Kristi HavlinMacro coach and trainer
2 min read
The reason most meal prep fails in week three is that it stops being food you want. This is the answer to that — baked, cheesy, and still 325 calories.
Source: Recipe and macros: Kristi Havlin, KH Macro Coach & Trainer.
Per serving
Makes 5 servingsServing size 1 bowl
Ingredients
- 1 & 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders
- 10 ounces package gnocchi
- 10 grams butter
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup marinara sauce (or stewed tomatoes + 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning)
- 1/4 cup shredded parmesan (21g)
- 3/4 cup reduced fat mozzarella (84g)
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Arrange 5 oven safe containers on a cookie sheet. Lightly spray with cooking spray.
- Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes. Cook over medium heat with salt and pepper until no longer pink. Remove and set aside.
- In the same pan add butter. Once melted, add gnocchi and sauté a few minutes until golden brown. If they begin to stick to the bottom of the pan add the broth.
- Let the gnocchi simmer in the broth for about 5 minutes, until it thickens up.
- Turn off heat and add the marinara sauce and chicken.
- Evenly distribute into your containers (about 1 cup each). Top with cheeses.
- Broil on high or bake 3–5 minutes until the cheese melts and the top gets nice and crispy.
Keeps: Store in the fridge up to 4 days. Reheat and enjoy.
The trick is the gnocchi, not the chicken
Gnocchi browns. That is the whole thing. Give it a few minutes in the butter before any liquid goes near it and you get a crisp edge that survives being reheated; skip that and you get a bowl of dumplings. The broth goes in after, and only if they start to stick.
Weigh the cheese
Twenty-one grams of parmesan and 84 grams of mozzarella is what these macros are built on. Cheese is where a 325-calorie meal quietly becomes a 500-calorie one — it is the single ingredient most worth putting on a scale.
If you want it higher protein
Push the chicken to two pounds and leave everything else alone: about 39 grams of protein a serving, for roughly 30 more calories. That is the cheapest trade in the recipe.
Written by people who work in a gym, not by doctors. Nothing here is medical advice — if you are pregnant, injured, or managing a condition, talk to your doctor or your physical therapist before you change what you are doing. Our instructors will happily modify any of it for you; ask before class.