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Better Than The Freezer Aisle: Copycat Lean Cuisine Chicken Margherita

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Better Than The Freezer Aisle: Copycat Lean Cuisine Chicken Margherita

Lisa
The Cook
6 Servings
7 Ingredients
14 Comments

No need to sacrifice flavor and serving size when you are counting calories. Skip the freezer aisle meals, and whip up your own delicious Chicken Margherita with fresh basil, tomatoes, and mozzarella!

Read More
6 Servings
7 Ingredients
14 Comments

Ingredients

  • 7 ⅛ cups cook Penne
  • 2 ⅔ cups cook and dice Chicken, Boneless Breasts
  • 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
  • ½ tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons chop Basil, Fresh
  • 1 cup halve Grape Tomatoes
  • ¾ cups Mozzarella Cheese, 2%, Shredded

Containers

Supplies

  • Labels
  • 1.Baking Pan, 9x13

Cooking Instructions

Freeze For Later Cooking Day Directions

Bake

These directions help you cook or prepare this meal PRIOR to being frozen for serving later (see Serving Day Directions when you are ready to prepare it to eat).

Why would I want to freeze this?

  1. In a large bowl, combine cooked pasta, chicken, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and basil.
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Make From Frozen Serving Day Directions

Easy Assembly/Ready to Eat

These directions help you cook or reheat this meal AFTER it's been frozen for when you are ready to eat it.

  1. Thaw: In fridge
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Make It Now Cooking Directions

Oven Cook

These directions are for cooking this recipe to serve immediately and NOT to freeze for later.

  1. In a large bowl, combine cooked pasta, chicken, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and basil.
  2. Transfer to a glass baking dish, top with tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.
  3. Bake, covered, 350F for 15 minutes until heated through.

Categories

diet, spring, summer, fall, winter, better-than-the-freezer-aisle, traditional, nut-free, egg-free, low-sodium, wwfreestyle, wwfreestyle7-8, soy-free, fish-free, shellfish-free

Categories

diet, spring, summer, fall, winter, better-than-the-freezer-aisle, traditional, nut-free, egg-free, low-sodium, wwfreestyle, wwfreestyle7-8, soy-free, fish-free, shellfish-free

14 Comments

Join the discussion

  2. I put this in the myfitnesspal app and its registering the carbs as much higher than 13g per serving. How were the nutrition facts calculated?

    Reply

    1. Thanks for your feedback and concern! We use also My Fitness Pal to calculate nutrition info. It is not foolproof as there are tons of options and varieties.

      Reply

  3. In the cooking directions to freeze for later, there’s a conflict between step numbers 3 and 4.

    Should we mix in the cheese and tomatoes with the rest of the ingredients? Or should we add the other ingredients to the baking dish and THEN TOP with the cheese and tomatoes?

    Reply

    1. Hi Katherine — we have you bake it to heat everything through and have the cheese melt and all the flavors meld together. Hope this helps! ~OAMM

      Reply

  5. This was great! I did only one extra thing: I cooked my chicken in 2tsp olive oil with about 1 Tbsp minced garlic. Then I cut down the olive oil in the recipe to 1 tsp. It was very savory, especially when there was a grape tomato in the bite – gave it a nice zing. I would also add that the portions are, what I would say, almost generous – they are a little larger than what you’d get in the Lean Cuisine box, in my opinion. Usually, they give small portions to keep the points low. Thanks for another great recipe!

    Reply

  7. Made this last night. Three years later I finally tried the actual Lean Cuisine version. I don’t do a lot of freezer meals (unless they’re from Trader Joe’s of course) however I had a week where I was moving so I cleaned out my kitchen and bought all frozen and prepared meals.

    This definitely looked pretty bland to I seasoned and roasted my chicken breasts with a balsamic oregano glaze. Then for the pasta I added more seasoning, vinegar, and made some pesto with leftover fennnel fronds I had and the rest of the basil. Some is in the fridge, the rest is put in the freezer. Next batch might roast the tomatoes too, I definitely prefer their natural sweetness after they’ve seen a bit more heat.

    Reply