Cheesy Ground Chicken Skillet

This Italian style ground chicken skillet with cannellini beans, diced tomatoes, spinach and two cheeses is an easy, flavorful all-in-one-pan dinner that’s ready in just 25 minutes!

 

Happy Monday, friends! (Is that an oxymoron? Hmm...)

I'm starting the day with a very long walk outside, so I'm feeling pretty good about the way this week is looking already.

But let's talk food.

Today’s recipe is similar to my Italian ground turkey skillet, with a handful of changes.

We’re using ground chicken, which is such an easy, healthy protein to reach for in the store.

But sometimes, I don’t quite have a plan for it, so I’m looking around my refrigerator and pantry trying to figure out what to make.

This cheesy ground chicken skillet is the answer!

It’s just some basic ingredients that you probably already have on hand.

It comes together quickly — 25 minutes, start to finish — and it tastes amazing!

Ground chicken can be tricky to flavor well, but the mix of seasonings and flavors in this skillet really gives it some punch.

We’ve got the crumbled ground chicken, creamy cannellini beans, diced tomatoes, wilted spinach and 2 cheeses to help bring it all together.

Lots of yum in every bite!

Plus, it all cooks together in one pan, so it’s easy clean up too!

You might also like this ground chicken and mushroom skillet with peas for another quick and easy ground chicken dinner.

And if you love ground chicken recipes like I do, check out this 20 minute chicken picadillo, easy chicken Pad Thai, cheesy chicken meatballs and BBQ chicken burgers.

Also, stay tuned because I’m currently testing a few more ground chicken recipes to share with you soon.

You can sign up for my free e-newsletter to get all of my new recipes delivered straight to your inbox so you never miss a thing. I’ll even send you my free e-cookbook, Healthy Weeknight Dinners, as a thank you!

OK, let’s get cooking.

Now, I’ve got some notes and tips coming up below on how to make ground chicken and cannellini bean skillet. Just tryin’ to be helpful.

If you want to jump on down to the recipe, simply scroll right on through the rest of the text. The recipe card is near the bottom of the page, above the comments section.

Ingredient Notes

• Ground chicken: I prefer the regular ground chicken, about 90% lean, not ground chicken breast, for a bit more fat and flavor.
• Cannellini beans: These are tender and creamy and work great in this recipe. You could also use Great Northern beans if that’s what you have on hand.
• Diced tomatoes: The fire-roasted diced tomatoes give this dish some extra oomph, but regular diced or petite diced tomatoes would be fine to use, too.
• Spinach: I like the extra greens and veggies from the spinach, but you could skip this if you’re not a fan. Or if you want to add an extra veggie or swap out the spinach, I think zucchini would be great here. Chop it up and sauté it along with the onion.
• Spicy: If you want a little kick, you could add ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes with the other seasonings. You could also serve this with hot sauce. (I do.)

This is super simple to put together, too. You basically just keep layering ingredients in the pan.

You start with sautéing the onion, then add the garlic. Next add the ground chicken and cook it through. Then comes the seasonings, followed by the beans and tomatoes.

And lastly, the spinach gets mixed in to wilt down before adding the cheeses and serving it up.

One tip: Between the ground chicken and the tomatoes and the spinach, you might have some extra liquid in your pan.

I just use my serving utensil to scoop the chicken and bean mixture out of the pan when serving and leave any excess liquid in the pan. 

Speaking of serving, this is a fairly low-carb meal as is.

You can also serve it over rice or another grain to make it a more hearty meal.

Or serve it with a hunk of some crusty bakery bread. Yum!

This is a weeknight winner for sure!

Last thing, let’s talk about the leftovers. Because they keep great!

Leftovers of this ground chicken skillet, once cooled, can be kept in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat in a skillet on the stove or in a bowl in the microwave.

I hope you give this a try for a new easy ground chicken recipe that will have the whole family digging in.

(Oh, and if you do, leave me a comment below or tag me on Instagram; I love seeing your creations!)

Enjoy!

XO,

Kathryn