When told a meal is good for your gut, you’d be forgiven for assuming it’s full of live bacteria – the kind you’d find in yogurt and other fermented foods. However, maintaining good gut health doesn’t just mean quaffing kombucha and scoffing sauerkraut. You’ll do the healthy bacteria in your gut the world of good by eating enough fibre and getting that fibre from diverse sources.
To that end, try this chicken schnitzel and salad recipe, one of many high-fibre meals created by Dr Joan Ransley for Love Your Gut Week, which in 2020 runs from 21st to 27th September. It’s full of fibre and also benefits the gut in other ways, while being pretty darn healthy all round, partly because you bake rather than fry the schnitzel.
Green lentils contain fibre and galacto-oligosaccharides, which act in concert to promote the growth of good bacteria in your large intestine. Also included is fennel, which again contains fibre as well as fructo-oligosaccharides, which nourish healthy bacteria to help them thrive in your gut.
That all sounds good right? And it only takes 45 minutes to prep and cook the dish. Enjoy.
Ingredients (Serves Four)
- 4 125g skinned chicken breasts
- 2tbsp olive oil
- 100g wholemeal bread, crusts removed
- Small bunch of parsley
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 lemon
- 1 medium free range egg, lightly beaten
For the salad:
- 1 small crisp lettuce, leaves torn into small pieces
- 1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced
- 10 radishes, thinly sliced
- 100g canned green lentils, drained and rinsed
- 1tbsp virgin olive oil
See related
- This High-Fibre Meal Plan Is About As Healthy As It Gets
- Try This Miso Aubergine Recipe From The Gut Doctor’s Eat Yourself Healthy Book
- 5 Gut Health Myths, According To The Gut Health Doctor
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6
- Using a chopping board designated for raw meat, take one chicken breast at a time, cover with a piece of baking paper and then use a rolling pin to beat the chicken until it is about 1.5cm thick all over. Place the chicken breasts on a lightly oiled baking tray.
- Tear up the bread and place in a food processor with the parsley and garlic. Process for 30 seconds or until the bread has formed breadcrumbs and the parsley and garlic are finely chopped. Empty the breadcrumbs into a bowl. Cut the lemon in half lengthways. Zest one half of the lemon and add it to the breadcrumbs. Add the egg and mix well. Press the breadcrumbs on the chicken breasts to form a coating. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil.
- Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 15 minutes or until the breadcrumbs are golden brown. To check the chicken is cooked, cut through a piece to check there is no pink showing and the flesh is tender.
- Meanwhile, prepare the salad. Place the torn lettuce pieces, sliced fennel and radishes in a serving bowl. Scatter in the green lentils. Add the olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice and toss the ingredients together. Serve on the side with the baked breaded chicken breasts.
