I’ve had my food blog for just over 14 years, and one of the questions I get asked a lot is to lighten up a recipe or favorite family dish. Recently a woman reached out to me and asked if I could make a healthy chicken Costco bake. I had no idea what she was talking about!
I have a Costco membership, but I never saw the chicken bake, just the giant photos of hot dogs and pizza. So, I went to investigate!
Huh. It’s basically a wrapped pizza dough with chicken, spinach, bacon, and some sort of creamy filling in the middle. Challenge accepted!
The original Costco chicken bake comes in at 770 calories and over 25 grams of fat. Mine is 325 and only 8.8 grams of fat, and it’s delicious!
I used my skinny pizza dough recipe, but you can use store bought pizza dough.
Scroll down for a printable version of this recipe
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 17 minutes
12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
3 teaspoons avocado oil
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (add more if you like it spicy)
16 ounces pizza dough
1 cup baby spinach
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
4 tablespoons bacon bits
8 teaspoons light Caesar dressing
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 teaspoon water for egg wash
4 teaspoon shredded Parmesan cheese
2. Mix the chicken, oil, Italian seasoning, pepper, salt and crushed red pepper. Cook in a sauté pan over medium heat, until almost fully cooked. Set aside and cool.
3. Roll out 4 ounces of dough for each chicken bake.
4. Make the bake in this order: 1/2 ounce mozzarella cheese, 3 ounces cooked chicken, 1/4 cup spinach, 1/2 tablespoon parsley, 1 tablespoon bacon bits and 2 teaspoons of Caesar dressing.
Now that the weather is starting to get colder in Chicagoland, did you know that The Chopping Block offers virtual classes? You can cook along in the comfort of your own home. I have my eye on the Virtual Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry with Hot and Sour Soup with Tofu on Friday, November 4 – doesn’t that sound delicious? You can sign up for that class here.
And if you are hosting Thanksgiving this year, we have a few spots left in our Hands-On Thanksgiving Workshop. You’ll learn how to make herbed roasted turkey with handmade gravy, brown butter mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, and carrots with maple-mustard glaze with toasted pecans, ginger-orange cranberry sauce, corn and bacon pudding and classic pumpkin pie. Sign up here before it sells out!