Chicken and Feta Poutine

About

Chicken breast is liberally seasoned and cooked to blackened on your stove before diced into small pieces. The chicken is added to a simple but traditional style poutine gravy, which you can thicken with a little Keto paleo flour. The chicken poutine gravy is then poured over a mountain of Keto-friendly zucchini “fries” before topped with tangy and healthy feta cheese. Bake the whole tray in your oven and share it with a friend or keep the leftovers for yourself. Poutine is normally eaten as a snack, which you can also do with this recipe. However, since this recipe is Keto, it’s acceptable as part of a meal as well, like a side dish. If you’re using the chicken and feta poutine as a side dish, be careful about how much protein you consume in your main course since Keto diets usually only need about 20% protein or less per day.

What Exactly Is Poutine?

Poutine is a French word, but it’s not exactly from France! Most believe poutine was first created in French-Canadian Quebec, and its popularity has trickled down into some areas of the United States. Although poutine is typically served over potato fries, our Keto version uses zucchini instead. Poutine always includes hot, brown gravy and melted cheese curds (in our case, feta does the trick). Some poutine is made with duck, but you’ll be using duck’s more affordable cousin: chicken! Poutine is a great dish for warming yourself up on a cold day.

Can I Add Anything Else To My Poutine?

Poutine is usually served as is, without any extras added on top of the chicken, gravy, and cheese. However, you can include other ingredients in the poutine if you’re interested in making this recipe a filling main course. You can easily include more chicken at your discretion or incorporate some crispy bacon bits. If you’d like to add low-carb vegetables on top of your zucchini “fries”, shredded lettuce or sauteed mushroom slices would complement the dish well. If you want to add more fat to your meal, a dollop of sour cream or greek yogurt could do the trick.

Ingredients

5 oz chicken breast boneless skinless raw
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
⅛ teaspoon onion powder
⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
⅛ teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
1 ½ teaspoon olive or extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon butter, unsalted
½ teaspoon paleo baking flour
¼ cup chicken broth
½ g thyme fresh or raw herb
½ g rosemary fresh or raw herb
5 oz zucchini
2 oz feta cheese

Instructions

Make the chicken first by patting a thin-sliced breast dry with a paper towel. Season the chicken breast with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and lemon pepper seasoning. Next, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat in a pan on the stove. Place the seasoned chicken in the pan, cooking it on one side until the spices blacken. Flip the chicken over and cook on the remaining side until it’s done, adjusting the heat as necessary to avoid burning. When the chicken is cooked, transfer it to a cutting board to cool temporarily.
Return your used pan to the stove. On low heat, melt the butter in the pan to lift up any leftover spices from the chicken. Once the butter is melted, stir the paleo flour into the pan until it turns golden and frothy. Next, pour the chicken broth into the pan and stir until the flour thickens the broth. Bring up the heat on the gravy until it’s bubbling. Meanwhile, dice your chicken into small pieces.
Transfer the diced chicken to the gravy. Add a sprig of thyme and a small sprig of rosemary to the pan. Place a lid over the pan and let the gravy bubble and thicken around the chicken. After just a few minutes, leave the chicken poutine gravy aside for later. Next, turn the oven on to preheat to 425 degrees and select either a well-seasoned sheet tray or line a tray with parchment paper.
Use a vegetable peeler to peel wide, flat strips from a whole zucchini. Peel until you have enough pieces totaling the weight listed in the ingredients. Lay all the zucchini pieces flat between sheets of paper towels, and press down firmly to extract any excess moisture. Discard the used paper towels and arrange the zucchini on your sheet tray as if the pieces were a big pile of french fries. Spread the pieces out enough to ensure each one will be touched by the chicken poutine.
Pour the chicken poutine gravy over the zucchini on the tray. Make sure you distribute the gravy to ensure even coverage. Crumble chunky pieces of feta cheese over the chicken poutine and set the tray in your oven. Bake the poutine for about 12 minutes. For doneness, look for tender zucchini peels with browned edges and feta crumbles that have mostly maintained their shape but are soft and melted to the touch. Enjoy with a fork and serve hot.