I think we all need a little bit of this in our lives right now – a little creamy, garlic-smothered, pasta heaven that is still good to your body.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need cream cheese or heavy cream to make a delicious Alfredo sauce. My chicken broccoli Alfredo with whole wheat penne is lighter fair than your traditional white sauce pasta dish and is perfectly balanced with 1 lb broccoli, 1 lb chicken, and 1 lb whole wheat penne. I chose to use penne vs a traditional fettuccini purely out of personal preference. You can substitute 1 lb of any dry pasta you want and it’ll still come out great.
And guys, the best part? IT COSTS LESS THAN SIX DOLLARS! TO FEED THE ENTIRE FAMILY. Can you tell I’m excited?! So go right ahead and treat yo’ white-sauce-pasta-loving self. And make another one for the freezer. 😉
There’s a reason it’s so inexpensive though – I am gonna share a dirty little secret that some of you food purists may not like…
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I use the kind of grated parmesan cheese you find on the unrefrigerated shelf in the pasta isle next to the spaghetti sauce… I KNOW. Okay? I know. “McKenna, you’re supposed to be a foodie, what are you doing eating that sawdust?!” I’ll tell you what – I’m seriously improving the texture of the sauce and improving the price tag it takes to make it. You can use your fancy schmancy refrigerated cheese, but I found that the sauce isn’t as likely to stick in clumps on my fork or stretch from my fork full of food to my bowl if I just used the “sawdust”. Also the first ingredient (and only major one besides a couple safe, common preservatives) is parmesan cheese, it tastes amazing and it’s not going to stop me from growing old and gray and living to tell the tale. So get cheap with me and enjoy some smooth, creamy, garlicy alfredo.
My small family doesn’t eat this entire recipe all at once. We make the entire 1 lb of pasta, eat half of it, and then pour the remainder into a disposable 9×13 pan, cover it with foil, and freeze it for another night when we’re too busy to cook or run out of ingredients. It should stay good in the freezer for a looooong time, but try to eat it up within 3-4 months to avoid freezer burn.
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 25 minutes |
| Servings |
real people
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- 1 lb box whole wheat penne pasta $0.98
- 1 lb boneless, skinless, chicken breast $1.99
- 1 lb broccoli florets $0.98
- 2 tbsp olive oil $0.16
- 6 tbsp butter, unsalted $0.54
- 1 tbsp minced garlic $0.06
- 6 tbsp all purpose flour $0.03
- 1/2 tsp salt $0.01
- 1 tbsp parsley $0.26
- 2 tsp chicken bouillon $0.02
- 2 cups water free(ish)
- 2 cups 1% milk $0.32
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese $0.42
Ingredients
Alfredo Sauce
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- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Cut up the broccoli florets into bite sized pieces and dump them into a gallon sized bag. Drizzle a tbsp of olive oil over the broccoli and shake the bag up, then reopen the bag and drizzle the second tbsp of olive oil over the broccoli and shake it up again. (The florets should look moist. If they still look a little dry, you can add a little more oil, just don't douse the florets or they'll get mushy in the oven.) Pour the broccoli onto a baking sheet (lined or unlined) and set aside.
- If you have really thick chicken breasts (as most stores do) I recommend cutting them in half so that they're half as tall, this way they'll bake at the same rate as the broccoli. Place your thinly sliced chicken breasts on a lined baking sheet that's separate from your broccoli. There's no food safety concern here, I just find they fit better on two different sheets instead of trying to cram them all onto the same one. Coat each piece of chicken with a liiiiittle bit of oil to prevent it from drying out in the oven; and for heaven's sake, wash your hands.
- Put both the chicken and the broccoli into the oven, side by side if possible. If they don't fit on the same rack, put the broccoli on the top rack and the chicken on the bottom. Set the timer for 25 minutes. To be sure your chicken is cooked all the way though, you should check the largest piece at its thickest point with a meat thermometer to make sure its internal temperature has reached 165 degrees.
- While the chicken and broccoli are in the oven, bring a large sauce pot of water to boil and cook your penne according to the instructions on the package. When the pasta is cooked to your liking, drain the water and set it aside. You may choose to toss the pasta in a bit of oil to prevent it from sticking to each other if the alfredo sauce isn't yet finished.
- While the water is coming to a boil, you can start on your alfredo. I make my sauce in the same pan I'll be combining all of the ingredients into. (I use a 5-quart high walled skillet.) If you don't have that large of a pan, you can make this sauce in a medium sized sauce pan and combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
- Start by melting down the butter on medium - medium/low heat. While the butter is melting, combine the flour, salt, parsley, and bouillon together and set it aside. It's also helpful to get the water and milk measured out and ready to pour.
- Once the butter is melted, add the minced garlic and let it cook for about a minute or so. Then whisk in the flour mixture to form a thick paste, and let that cook again for about a minute or so.
- Now, while whisking pretty much continuously, only stopping to add a little more liquid, slowly add the milk and water. You should whisk out all the lumps early on and continue whisking while you add all the liquid to make sure no lumps form.
- Bring your sauce to a slow simmering boil and continue whisking it for 3-5 minutes, or until it's thickened up noticeably.
- Once the sauce has thickened, whisk in the grated parmesan. At this point you can toss in the pasta. Once the broccoli and chicken come out of the oven, you can either shred or cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces, and add them into the pan with the pasta and sauce. Toss well and serve!
- Follow all of the directions above. This is a make and freeze meal. When the meal is assembled, pour it into a disposable 9x13 baking pan and cover it with foil.
- Label the foil with "Chicken broccoli alfredo" and the date, then write these instructions: Preheat oven to 350 and bake, covered with foil, for 1.5 hours, or until the center reaches 140 degrees.
- The chicken should be cooked all the way through so you shouldn't have to bring the temperature all the way up to 165. 140 degrees is a good serving temperature.
Serving size: 1 cup
Servings: about 11 cups
Price for dish: $5.77
Price per serving: $0.52
Nutrition per serving:
Calories: 345
Carbs: 36.9 g
Protein: 21.2 g
Fats: 12.5 g
Sodium: 304 mg
Fiber: 2.4 g
Sugar: 3.9 g
