Are you looking for something that tastes like comfort food, but it’s really low-carb and full of veggies? This Pasta Sauce Chicken Veggie Bake has become one of our new favorites!
Pasta Sauce Chicken Veggie Bake
Course: Entre, DinnerCuisine: cassserole4
servings30
minutes40
minutes546
kcalIngredients
8 oz Mushrooms
24 oz Broccoli Florets
2 Medium Zucchini
Avocado Oil (for coating veggies and cooking chicken)
Italian Seasoning to Taste
Salt to Taste
Pepper to Taste
2 lb Chicken (*See Note 1)
Tony Chacheres Original Seasoning
Lawry’s Garlic Salt
1 Jar Spaghetti Sauce (I use Raos because it doesn’t have a lot of added ingredients)
4 oz Block Mozzarella Cheese (shredded)
Directions
- Cut mushrooms and broccoli into bite-size pieces.
- In a large bowl, add mushrooms, broccoli, and coat with avocado oil. Sprinkle Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to flavor until satisfied. Gently stir in seasonings to coat evenly.
- Pour veggie mix onto roasting pan and bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or until softened and slightly blackened. Wipe out the large bowl and set aside for later.
- Meanwhile, chop up chicken breasts into bite-size pieces.
- Pour a little avocado oil in the bottom of a pan and add chicken to saute. Flavor chicken with your favorite seasonings to taste (we used tony’s, pepper, and garlic salt). Cook until chicken is 165 degrees or cooked thru.
- When chicken and veggies are ready, add together in the large bowl. Pour Pasta Sauce over the top and gently mix together.
- Pour mixture into 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle mozzarella on top.
- Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and starting to bubble. Enjoy!
Notes
- This recipe tastes the best when you saute the chicken. But if you’re short on time, here are 2 ways to save time on the chicken: 1) You can use an already cooked rotisserie chicken. 2) Another time-saver method is to coat the whole chicken breasts with avocado oil and coat with the same seasonings as the veggies (salt, pepper, & Italian seasoning). Lay the chicken breasts on top of the veggies (or on a separate pan) and roast for about 30 minutes on 400 degrees with the veggies (until about 165 degrees or cooked thru). Then, shred the chicken and mix as usual before the final bake.
Roasting the Veggies
You can roast all of the veggies and chicken together. Our favorite is to saute the chicken separately and then mix it in, but I’ve also cut the chicken breasts in half, coated in the same seasoning mixture as the veggies, and laid across the top while the veggies are roasting. Then, just cut up the chicken before adding to the bowl with the pasta sauce.
You Can Use an Air-Fryer
You could use an air-fryer for roasting the veggies. I use our oven but select the “air fryer” mode. If you’re roasting in an oven, I’ve found that using a crisping tray really helps the air to circulate and crisp up the veggies. I really like using this one for roasting vegetables.
What Kind of Pasta Sauce Should I Use?
You can use any kind of pasta sauce that you enjoy. I do encourage you to read the label. If it’s a long list of ingredients you don’t recognize, it’s probably more chemicals and less whole food. I like to use Raos because it has a short list of ingredients that I recognize. This is the sauce I use for homemade pizzas, although they also have a pizza sauce and alfredo sauce that are also really good.
What’s the Difference Between a Block of Cheese and Shredded Cheese?
Most pre-shredded cheese has additives to prevent the cheese from sticking together. These are unnecessary chemicals. Whenever I can, I try to get cheese in a block and shred it myself. My family is really enjoying the cheese available thru Azure standard. They offer great-quality products and have drop-sites all over the United States. With a commitment to clean and organic products, we’ve gotten things like bulk cheese, honey, and grain berries for flour at a great price. You can check them out here.
What Inspired This Dish?
We’re always looking for more healthy recipes, especially ones that make a perfect plate. My husband sent me a video of an alfredo veggie bake. When we tried it, we both agreed that we could change the sauce and add zucchini, one of our favorite veggies, to make it into a red-sauce based meal. I was surprised when it tasted like comfort food. It’s definitely one we both enjoy and have added into our weekly meals. I love that we can change it up and do an alfredo option too. It’s an easy way to get a filling, low-carb meal that tastes delicious!