Description
Cheesy Chicken Pasta is the ultimate comfort meal, featuring tender chicken and perfectly cooked pasta shells in a velvety tomato cream sauce. Top with an extra sprinkle of cheese, then curl up with a bowl of this pasta and let your worries melt away.
Ingredients
Pasta:
- 250g pasta, uncooked (around 8oz)
Sauce:
- 2 tbsps oil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 275g chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces (around 9.6 oz)
- 1/2 tsp salt (adjust to your taste)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- 2 tbsps tomato paste
- 1 tsp chilli sauce/sriracha
- 130ml milk (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp)
- 110ml double cream (1/4 cup + 3 tbsps)
- 100g mozzarella cheese + extra to sprinkle on top (1 cup + extra)
- 100–120ml pasta water (around 1/2 cup)
Instructions
- Boil Pasta: Add pasta to a pot with some cold water, salt, and a little bit of oil. Cook pasta until al dente – it should be slightly firm and not overly cooked so that it doesn’t become too soft once cooked in the sauce.
- Cook Garlic: In a pan, warm up some oil, then add fresh, minced garlic. Cook this over medium heat for around 1 minute or until the garlic becomes a light golden color.
- Cook Chicken: Add the bite-sized pieces of chicken to the pan. Cook these over medium-high heat, stirring as you cook, for around 3-4 minutes or until the chicken turns a white color.
- Seasonings: Add salt, black pepper, red chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, onion powder, and oregano and mix this into the chicken.
- Add Tomato Paste: Add a little bit of sriracha and the tomato paste and cook this in over medium-high heat for about 1 minute.
- Making the Sauce: Gradually add milk and cream and stir this in. Cook at medium-high heat while continuously stirring for about 1 minute or until the mixture starts bubbling.
- Add Cheese: Add your choice of cheese and gently mix it in until the cheese has melted and has fully incorporated into the sauce.
- Add Pasta Water: Gradually add leftover pasta water and mix it into the sauce. Then, bring the mixture to a boil and keep stirring as you bring it to a boil – this took me about 1.5 minutes.
- Add Pasta: At this point, your sauce should be quite thick and creamy. Add your cooked pasta and coat it fully with the sauce. Add a final sprinkle of cheese to the top, then cover with a lid and let the pasta cook over low heat until the cheese is melted.
- Serve, and let’s eat!
Notes
- Make sure to adjust the salt to your taste. There will be salt from the pasta water as well as the cheese in the sauce, so you don’t want to add too much extra salt.
- I added 1/2 a cup of the pasta water, but if you feel it needs more, feel free to do that. Add enough until the sauce reaches your desired consistency.
- If you don’t have oregano, you can swap it for Italian seasoning or any kind of mixed herbs.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
