Pillowy gnocchi joins forces with spicy Calabrian chili ground chicken crumbles and a creamy sauce made with blended spicy vodka, parmesan, and cottage cheese. My recipe makes four servings with 46 grams of protein and just 12 grams of fat each. Good luck finding a cheesy, creamy gnocchi with macros like that!
Ingredients
It’s a really simple ensemble that can be sorted into three groups:
- Potato Gnocchi
- Creamy Spicy Vodka Sauce
- Sweet and Spicy Ground Chicken Crumbles
The Spicy Vodka Sauce
I first used the Carbone spicy vodka sauce + cottage cheese combo to make chicken lasagna (with great success, by the way). It’s such a flavorful sauce to only have 60 calories per 1/2 cup. Feel free to swap it for any pasta sauce. For example, I recently made a creamy red pepper pasta by blending fire roasted red peppers with cottage cheese and parmesan instead of pasta sauce.
If you’re skeptical about blended cottage cheese like I definitely was in the past, you’ll just have to trust me. When blended with the vodka sauce and parmesan, it becomes silky smooth and its lack of flavor is perfect for letting everything else do the talking.
The Chicken Crumbles
And speaking of flavor, the Calabrian chili chicken has it in spades.
I’ve tested this recipe with both Divina chopped Calabrian peppers (from Whole Foods) and Trader Joe’s Italian Bomba pepper sauce. Both are great, but I think the TJ’s sauce is a bit milder and lets you get away with using more. If you don’t have access to either or are very spice sensitive, try tomato paste or another mild pepper paste.
The Gnocchi
Feel free to experiment with other types of pasta. You can get away with high protein pastas (chickpea, lentil, etc.) to add more protein to the dish. Or you can just swap the gnocchi for something like rigatoni.
Garnishes and Tips for Serving
Pictured below, you’ll see a bowl of the finished gnocchi garnished with some of the chicken crumbles, a big dollop of ricotta cheese, fresh basil, chopped peppers, cracked black pepper, grated parmesan, and a drizzle of olive oil.
If you have the calories to spare for extras like ricotta and olive oil, I think they are must-adds.
And I believe that covers it. If you have any questions about the recipe or ingredient swaps, head to the comments section at the bottom of this post.
I hope you enjoy the spicy chicken gnocchi and come back to cook with me again! – Mason
P.S. True gnocchi fans that like the look of this recipe will want to make sure they check out my garlic sesame beef gnocchi. It uses a similar blended cottage cheese, gochujang, and miso sauce for the gnocchi, and the pasta is combined with garlic sesame ground beef crumbles. Good stuff!
Spicy Chicken Gnocchi
Ingredients
- 1 pound Gnocchi
- 1 cup Low Fat Cottage Cheese
- 1 cup Carbone Spicy Vodka Sauce or your choice of pasta sauce
- ½ cup (56g) Grated Parmesan
- 1-2 handfuls Fresh Basil for serving
For the Chicken
- 1 pound Ground Chicken
- 2 Tablespoons Calabrian Chili Peppers or swap 1:1 with tomato paste for spice sensitive
- 2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons Honey
- 4 Frozen Crushed Garlic Cubes or 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2 Tablespoons Water
Instructions
- Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil for the gnocchi.
- Blend the pasta sauce, cottage cheese, and parmesan together until smooth. Set aside.
- Heat a skillet over medium-high heat with 1 teaspoon of oil. Once hot, add the ground chicken. Cook for 2-3 minutes until golden brown on one side before breaking apart with a spatula and fully cooking.
- While the chicken cooks, mix the Calabrian peppers, vinegar, honey, garlic, and 2 tablespoons of water together. Add the sauce to the cooked ground chicken and cook until the sauce thickens and begins to caramelize, another 1-2 minutes.
- Add the gnocchi to the boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes or until they float. Reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water before draining the rest.
- Add the cooked gnocchi back to the pot with the blended sauce and about 3/4 of the chicken over low heat. Fold everything together, adding a few tablespoons of the pasta water as needed to make a smooth and creamy sauce.
- Salt to taste before plating the gnocchi. Garnish with the remaining chicken crumbles and fresh basil. (I also like to add a dollop of low fat ricotta, freshly grated parm, black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.)
