French Chicken w Balsamic Spinach Salad

About

You’re going to love this full Keto meal! Thin-sliced chicken breasts are breaded and fried in olive oil until they’re golden brown. Then, they’re basted in a pan of lemon butter with capers until the flavors of the sauce coat the chicken as a glaze. Served on the side is a simple Italian-inspired spinach salad dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette. The salad includes bites of tomato, avocado, and whole-milk mozzarella. Please note that this recipe uses whole slices of lemons, which is described in Step 3. The lemon is denoted as lemon juice in the ingredient list so your macros are accurately recorded in your food log. You won’t be eating the lemon slices, so you won’t want to include ingredients in your food log that would add unnecessary carbohydrates.

Meal Prepping Or A Hot Dinner

This is a versatile Keto recipe that can be used for your meal prepping needs or served as a featured meal at the dinner table. You can easily increase the servings to make enough for a week of meal prep. The finished meal can be stored in your refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you are serving this recipe as a family meal, everyone at the table will love the fried chicken with a buttery sauce and fresh salad. For any picky eaters at the table, they’ll love the Chicken Francese served over pasta or rice. If you’re on the Keto diet and would like a more filling meal, you can serve your Chicken Francese over zero-carb shirataki noodles prepared to your liking.

Tips For Breading Chicken

Breading and frying chicken breasts isn’t a particularly challenging feat, but there are a few tips you can follow to make it an easy process. For one, prepare all your ingredients before you heat a pan for cooking. Have the flour, egg, and seasoned chicken breasts laid out in front of you. When dredging the chicken, use one hand for flour and the other hand for dipping the chicken into the egg for the least mess. You may use almond flour as a low-carb alternative to paleo flour, but please note that almond flour may clump up if you’re not careful. Almond flour also cooks darker much faster than paleo flour, so adjust your heat as necessary to avoid burning the flour while you cook.

Ingredients

7 oz chicken breast boneless skinless raw
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon paleo baking flour
½ large raw egg
½ teaspoon cream heavy whipping
1 teaspoon olive or extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ tablespoon butter, unsalted
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon capers
2 tablespoon chicken broth
2 oz spinach
2 oz tomato
1 oz avocado
2 oz mozzarella cheese, whole milk
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
1 ½ tablespoon olive or extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon balsamic vinegar
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
½ tbsp, grated parmesan cheese, fresh (hard)

Instructions

Prepare 3 ½-ounce thin-sliced chicken breasts by pounding them flat to no more than ½-inch thickness. Season the breasts with salt and pepper. Additionally, arrange the paleo flour on a clean plate or flat surface. You may include more flour to ensure you coat the chicken fully. In a shallow dish, whisk together an egg and the heavy cream. Set the flour and egg aside for the next step.
Heat the olive oil in either a cast-iron skillet or non-stick pan over medium-high heat. When the olive oil is hot, then you can bread the chicken. Dredge each chicken breast one-by-one in the paleo flour first. Shake the excess flour off the chicken and then dip it in the egg. Once excess egg drips off the chicken, dredge it once more in the flour. Shake loose flour off the chicken one final time, then set the breaded chicken in the hot oil.
Cook the chicken for about 5 minutes per side until the chicken is cooked through and the breading has turned golden brown on both sides. You can adjust the heat as necessary to avoid burning. Once the chicken is cooked, set the pan aside to rest. Melt the butter in a new, clean pan over low heat. Slice a lemon into about 3 slices per serving and add them to the butter. Place a lid over the pan and let the lemon slices steep in the butter over low heat for 3-4 minutes. *Please see the note made in the introduction about lemons*
Add the capers and chicken broth to the pan of lemons. Return the lid and let the ingredients stew over very low heat. The liquid will begin to gently bubble and reduce slightly to a thickened glaze with a little viscosity. Once the liquid has reached this texture, transfer the chicken breasts to the lemon butter sauce. You can increase the heat slightly to help re-heat the chicken breasts in the sauce. Flip the chicken over so the sauce coats the breading. You can also spoon the sauce and lemon slices over the chicken to help distribute the flavors.
Once the chicken is hot, you can set the Chicken Francese aside to rest temporarily while you make the balsamic spinach salad. Chop washed and dried spinach, and add it to a large mixing bowl. Dice tomatoes, avocado, and fresh whole-milk mozzarella. Add these ingredients to the spinach. Season the ingredients with the second amounts of salt and pepper, tossing the mixing bowl until everything is seasoned.
Whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, crushed red pepper, and grated parmesan. Pour this mixture over the spinach salad and toss the salad together a final time. You can choose to let the spinach marinate in your refrigerator for about 15 minutes or you can serve the salad immediately. Serve a fried chicken breast with lemon butter sauce and about 4 ounces of balsamic spinach salad. You can also include the whole lemon slices from the sauce as a garnish.