Easy Creamy Chicken and Garlic Pasta

Easy Creamy Chicken and Garlic Pasta 

Easy Creamy Chicken and Garlic Pasta is a favorite chicken recipe in my household. My husband, Nathan, and I both absolutely love it. It quickly became a favorite, because it is a quick and easy meal that we can make together, even when we feel too tired to actually cook food. 

I love simple meals that seem complicated when they really are not. Somehow it makes me feel more accomplished when I serve an amazing meal that feels like it should have taken an hour or two, and it actually took me thirty minutes. 

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Have you tried making this Easy Creamy Chicken and Garlic Pasta? Come on in and let me tell you about it! 

Easy Creamy Chicken and Garlic Pasta Ingredients 

Chicken, 1 large breast

Farfalle Pasta, ½ a 14-16 ounce box, approximately 

Olive Oil, 1 tablespoon 

Butter, 4 tablespoons, divided into 1 tablespoon portions

Garlic, minced, 3 cloves 

Onion, ½ a medium one, finely diced 

Spinach, 10 ounce bag, fresh 

Mushrooms, 14 ounces, sliced 

Chicken Broth, ½ cup 

Parmesan Cheese, ½ cup, fresh grated 

Heavy Cream, ¾ cup 

Red Pepper Flakes, 1 teaspoon 

Lemon, ½ a medium one, juiced 

Salt and Pepper, to taste 

Paprika, 1 teaspoon 

Chicken Seasoning, 1 teaspoon, make your own with this recipe 

Easy Creamy Chicken and Garlic Pasta Directions 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Season the chicken with salt, pepper, chicken seasoning, and paprika. I love to do paprika last, because it helps create this amazing crust on the outside of the chicken and it is delicious. 

In a frying pan over medium high heat, add in the olive oil. Then sear the chicken hard on both sides until it develops a nice reddish brown crust. This should take about 2-3 minutes per side. Then add in a little bit of lemon juice to deglaze the pan and season the chicken some more. One thin slice of lemon squeezed should be perfect. 

Put the chicken in the oven to finish cooking. Depending on the size of your chicken breast, it will take anywhere from 10-20 minutes. Just make sure the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees, measured with a meat thermometer. You may also want to cook more than one chicken breast, depending on how big they are. When I made this recipe, the chicken breasts were huge, and I only needed one. 

In another large skillet or frying pan, add in a tablespoon of butter and heat over medium high heat. Saute the onions until translucent and starting to get brown. This should take about 3 minutes. Remove them from the pan and transfer to a plate or platter for now. 

Add another tablespoon of butter into the pan to heat. Saute the mushrooms until they start to brown as well. Again, about 3 minutes over medium-high heat. Remove from the pan and transfer to the plate or platter as well. 

Now it is time for the spinach. Do the same thing, heat the butter up and cook the spinach until it is just wilted. I like to add some salt and pepper here. When you transfer the spinach, there will be a lot of moisture in it. I like to rest mine on a paper towel to absorb that so it doesn’t turn my sauce watery. By covering it, that also allows it to stay hot while it is resting. 

Add in the last tablespoon of butter and cook the minced garlic until it starts to brown. This takes less than a minute, and it can burn very quickly. Have your chicken broth ready to deglaze the pan so you can avoid this. 

Add in the lemon juice here. Then add in the heavy cream, and season with salt and pepper to your liking. Reduce the heat once the sauce is bubbling to medium-low and let it gently and slowly reduce until it is the consistency that you want. 

In a separate pan, boil salted water, and cook the pasta according to the package directions. Mine said to boil for 11 minutes. 

Once the pasta is done, drain it and then add it into the sauce, along with the parmesan cheese. 

Once the chicken is out of the oven and has some time to rest, cut it into bite size slices or cubes, depending on your preference. 

Add the chicken, mushrooms, onions, and spinach back into the sauce and allow it to heat up gently together. Sprinkle with more parmesan cheese and the red pepper flakes as you stir it all together. Feel free to season with some more pepper and lemon juice if necessary. 

Serve this alone, as it is a pretty balanced dish, or add a side salad for freshness, and some bread to go with it for a full meal. 

Recipe Notes 

I cooked each ingredient separately, although it seems like extra work, but it goes quickly. This works perfectly for this recipe because none of the ingredients will lose their specific taste from their water content. This helps to keep the Easy Creamy Chicken and Garlic Pasta from becoming soupy and tasteless. 

If you have excess water or even butter from the cooking on the plate or platter after you’ve put the onions and mushrooms on it, you can use a paper towel to clean that up and absorb it so it doesn’t end up back in your sauce to dilute the flavor. 

Don’t skimp on the lemon juice or the red pepper flakes. They aren’t required, but they really do help to balance the pasta sauce out and keep it from being too heavy. 

Store this Easy Creamy Chicken and Garlic Pasta in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days. When reheating in the microwave, add in a splash of heavy cream or water to loosen the sauce up and help it reheat evenly. I go for 1 minute, stir, add another minute, and check halfway through the second minute. 

Why I Love This Recipe 

This recipe seems super complicated, but it isn’t. It is easy, and especially easy if you have everything ready and measured out ahead of time. Organization will serve you very well with this recipe, because everything is ready and waiting on you. Just start going through the steps and putting it all together. 

Because it is so simple, it doesn’t take long to make, maybe 30 minutes. Which is amazing for a busy weeknight and I’m already exhausted but don’t want to spend the money on pizza or takeout. 

The lemon and red pepper flakes really balance this pasta dish out, and I think it is absolutely necessary. Too many times pasta feels like such a heavy, rich, and food coma-inducing type of meal. But this one is actually refreshing, and the balance of adding in red pepper flakes and lemon is a huge part of that. 

This is a meal that anyone of any skill level can make. Seriously, even if you don’t think you can, you absolutely can! Start with measuring everything out, prepping the veggies, and go through the steps from there. You can totally make this Easy Creamy Chicken and Garlic Pasta recipe and feed your family an amazing and delicious meal without breaking the bank or taking up a ton of time. 

Make it Vegetarian 

You can make this Easy Creamy Chicken and Garlic Pasta vegetarian (not vegan) pretty easily. Simply omit the chicken and substitute the chicken broth for vegetable broth. 

It is hearty enough that you may not miss the meat in the dish, especially with the mushrooms, as they mimic the texture of meat. 

It would take a lot more work to make it vegan, and I simply haven’t explored that option with this recipe yet, so I have no real or useful advice on how to do that. But I may explore the idea later on. 

Discussion 

Have you tried making this Easy Creamy Chicken and Garlic Pasta? Did you change anything? Are you a fan? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! 

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