This recipe for Yellow Squash Chicken Alfredo is a fun twist on a classic dish, and it’s a fantastic way to use up that fresh summer squash growing in the garden to make a healthier, gluten free meal!
One of my favorite things about the summertime is the abundance of fresh produce. Whether you’re growing it in your own home garden or you’re picking it up at a local farmer’s market or grocery store, there are so many fruits and vegetables that are in season that bring beautiful color and freshness to meals during this time of year. As I’ve shared before, my husband and I are growing a small garden with squash, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, kale, and a few fresh herbs. Originally when I planted everything, I thought I might be planting too much and we’d be dealing with more squash than we knew what to do with. Flash forward to the present, and we’re currently dealing with what I can only imagine to be a pollination issue. Unfortunately, we’ve got all blooms and very little fruit producing.
It’s instances like this that I’m so thankful to live in the small close-knit community that I do. I’ve had friends sharing their bumper crops of squash and zucchini without any hesitation at all, so I’m still able to whip up my favorite dishes and continue to share the best ones with you all!
While this method of preparing squash may be a little bit unconventional, it’s definitely one of my favorite ways to eat it. I’ve been making zucchini noodles or “zoodles” for years with a spiralizer, but it wasn’t until recently that I used my spiralizer to make noddles with yellow squash. It’s easy to do, lower carb than traditional pasta and is also a great gluten free way to enjoy pasta again if you have a gluten intolerance!
Here are my top kitchen picks for making this recipe for Yellow Squash Chicken Alfredo come to life:
You’ll absolutely want to have a good spiralizer on hand. My spiralizer is a workhorse during the summer months in my kitchen. To spiralize squash or zucchini, simply cut off each end of the vegetable and place it in the spiralizer. Make sure the “thick spiral” blade is inserted before using. Turn the handle to spin the vegetable against the blade and voila! You have instant squash noodles ready to be cooked!
Squash noodles have a very short cook time before they’re done For this recipe I simply whipped up a quick alfredo sauce and let the squash noodles simmer in it for 3-4 minutes until they were fork tender. They should still have a little bit of a “snap” left to them and not be mushy. When the squash noodles are simmering in the sauce, the sauce will grow to be a little bit thinner because of the water content in the squash. This is completely normal, and any additional alfredo sauce that doesn’t stick to the noodles when plating can be poured over top the noodles if desired.
While my noodles were simmering, I placed some chicken breast tenders that had been marinating onto my trusty grill pan. If you don’t have a grill pan in your kitchen, I highly recommend getting one! I love to fire up the outdoor grill as much as the next person, but there are times where it just isn’t feasible. Heating up a stove top grill pan just takes seconds to do, and within just a few minutes your meat has beautiful grill marks, just like it came off the outdoor grill! I personally use the Copper Chef Grill Pan, but there are many other great options on the market, too!
The marinade I use on this chicken is one of my all time favorite marinades. The chicken is perfectly juicy and the flavors are great. The chicken is the perfect addition to the squash noodles to make this dish feel like traditional chicken alfredo!
Here’s a copy of the recipe if you’d like to give it a try:
Yellow Squash Chicken Alfredo
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breast tenders
- 2 small-medium yellow squash washed thoroughly
Marinade
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 Tbs lemon juice
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch pepper
- 1 tsp parsley flakes
Alfredo Sauce
- 1 Tbs butter
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Combine marinade ingredients in a large bowl and place chicken tenders in bowl, stirring gently to coat
- Allow chicken to marinate for 20-30 minutes
- Cut off each end of the squash after washing thoroughly.
- Using a spiralizer, spiralize 1 medium sized squash - you should spiralize enough to yield about 2 cups worth
- Heat grill pan on medium heat and lightly coat with a little olive oil
- Place chicken tenders on grill and cook on each side for 3-4 minutes, depending on size of tenders, once cooked set aside on paper towel lined plate
- While the chicken is cooking, add butter and garlic to medium sauce pan and heat until melted and aromatic, stirring occasionally
- Add in heavy cream and Parmesan cheese and cook on medium-low heat until cheese is melted and sauce thickens
- Add squash noodles directly into sauce and cook for roughly 3 minutes, or until noodles reach your desired consistency
- Sauce will thin out slightly because of the water content in the squash - this is normal
- Once noodles are done (should be fork tender) transfer to a plate or bowl using tongs and top with additional shredded Parmesan cheese, grilled chicken and fresh basil
- Enjoy!
Tried this recipe?
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Have you ever spiralized squash or zucchini before? Once you do, you’re able to recreate just about any traditional pasta dish you can think of with the zoodles or squash noodles! You can even enjoy them sauteed with just a little bit of salt and butter, too!
If you like this recipe, be sure to check out these other great recipes found right here on Southern Made Simple!
Squash Hush Puppies | Squash Fritters | Squash & Zucchini Stuffing Casserole | Squash & Onions | Yellow Squash Lemon Poppy Seed Bread
You can also freeze yellow squash to preserve it if you have a bumper crop this year!
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