Kelly's Healthy Version:302 calories, 25 grams of protein, 14 grams of carbs and 12 grams of fat
Compared to the original: 620 calories, 28 grams of protein, 51 grams of carbs and 33 grams of fat!
I have a super yummy, super easy and best of all, HEALTHY recipe- Buffalo Chicken (and cauliflower) Casserole. I'm always on Pinterest looking at the Food and Drink section and love picking out recipes that I know can be made into healthier versions.. of course with some experimenting! (A little bit about my experimenting- My boyfriend says I'm a 'Mad Scientist' in the kitchen, he's always cracking up at the way I cook and how have things all over the kitchen. He thinks it's so funny (and awesome) that I'll just throw some things together, kind of following a recipe and only kind of measuring and it turns out great. It completely surprises us, but I am having tons of fun experimenting and looking forward to sharing it! I hope that luck keeps up with me!) So anyway, this recipe came from a blog (here) who got the recipe from the Betty Crocker website.
While this recipes sounds wonderful, I had to adapt it from it's original potato, condensed soup and fattening blue cheese/ranch version. For a more healthier option, I've replaced the potatoes with cauliflower got rid of the condensed soup and blue cheese or ranch. I personally don't like ranch or blue cheese so I wasn't missing anything by taking it out but if you do want that ranch flavor, check out this recipe for making your own flavoring. If you want blue cheese flavor, I'd just add blue cheese crumbles to the recipe! These are just my suggestions, I think this recipe can be easily changed to whatever preferences you have!
Heres the recipe! Feel free to make modifications as you wish, I think this is a fairly easy recipe and definitely easy to make changes to!
About 1 LB of boneless, skinless chicken, cut into strips (I just got tenders and cut them in half lengthwise)
1/4 Cup buffalo sauce of your choice (my boyfriend LOVES Texas Pete, so even though I prefer Franks- I went with Texas Pete since I was making this for him!)
1 Large head of cauliflower, washed, riced and dried
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 Cup Tofutti Non-Hydrogenated Better Than Cream Cheese (I used this in addition to cream cheese because it's a little thicker and doesn't have that cream cheese taste- but this can easily be replaced with another 1/4 Cup cream cheese)
1/4 Cup cream cheese
1/4 Cup sour cream
1/2 Cup shredded Cheddar cheese
*RECIPE NOTE: I riced the cauliflower and did not cook it before putting the casserole together- I think not cooking the cauliflower first kept it slightly crunchy. If you wanted a more potato-like casserole, then I would just boil the cauliflower and mash and then add the other ingredients- no need to rice the cauliflower if you decide to do this.
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
1. Cut the chicken into 1-inch strips, pour hot sauce over chicken and let soak in zip lock bag or bowl.
2. In a large bowl combine the riced cauliflower, pepper and cheese ingredients. Mix until well blended
3. Grease casserole pan and add layer of cauliflower mix, then layer the chicken, then top with cauliflower mix- It should get crispy on the top like it would have if we added panko, corn flakes or bread crumb.
Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Then un-cover and continue baking for 15+ minutes until the chicken is cooked all the way through!
Now for the best part, this GUILT-FREE chicken casserole! You could eat half of this casserole for dinner and it would still be better than the much more fattening version!
This recipe was so, so easy to make, I hope you find this healthier version just as good as the original!
Let me know if you have any questions!! ENJOY your healthy recipe :)
. Be Happy and Healthy,
Let me know if you have any questions!! ENJOY your healthy recipe :)
. Be Happy and Healthy,