Dairy Free Linguine Alfredo Florentine with Grilled Chicken

When I think of comfort food, I usually think of a bowl of pasta. Pasta with a vodka cream sauce, lasagna, or creamy alfredo sauce. Since The Kid has a dairy allergy, creamy takes on a different meaning at the Quest House. Honestly, I don’t even miss it most times. Occasionally I do like cheese or ice cream but I also really like the non-dairy versions of both of these too.

Sorry, I got distracted by thoughts of comforting cheese and creamy sauces there. They say don’t grocery shop when hungry. Well apparently that applies to blogging too. LOL. This week I was still recovering from the trip by home to visit my parents, and I wanted a steaming bowl of comfort food. Think you can’t have it while staying healthy? Let me get my “That Was Easy” buzzer to tell you that you’re wrong.

Dairy Free Linguine Alfredo Florentine with Grilled Chicken 

• 8 oz linguine, uncooked weight
• 16 oz grilled chicken breast
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 3 cups (85g) spinach and kale mix
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Cook the linguine according to package directions and slice your grilled chicken breast into bite sized chunks. You can really make your chicken pieces however you like them. Sliced, diced, even whole is fine. Just go with the flow. Comfort food isn’t stressful.

Spray a large skillet with non-stick spray and heat over medium heat. Add the garlic and flour and cook for about a minute, stirring occasionally so the flour doesn’t burn.

Whisk in the broth and almond milk. You can use a whisk or a fork, both work. You want to stir well to break up any flour lumps. Lumps = bleh. Cook for about 2 – 3 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken.

Add the spinach, kale, and chicken and stir gently. Cook for about a minute until the leaves wilt and remove from heat. Toss with the linguine and divide equally into bowls. Salt and pepper, to taste. I didn’t salt mine but I did add some freshly cracked pepper on top. That was awesome!

Makes 4 servings at approximately 353 calories each – 32g protein, 45g carbs, and 4g fat.

Notes

• If you don’t have almond milk, regular milk or soy milk will also work. If you aren’t dairy free, you could also throw on some parmesan cheese.
• I’m loving the baby kale and spinach mix that I get in the produce section at Walmart. It’s cheaper than a bag of spinach. Not sure why, but I’m not arguing. Plus it mixes things up instead of just going with all spinach or all kale. You could do either in this recipe or even use broccoli too.
• To make this vegan or vegetarian, use vegetable broth instead of the chicken broth and tofu or tempeh instead of the grilled chicken breast.

This recipe is very easy to customize to your needs. If you want to cut calories even further, use half the pasta with the same amount of chicken and sauce. You can use a different type of noodle shape, whole wheat pasta, gluten free pasta, rice. You could even use a spiral slicer and serve it over spiralized zucchini instead of pasta.