One-Pan Chicken Divan With Rice

Chicken Divan is a French-American creation first served in the early 20th century. Like many French dishes, healthy chicken and broccoli was paired with a not so healthy high saturated fat Mornay sauce made with cheese and egg yokes. You may wonder why the French can eat rich sauces and not have health issues like high cholesterol and heart disease that plague Americans. The answer is simple. Portion size. In the United States, virtually every food is supersize. Instead of eating a small portion of Fettuccine Alfredo or Chicken Divan, Americans make it their entree. As a result Americans eat 3, 4, or more Italian or French portions. Look at the American Hamburger. The recommended serving for beef is 4 ounces (113 g); one-quarter pound. What do many Americans eat on a regular basis? One-third, one-half, and even three-quarter pound hamburgers.

This One-Pan Chicken Divan allows you to eat a healthy portion (about 12 ounces) by using a milk and broth based sauce allowing you to make this recipe using only one pan. Rice is added for an entree that combines meat, vegetables, dairy, and grain. The rice cooks in the sauce that is then thickens with a little cornstarch.

Traditional Chicken Divan requires cooking and baking, this simplified recipe goes from stove to table in one pan. It has the ease of boxed and frozen one-pan entrees without preservatives and other chemical ingredients.

Nutrition Information

While this Chicken Divan recipe is low on fiber (3 grams), it provides 32 grams of protein per serving; about 3 times the protein in many protein bars for a fraction of the calories. Each 12 ounce serving has only 7 grams of saturated fat.

The serving of Chicken Divan and salad pictured above has:

• 625 calories
• 7 grams saturated fat
• 5 grams fiber
• 32 grams of protein

You get almost 17 ounces (490 g) of food for only 625 calories.

Substitutions

Want to save even more calories? You can cut up to 100 calories by making the following two substitutions:

• Replace whole fat evaporated milk with 2% evaporated milk
• Replace full-fat cheese with reduced calorie cheese

Cook’s Tip

• For firmer, greener broccoli, add frozen midway or towards the end of the rice cooking time in Step 2.
• When using fresh broccoli, add midway or towards the end of the rice cooking time in Step 2 depending on your how firm or soft you like your broccoli.
• Broccoli sweetness increases with cooking time.

Ingredients

• 12-oz. (340 g) fresh or frozen broccoli, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
• 1/2 (120 g) onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 tsp (1.25 ml) dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) kosher salt or to taste
• Fresh ground black pepper to taste
• Red pepper flakes to taste, optional
• 3/4 cup (150 g) long grain white rice, converted preferred
• 2 cups (480 ml) low sodium chicken broth
• 12-oz. (354 g) canned evaporated milk
• 1 cup (120 g) fresh or frozen peas
• 1 small to medium tomato, diced
• 1.5 teaspoons (7.5 ml) cornstarch
• 2 tablespoon (30 ml) cold water to dissolve cornstarch
• 1 lb. (450 g) boneless, skinless, chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) Dijon mustard or brown mustard
• 4-oz. (115 g) Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Method of Preparation