Chicken Thyme with Asparagus Couscous
plus Tomato Cream Sauce & Lemon
- Wheat
- Milk
This dish will quickly become one of your go-to faves, while also walking you through the basics of a game-changing pan sauce (it’s all about the sauce!). Pan-seared chicken seasoned with thyme is served on a springy bed of lemon couscous loaded with garlicky sautéed zucchini and scallions. Top with a buttery tomato-cream pan sauce and a squeeze of fresh lemon for bright, juicy contrast. What time is it? Dinner thyme!
Ingredients
1 unit
Zucchini
2 clove
Garlic
1 unit
Tomato
2 unit
Scallions
1 unit
Lemon
2.5 ounce
Israeli Couscous
(Contains: Wheat)
10 ounce
Chicken Cutlets
1 teaspoon
Dried Thyme
2 unit
Chicken Stock Concentrate
2 tablespoon
Cream Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
6 ounce
Asparagus
Not included in your delivery
Salt
Pepper
Cooking Oil
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Wash and dry produce. • Trim and dice zucchini into 1⁄4-inch pieces. Peel and finely chop garlic. Finely dice tomato. Trim and thinly slice scallions, separating whites from greens. Zest and quarter lemon.
Trim and discard woody bottom ends from asparagus; cut stalks crosswise into 1-inch pieces. (Save zucchini for another use.)
• Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add zucchini; season with half the garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until browned and tender, 4-7 minutes. • Turn off heat. Transfer to a plate; cover with foil to keep warm. Wipe out pan.
Swap in asparagus for zucchini. Cook until lightly browned and tender, 3-5 minutes.
• While zucchini cooks, melt 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4 servings) in a small pot over medium-high heat. Add couscous and remaining garlic; cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. • Stir in 3⁄4 cup water (11⁄2 cups for 4) and a big pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a low simmer. Cook until couscous is tender, 6-8 minutes. • Drain any excess water if necessary. Keep covered off heat until ready to use in Step 6.
• Pat chicken* dry with paper towels; season all over with thyme, salt, and pepper. • Heat a drizzle of oil in pan used for zucchini over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until browned and cooked through, 4-6 minutes per side. • Turn off heat. Transfer chicken to a cutting board; tent with foil to keep warm. Let pan cool for 1-2 minutes.
• Melt 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4 servings) in same pan over medium heat. Add tomato and scallion whites; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, 2-3 minutes. • Stir in stock concentrates and 1⁄4 cup water (1/3 cup for 4). Cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced, 2-3 minutes. • Remove pan from heat. Whisk in cream cheese until melted and combined. Season with salt and pepper.
• Slice chicken crosswise. • To pot with couscous, stir in zucchini, scallion greens, and lemon zest. Stir in a squeeze of lemon juice to taste. Season with salt and pepper to taste. • Divide zucchini couscous between plates. Top with chicken; drizzle with tomato cream sauce. Serve with remaining lemon wedges on the side.
*Chicken is fully cooked when internal temperature reaches 165°.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the dish, praising the tasty sauce and blend of flavors. Some found the lemon especially delightful 🍋.
- Ease of prep: Generally easy to prepare, though a few noted it took longer than expected.
- Suggestions: Consider adding more garlic for extra flavor. Some enjoyed red pepper flakes with the green beans.
- Portions: Several wanted more vegetables; others felt there was too much couscous.
- Leftovers: The sauce and dish overall tasted even better the next day, according to some reviewers.
Reviews from our home cooks
Since I had the meal for a while without making it, the veggies had to be replaced because of that. I replaced the green beans with asparagus, but did everything else the same. I was iffy about the tomatoes mixed with cream cheese, but this was really good. YUM!!
Always add more garlic. I used an entire head for 4 servings and the family was super happy. The veg and chicken keep just fine on top of the couscous while cooking the sauce up, so you can easily use fewer dishes.
Great flavor. Green beans and asparagus worked well together. Easy to prepare. Would have benefitted from more couscous.
The sauce was STRONG. It actually tasted better the next day. Maybe I received too many of the concentrated broth packets (there were 3). You no longer include the appropriate count of the ingredients you send so I didn't know if I had too many. The sauce was strong and salty. BUT in the end it was pretty good, especially the leftovers the next day.
Added garlic powder to chicken and red pepper flakes to green beans. Also added 1/4 cup water to cooking chicken to reduce and make a sort of extra sauce. Delish
I'm not a fan of zucchini, so I left it out. That said, the rest of the meal was great and very tasty!
This is one of my favorite recipes on HF and I'll get it nearly every time it's available. So easy and so delicious!
Great combo of flavors. As always, the tomato was unusable, practically plastic in flavor and texture. We had to get one to substitute.
Excellent. Everything about taste with flavor very good. Just took a bit to put together but worth it. Love it, best one so far, gonna be tough to beat that one.
Sauce is awesome! I saved the extras to use the next day on rice.
