Plant-Based Tuscan Chicken with Rice
Cherry tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes in the same pan. Two concentrations of the same fruit — one fresh and juicy, one caramelized into chewy strips — building a Tuscan sauce with garlic, Italian seasoning, and coconut milk. 140 grams of spinach goes in at the end and wilts into the sauce in about thirty seconds.
Plant-based chicken strips warm through while the sauce thickens around them. Brown rice underneath catches everything. 776 kcal, 32g protein, 16g fiber, and twenty minutes of actual work.
Ingredients
- brown rice 3 ounces
- onion 0.5
- garlic 1 clove
- cherry tomatoes 8
- sun-dried tomatoes 3
- olive oil 1 tablespoon
- chicken strips, plant-based 3 ounces
- Italian seasoning 1 teaspoon
- oregano, dried 1 teaspoon
- paprika (ground spice) 0.5 teaspoon
- coconut milk 3 fluid ounces
- water 3 fluid ounces
- spinach 5 ounces
Method
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Cook the rice according to the instructions on the package until done.
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Finely chop the onion and press the garlic clove. Halve the cherry tomatoes. Cut the sun-dried tomatoes into thin strips.
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Heat the oil in a pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the Italian seasoning, oregano and paprika powder. Add the cherry tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes and cook for another minute. Pour in the coconut milk along with the water, stir, and let simmer over low heat until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
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Add the plant-based chicken to the sauce and cook for 2-3 minutes until heated through.
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Stir the spinach into the sauce until it wilts. Season the dish with some pepper and salt.
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Serve the rice with the Tuscan plant-based chicken dish.
Add the spinach after everything else is done. It needs about thirty seconds in the hot sauce to wilt, and any longer turns it soft and watery. If the coconut milk sauce looks too thin before the spinach goes in, let it simmer another minute or two with the lid off.
Researchers at Linköping University tested 14 dairy and plant-based milks for their ability to liberate lutein from spinach. Coconut milk was the only plant-based milk that significantly improved it — by 42% compared to water. Oat milk and almond milk had no effect. Soymilk reduced it by 40–61%. The adjustment models suggested coconut milk’s benefit came primarily from its protein content, not its fat.
Linköping University, Sweden · DOIBehind this recipe
Is plant-based chicken a good protein source?
This plate delivers 32g of protein from the plant-based chicken strips, brown rice, and spinach combined. A meta-analysis of controlled studies found that plant-based protein produced comparable muscle protein synthesis to animal protein when total intake was matched.
Read the full evidence reviewWhy coconut milk instead of another plant-based milk?
Researchers at Linköping University tested 14 milks for their effect on lutein liberation from spinach. Coconut milk was the only plant-based option that improved it, by 42% compared to water. Oat milk and almond milk had no measurable effect. Soymilk reduced it by 40–61%. The adjustment models suggested coconut milk’s benefit came primarily from its protein content, not its fat.
Is 38 grams of fat too much for one meal?
Depends on your daily target. In a 2000 kcal day, 38g of fat accounts for roughly a third of a typical fat budget. The fat here comes from olive oil and coconut milk. A pooled analysis of over 57,000 people found that dietary fat itself does not uniquely drive fat gain — the mechanism is calorie displacement, not metabolic magic.
Read the full evidence reviewWhere does the 16 grams of fiber come from?
Mostly from the brown rice and spinach, with smaller contributions from the tomatoes. That is roughly a third of the daily recommended intake in a single plate. A meta-analysis of 62 pooled trials found that higher fiber intake was independently associated with improved fat-loss outcomes.
Read the full evidence review
