This is a rich, deeply-flavoured family chicken dish. Funnyman and I love spicy food so I added a whopping half tablespoon of ground cayenne pepper which added a satisfying ‘kick’, but you can omit it if you are cooking this for kids, or reduce the amount for the those who don’t like spicy food. This creamy chicken dish can be enjoyed over Cauliflower Mash, Cauliflower Rice or shirataki / konjac noodles… It’s absolutely delicious!
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Carbs 4.9g | Fat 58g | Protein 52g
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DID YOU KNOW that I am also the author of two cookbooks! My first book KETO KITCHEN (published by Kyle Books London, 2020) is available worldwide and has consistently remained one of the best-selling low carb cookbooks in the UK. My second book LAZY KETO KITCHEN (2021) is coming out this summer, and is now available to pre-order.
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“I want you to achieve the best outcome with all the recipes on Fats of Life. If you haven’t already done so, please read the RECIPE SUCCESS page which is packed with handy tips and advice. Happy Cooking, everyone!” – Monya
Spicy Low-carb Zuppa Toscana
Per serving
Ingredients
- 1 TB lard
- 6 large chicken thighs
- salt
- 175 g (6.2 oz) streaky smoked bacon, diced
- 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 100 g (3.5 oz) Cabanossi sausage, chopped
- 1/2 TB cayenne pepper
- 250 g (8.8 oz) chicken stock
- 100 g (3.5 oz) baby spinach
- 50 g (1.8 oz) sour cream
- 150 g (5.3 oz) double cream
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- chopped parsley, to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan oven). This is 220°C for conventional ovens (or 425°F / gas mark 7).
- Have all your ingredients prepped and ready. In professional kitchens, we call this mis-en-place, and its a good habit to get into to become a stress-free cook. Lightly season both sides of all the chicken thighs with salt.
- Mis-en-place also forces you to pay attention to weighing / measuring your ingredients to stick to your macros.
- Using a large non-stick pan, (that can be used both on the stove top AND inside the oven) heat the lard. Once hot, fry the chicken pieces skin-side down over high heat until the skins are golden and crispy.
- Turn over and cook the underside for one minute. Remove the chicken using tongs and set aside, skin-side up.
- There will be plenty of rendered fat remaining in the pan, so you need not add any more. Add the bacon to the pan and cook over moderate heat until they have cooked through. Add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions have softened completely. Stir regularly to avoid the garlic burning.
- Add the chopped Cabanossi sausage and cayenne pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring continuously.
- Pour in the warm chicken stock and add the spinach. Stir well until the spinach wilts into the mixture.
- Return the chicken pieces to the pan and simmer for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, remove the chicken pieces again and stir in the sour cream and double cream.
- Place the chicken pieces back into the creamy mix and bake in the oven for approximately 18-20 minutes. This will be enough time to cook the chicken through, reduce the sauce a little and crisp the chicken skin further. (A meat thermometer probe is useful here, remove from the oven when the internal temperature reads 72°C / 163°F in the thickest part of the chicken.)
- Serve as is, or over Cauliflower Mash, Cauliflower Rice or shirataki / konjac noodles.












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Calories 751Kcal / 3142kJ
Fat 58g
Carbohydrates 4.9g
Protein 52g
Allergens
Milk
Eggs (may be found in some brands of sour cream - check label)
See all the Poultry recipes on Fats of Life:






Disclaimer: The nutritional analysis, macro and allergen breakdown of the recipes on this site have been manually and carefully calculated using the cloud-based software NUTRITICS®. NUTRITICS® is fully approved by the relevant Trading Standards organizations and is EU and FDA-compliant. The macro calculations are provided as a courtesy to you based on the author's weighing of ingredients when creating the dishes. If Erythritol (a sugar polyol) has been used in any of the recipes, it has already been manually excluded from the final carbohydrate count. The author is a chef - not a medical professional - and this website has been designed to provide you with recipe ideas to suit the low carb lifestyle you have discussed with your GP.
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1 Comment
Drop me a line if you have any questions or comments about this recipe. I will do my best to reply as soon as possible! Monya xxx