Healthy Chicken Cutlets and Zucchini Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, spray it with cooking spray and set it aside.

In a small bowl, combine the Greek yogurt, salt, garlic powder, basil, oregano and white pepper. Place the chicken cutlets in a gallon Ziploc bag and add the yogurt mixture. Remove as much air as possible and seal the bag. Squish the bag around with your hands to make sure that the chicken is well-coated. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

While your chicken is marinating, get to work on your zucchini “pasta”. If you have a spiral cutter (you’re so fancy), use that to turn your zucchini into pasta. If you don’t have one, no worries. I don’t either. Use a mandolin or a knife to slice each zucchini into planks about 1/8-inch thick. Then slice the planks into thin ribbons. Set aside until ready to use.

Now it’s time to prepare the breading for the cutlets. In a shallow baking dish, combine the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, salt, basil, oregano and cayenne pepper. Remove the chicken cutlets from the plastic bag and dredge each cutlet in the breading. If you don’t like messy hands, I recommend using tongs for this.

Place the breaded cutlets on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes until they are golden brown and the chicken is cooked through.

With roughly 10 minutes before the cutlets are ready, you’ll want to cook your “pasta.” Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the minced shallot and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes until the shallots are softened and the garlic is fragrant. Be careful not to burn the garlic! Add the cherry tomatoes to the pan and cook for about 4 minutes until the tomatoes start to burst. Crush a few of the tomatoes with a spatula to release some extra juice. At this point, I like to remove a third of the tomatoes from the pan to serve on top of the cutlets, but this optional.

Add the zucchini ribbons into the pan with the remaining tomatoes and sauté for 2-3 minutes until the “pasta” is just tender. Remove it from the heat immediately. You want the zucchini to be “al dente” not mushy. Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve your zucchini pasta sprinkled with a little Parmesan cheese and top with the chicken cutlets. Add the reserved tomatoes on top of the chicken and enjoy!