Comforting Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta made entirely in one pot! This easy, creamy pasta dish boasts big Italian flavors, tender chicken and is perfect for a quick 30 minute delicious weeknight dinner.
Pasta, my go-to comfort food. It’s is a staple in my house because of how versatile it is! Whether it’s spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, or this creamy Tuscan chicken pasta, I’m all about it. This pasta recipe consists of penne noodles, tender chicken seasoned to perfection, baby spinach, and sundried tomatoes, all swimming in a luscious creamy sauce. Made in 30 minutes, entirely in one pot, this easy chicken pasta is perfect for dinner any night of the week!
Why Make This Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta
- Easy To Make
- Ready in 30 Minutes
- Simple Ingredient List
- Delicious Italian Comfort Food
- Made In One Pot
There’s nothing I love more than a simple, one pot pasta! You know I’m all about quick, easy and delicious comfort food, this dish checks all those boxes. Minimal prep, minimal cleanup (only one pot, remember) and in just 30 minutes, you have a comforting Italian dinner, ready to serve!
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken – I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts. See “FAQs & Expert Tips” for substitutions.
- Seasoning – Italian seasoning, salt & pepper.
- Olive Oil – Substitute sunflower, safflower or avocado oil.
- Butter – I always use unsalted butter to control the sodium content of the dish.
- Garlic – Fresh is best! Minced.
- Sun-dried Tomatoes – Drained, roughly chopped.
- Cream – I used heavy cream to make it extra creamy. See “tips” on healthier substitutions.
- Milk – Dairy or non dairy.
- Cheese – Parmesan cheese, freshly grated.
- Pasta – Penne or macaroni noodles work best!
- Spinach – Baby spinach. Use as much or as little as your prefer!
How To Make Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta
- Season Chicken: Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Cook Chicken: Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or braiser over medium-high heat. Add the chicken breasts and and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes per side until browned. When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the skillet. Cut the chicken in 1 inch pieces. Set aside.
- Make Sauce: Add the butter to the pot and melt over medium heat. Add the garlic, sun dried tomatoes, Italian seasoning to the pot and saute until aromatic.
- Cook: Add the heavy cream, milk, Parmesan cheese, penne and stir. Cook for 10 minutes or until the pasta is al dente.
- Finish: Add the chicken back to the pot and the spinach and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes or until the chicken has warmed through and spinach has wilted.
- Serve: Serve warm.
FAQs
Absolutely not! You can substitute with chicken thighs. Keep in mind, the cook time may vary.
I prefer thicker, creamy dishes with small shaped noodles that hold the sauce. Other than penne, some great small-shaped pasta options are rotini, farfalle, shells, macaroni, rigatoni, fusilli, and mafalda. The perfect vessels for carrying your silky sauce! You can use long shapes if you like, of course. Linguini, fettuccine, spaghetti, spaghettini; anything you like. It will all taste wonderful!
I definitely wouldn’t go too overboard as far as additions for this dish, but some great options would be mushrooms, kale peas, red chili flakes or parsley!
Serve this creamy pasta dish as is, or pair it with a nice side salad or crunchy bread to soak up that delicious cream sauce!
Tips
- Adding any assortment of extra vegetables; mushrooms, kale, butternut squash, or even more spinach is easily going to make this dish healthier and give you any extra nutrients you might be looking for!
- You don’t need to use heavy cream. You can substitute coconut cream or a lower fat content cream/milk in order to lessen the fat percentage in this dish. Keep in mind, if you use just milk, it’s not going to be as thick and creamy!
Storing Leftovers
Stored in a sealed airtight container this creamy Tuscan chicken pasta will last in the fridge for 3 – 4 days.
Freezing
You can also freeze this dish for future meals! It will last up to 6 months stored in an airtight container. Keep in mind, after cooked pasta freezes and thaws, it will become a bit softer in texture.
Let the pasta thaw overnight in the fridge to make reheating easier and reduce the risk of breaking the pasta. If you find the sauce has separated a bit after thawing, reheating and stirring will bring it back together.
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Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken breasts boneless and skinless
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper freshly ground
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter unsalted
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes drained, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated
- 8 ounce penne or macaroni, uncooked
- 3 cups baby spinach
Instructions
- Cook Chicken: Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or braiser over medium-high heat. Add the chicken breasts and and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes per side until browned. When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the skillet. Cut the chicken in 1 inch pieces. Set aside.
- Make Sauce: Add the butter to the pot and melt over medium heat. Add the garlic, sun dried tomatoes, Italian seasoning to the pot and saute until aromatic.
- Cook: Add the heavy cream, milk, Parmesan cheese, penne and stir. Cook for 10 minutes or until the pasta is al dente, stirring occasionally.
