Do you get the hint yet that I’m kinda obsessed with zoodles? I eat them with everything, and I always have a container of them hanging out in my fridge. Just try and say zoodles with a straight face. Impossible! Truth be told, I once loved creamy sauces. I know, shocking! Please, who doesn’t love creamy sauces?! I love making classic dishes into much healthier versions!
Let’s talk about this sauce. No dairy will be found, and yet it tastes just like original creamy alfredo, only secretly made with cauliflower! Cauliflower is such an amazing ingredient, and so versatile! Hope you love this as much as I do!
Ingredients –
- 1.5 lbs chicken breasts or thighs, cut into bite size pieces (preferably pastured/organic)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1-2 tbsp coconut oil
- ½ cup sun dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil
- ¼ cup pine nuts (optional)
- 2 medium zucchini made into zoodles with either a julienne peeler or spiralizer
Alfredo Sauce:
- 4-5 cups chopped cauliflower
- 5-6 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 – 2 ½ cups of chicken broth, divided (preferably homemade or organic)
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Pinch of nutmeg (optional)
Directions –
1. It’s totally up to you, and what you want to do with your zoodles, but I typically prefer the salting method. This gets the moisture out, so that they don’t become a watery mess when heated with the sauce. To do this, place your zoodles on top of paper towels and salt them generously. Set aside for at least 20 minutes, while they release their moisture.
2. Add the chopped cauliflower, peeled garlic cloves, and 1 cup of the chicken broth to a medium sized pan. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and cook until the cauliflower is easily pierced with a fork and is very tender.
3. Once the cauliflower is cooked, turn the heat off and add one more cup of chicken broth to the pan. Add salt, pepper and the nutmeg. Use an immersion blender to blend the ingredients until smooth. Add more broth if you would like the sauce to be thinner. Turn the stove back on and simmer the sauce while you cook the chicken.
***If you don’t have an immersion blender, you could simply place the cooked cauliflower mixture with the extra cup of broth in a blender, and blend until smooth. Return the sauce to the pan to simmer, while you cook the chicken.
4. Heat the coconut oil in a pan over medium heat. Once the pan is nice and hot, add the chicken and garlic, and cook until the chicken is no longer pink on the inside. 5. Back to the zoodles. Squeeze the salted zoodles between dry paper towels, or a clean dishrag, to remove the excess moisture.
6. Once the chicken is finished cooking, turn off the heat. Add the sun dried tomatoes, alfredo sauce, and zoodles to the pan. Toss to coat with the sauce. Top with pine nuts and slurp up!
mmmmm I HAVE TO MAKE THIS! Thanks for sharing your amazing recipe, sweetie 🙂
Hope you love it, Meg!! Hope you’re enjoying the holidays with your parents too! 🙂
I will be printing this out later and putting it on my January menu! Do you use organic zucchini? I just recently read that a lot of US zuchinni is gmo…
Can’t wait to hear what you think! I only buy organic zucchini, and grow my own during the summer 🙂 Ugh, I didn’t even know that zucchini was a GMO, so lame. Thanks for letting me know, knowledge is power! I just read that a GMO apple is being released next year, it’s designed to never turn brown :/
I can not wait to try this!! It will be on next weeks menu. Thanks Kristen!!
Thank you, Colleen!! Hope you enjoy it!
Sounds amazing!!!! Definitely picking up some cauliflower to make this soon!
Mike officially gave it the stamp of approval, so I hope you guys love it too!
Wow! I cannot wait to try this when I can have garlic and cauli again. As usual this sounds amazing!
Thanks so much, Deanna!! Can’t wait until the day you’re able to have everything you love <3
This looks great!! Something I’ll be able to do now that I’ve finally gotten a zoodler from Santa. 🙂
Thanks, Amy!! Santa was good to you this year 🙂
I’ve been wondering what to do with my cauliflower that isn’t steamed or turned into patties. Nice one.
Thanks, Maryanne!! I love using cauliflower in sauces and soups!
I made this for dinner last night and it was fantastic – so comforting and filling. It’s definitely going to be a part of my regular dinner rotation. Thanks so much for sharing!
What do you think this would be like if I used spaghetti squash instead? I was thinking I would mix the sauce with the noodles and chicken and then bake it, kind of like your spaghetti squash meatball casserole. Do you think that would turn out okay? (I like to mix up my spaghetti squash and my zoodle intake and I’ve had zoodles more recently so I’m trying to switch it up) Thank you!! =)
Hi Delaney, that sounds like an amazing idea! I’m sure it would turn out great…I’ll have to try that too! 🙂 Maybe I’ll come up with a chicken alfredo casserole!
I tried it and it was pretty delicious! I could have used more seasoning I think, but otherwise it’s very tasty. Included the sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts and all. 🙂
So glad you liked it! I think it would definitely depend on how much spaghetti squash was used, since the squash doesn’t have much of a flavor…I’ll definitely work on a casserole version of this for the fall! 🙂