Quantcast

Wellness Mama®

Simple Answers for Healthier Families

Chicken Carbonara Recipe

Chicken Carbonara Recipe (Over Spaghetti Squash)

Katie WellsMar 19, 2012Updated: Jan 3, 2020
Reading Time: 2 min

This post contains affiliate links.
Click here to read my affiliate policy.

Jump to Recipe
Wellness Mama » Blog » Recipes » Poultry Recipes » Chicken Carbonara Recipe (Over Spaghetti Squash)

I’ve been on an Italian chicken variation kick lately. I absolutely love chicken piccata and finally figured out a great recipe for it which inspired a lot of chicken cooking around here lately. I’ve made healthy variations of chicken cacciatore, chicken Florentine, chicken Marsala, and chicken carbonara.

In restaurants, this is often made with an extremely thick cream sauce and served over pasta. I substituted spaghetti squash, made a healthier (and optional) sauce, and added some wilted spinach and asparagus for flavor and extra nutrition. My kids liked this one and my hubby (who despises the texture of wilted spinach) even ate it without complaint.

Chicken Carbonara Recipe

Chicken Carbonara Over Spaghetti Squash

Delicious and healthy chicken carbonara served over nutrient-packed spaghetti squash. 
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Calories 350kcal
Author Katie Wells
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Servings

8 servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  • Cut the spaghetti squash in half and scrape out the seeds with a spoon.
  • Place them face down on a baking sheet or in a large baking dish with ¼ inch of water.
  • Place in the oven and cook 30 minutes or until soft when poked with a fork.
  • While the squash is cooking, butterfly the chicken by cutting it in half lengthwise.
  • Pound it with a meat hammer or the bottom of a cast iron pan until it is ¼ to ½ inch thick.
  • In a large skillet, place the asparagus in about ¼ inch of water and cook over high heat until the asparagus is bright green and starting to soften. The water should evaporate completely and when it has, add 1 tablespoon of butter and sprinkle with some sea salt.
  • Remove the asparagus from the pan and set aside.
  • In the same pan, cook the bacon until it is crispy.
  • Remove the bacon and cook the chicken in the bacon grease, sprinkling each side with some of the sea salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder.
  • When chicken has cooked through, remove it and set it aside.
  • Dice the onion and cook it in the remaining bacon grease until it is starting to soften.
  • Add the spinach and extra butter if needed and cook until the spinach is barely wilted.
  • Add the cream if using and about ¼ teaspoon of the salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder.
  • At this point, the spaghetti squash should be soft so remove it from the oven and scrape out the insides with a fork.
  • To serve, put some spaghetti squash on a plate, top with some wilted spinach, then a piece of chicken, some crumbled bacon, and the asparagus. Top with Parmesan if using.
  • Enjoy!

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts
Chicken Carbonara Over Spaghetti Squash
Amount Per Serving (1 piece)
Calories 350 Calories from Fat 182
% Daily Value*
Fat 20.2g31%
Saturated Fat 9.7g61%
Cholesterol 88mg29%
Sodium 802mg35%
Carbohydrates 15.6g5%
Fiber 4.3g18%
Sugar 5.5g6%
Protein 28.8g58%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Like this recipe? Check out my new cookbook, or get all my recipes (over 500!) in a personalized weekly meal planner here!

Would you try this version of chicken carbonara? What’s your favorite chicken dish? Share below!

Category: ,

Share this article

Print / PDF / Email

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

You may also enjoy these posts…

Reader Interactions

Discussion (7 Comments)

  1. Christy L

    5 stars
    Ok so I made this. The second of your dishes that I’ve made. My family LOVED IT!!! But every fiber of my being was screaming too much bacon grease too much butter. I was terribly worried that it was unhealthy. All my meats were organic and I used organic veg and grassfed butter. Are my tastebuds and old ways of thinking fooling me? Could this really be healthy?

    Reply

  2. Ez

    Oh boyyyy!!!! Is this good! I made this, prepared the asparagus with butter, but ate them all while preparing the chicken! I only used crushed garlic and salt for the seasoning and it came out super tasty with the bacon and a side o boiled green beans. Yum!

    Reply

  3. Robin

    Any suggestions for helping us older(45+) paleo gals with perimenopause and menopause symptoms?
    Thanks for any help!
    Robin

    Reply

    • Wellness Mama

      The magnesium will help a lot, and red raspberry leaf, wild yam, and red clover will help ease the symptoms. Some people also get a lot of benefit from natural progesterone cream used on the skin for the second half of each month.

      Reply

Join the Conversation...

Your email address will not be published. Please read the comment policy.

Recipe Rating