- Finish: Add the chicken back to the pot and the spinach and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes or until the chicken has warmed through and spinach has wilted.
- Serve: Serve warm.
Video
Tips & Notes:
- Adding any assortment of extra vegetables; mushrooms, kale, butternut squash, or even more spinach is easily going to make this dish healthier and give you any extra nutrients you might be looking for!
- You don’t need to use heavy cream. You can substitute coconut cream or a lower fat content cream/milk in order to lessen the fat percentage in this dish. Keep in mind, if you use just milk, it’s not going to be as thick and creamy!
- Stored in a sealed airtight container this creamy Tuscan chicken pasta will last in the fridge for 3 – 4 days.
- You can also freeze this dish for future meals! It will last up to 6 months stored in an airtight container. Keep in mind, after cooked pasta freezes and thaws, it will become a bit softer in texture.
- Let the pasta thaw overnight in the fridge to make reheating easier and reduce the risk of breaking the pasta. If you find the sauce has separated a bit after thawing, reheating and stirring will bring it back together.
Tasty but nowhere near enough liquid to cook the pasta, as others have said. Needed probably another 2 cups liquid and an extra 10 mins. Next time would use cooked pasta. But there will be a next time.
Love this dish!!!!!! I did have to add more mike and heavy cream and cook the pasta longer.
My brother said it was better then Olive Garden😋
I loved this recipe! I made it vegan with Daring Plant based chicken and non-dairy butter, cream and parmesan. The pasta I used was slightly undercooked so next time I’ll double check before I take it off the heat.
This is a “keeper”. Some modes after making it twice for two of us:
– basically halved the recipe
– 8 oz Chicken
– added (*added*) another cup+ of milk
– would add more spinach
– took 20 min to get pasta (4.5oz) cooked)
But, that said, just delicious!!
The flavor was really nice, but I had to cook the pasta longer than 10 minutes. I ended up adding more time because it didn’t cook much the first time and had to add more milk and heavy cream. I would recommend cooking the pasta first and not in the sauce
Did anyone else cook the noodles separately before even starting this recipe?! Lol I’ve NEVER made a recipe with with u cooked noodles being thrown in towards the end. I wish there was a reminder or something at the top so I would have seen that, instead of finding out at the end lol
Well there are pictures and a video.
I cooked the penne noodles separately and just added then mixed them in when I added the spinach in.
This was exactly what I was searching for and it was wonderful!
Some notes / thoughts:
Details – calls for S&P. No reference in instructions. Used it to season chicken, then again the sauce.
Did the chicken (to 140), reserve, then ~3/4 C mushrooms, reserve. Deglaze with brandy, helping yourself too.
After that pretty much by the recipe except I set the timer (noodles, etc) for 8 min. then 10, three more, and another two. All the while adding milk to maintain the consistency. Probably added an extra 1/2 C milk. (GF noodles but that should make no diff).
All finished and served – brilliant! More time than expected and even more flavor than expected.
Ready to do a whole-family size serving.
This was a hit with my family of 7. With picky teenagers too!
It was a awesome meal to prepare and happy tummies!! I added two sausages from breakfast- yummy
Great flavors but there isn’t enough liquid to cook the pasta in the sauce. I would recommend cooking the pasta before adding it to the sauce.
In an effort to salvage my meal, I added appx. 2 cups of chicken broth and an extra half cup of heavy creamy to cook the pasta thoroughly.
How can a mere 8 oz of pasta possibly feed 6 people???
There are other ingredients in the dish, not just pasta, but the number of servings are just a suggestion, you can serve as many as you like.
Made this today using dairy free ingredients and it turned out pretty good! Subbed a non-dairy cream alternative and a non-dairy milk and it still thickened up well. Also I used leftover cooked shredded chicken and just warmed it up before throwing it in at the end. The only issue I had was getting the pasta cooked through- I ended up cooking off some of the cream in order to get the pasta al dente, so next time I’ll do the broth addition like previous commenters. But definitely would recommend this for a quick dinner idea!
Love this recipe. I’ve made a 3 times now, and the last 2 I used the oil from the sundries tomatoes instead of olive oil to cook the chicken. I also dice the chicken before cooking. Other than that, I’ve barely had any leftovers with 2 teens and a young child eating.
Flavors are fantastic. Just had trouble getting pasta to cook through. Had to add chicken stock to keep it going
I should have cooked the pasta first. I keep adding chicken stock. Let’s give it another 15 minutes and see what happens. Maybe this will be done before bedtime.
Made this for my husband and our friends and they absolutely loved it. At the whole pot! And now they say I have to make it more often.
So glad you guys liked it!
Awesome!!