hours before you want to cook the meat.
2. When you are ready to cook your meat, preheat your oven or grill to 450 degrees. Remove the chicken from the marinade and thoroughly pat them dry with paper towels. Discard the marinade. If cooking the chicken in the oven, line the bottom of a broiling pan with foil and spray the top portion with cooking spray or lightly brush it with olive oil to prevent the meat from sticking. Place the chicken on the prepared broiling pan and place in the center of your oven to cook until the thickest part of the meat registers 165 degrees on a meat thermometer (approximately 20 minutes). When ready, remove from the oven and allow the meat to rest for 10 minutes.
3. NOTE: If you chose to cook one or two additional chicken breasts for a salad tomorrow, set them aside and allow them to cool to room temperature. Once cool, place the extra chicken in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use.

While the chicken is cooking, make the pico de gallo and zoodles:
1. Place all of the ingredients for the pico de gallo in a bowl and stir gently to incorporate. Set bowl aside until plating.
2. Take each zucchini and spin through the spiralizer until you can’t spin it any more. Set the zucchini ribbons aside until you remove the chicken from the oven.
3. As the chicken is resting, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the “zoodle,” and salt and pepper to taste. Occasionally toss the zoodles with tongs until they are heated through and slightly softened. Remove from heat and proceed with plating.

To Serve:
1. Place a mound of zoodles in the center of each plate. (You may need to cut the zucchini ribbons to create your desired serving size.) Place a chicken breast on top of the zoodles. Spoon the pico de gallo all over the chicken and zoodles. Feel free to pour some of the liquid from the pico de gallo over the zoodles for extra flavor also. Then serve and dig in to feel good about delicious, healthy eating!

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