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I’m always on the lookout for quick, easy and healthy things to feed to my family. One-pan dishes are great because they don’t dirty up a whole lot of dishes and they are usually pretty simple since everything goes into one pan. I love that I’m cleaned up with everything except the pan that I made it in and spoon before the dish is ready! This spicy chicken pasta is a current favorite for us (including my 8-year-old son!).
We eat a lot of chicken in our house. I mean we eat A LOT of it. We buy a family pack (the big rectangular one)of chicken once a week and go through the entire thing largely with just 3 people. We will mix in beef, shrimp or fish but chicken is typically our main protein with our meals. I’m usually looking for new ways to make chicken because the same old dishes get boring quickly when you’re eating chicken 4-5 times a week. I found the original recipe literally by Googling “something different with chicken”. This was a recipe that I had all of the ingredients for on hand so I thought I’d give it a try.
Spicy Chicken Pasta
This dish has a little bit more prep work in it than others. That’s ok for me because as soon as you dump it all in the pan at the end you are pretty much done. It simmers until its time to add the cheese.
Prep Work
First, gather all of the ingredients that you will need. You’ll need to chunk up the chicken, dice onions, chop tomatoes, measure out pasta, gather spices. and get your chicken stock, water, and lemon juice ready. For the chicken, I like no more than 1″ chunks. Any bigger and it gets too much of that “chicken” taste.
The only thing that I don’t do at this step is to grate my garlic. I use a microplane grater like this one. I’ve had it since 2014 and it’s still going strong. I grate it right into the pan when it’s time. It only takes me a few seconds so it’s easier to do that step on the fly.
Start Cooking
Next is to start cooking. With the pan on medium heat put a swirl of oil into the pan and cook your onions until soft. then add the garlic and cook for a minute or less, you’ll know it’s enough when it starts to get fragrant.
After your garlic is done add the chicken and cook until it’s no longer pink on the outside. It probably won’t be cooked through but that is ok because it will cook for enough time later on.
Next, add in the spices, tomatoes, chicken stock, lemon juice, water, and pasta. Turn the heat up to medium-high and simmer until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the pasta is cooked through.
Finally, turn the heat off and stir in the cheese until well combined.
And that’s it! You’ve got a super tasty healthy meal that’s perfect for the family. Feel free to adjust the spice to suit or admit the crushed red pepper if you’re feeding the dish to little ones. My 8-year-old loves this dish with the crushed red pepper. And it’s one of the few ways I can get him to eat chicken if it isn’t in nugget format.
A Word on Pasta
When I first started making this dish I used whole wheat penne or rotini, then we were using gluten-free small shape pasta. Our favorite way to have this dish happened by accident. You can see from the photos of when I was cooking this dish that there is spaghetti instead of the penne that I started with. I was out of the usual gluten-free pasta but I had half a box of whole wheat spaghetti. I broke the spaghetti into thirds and stirred that in and it’s AMAZING! Feel free to use whatever small shapes you like.
I hope you enjoy this super easy delicious meal. Thank you for taking the time to read through the whole post. Please consider subscribing to my newsletter for more great recipes, healthy living tips, and workouts.
Spicy Chicken Pasta - One Pan Dinner Idea
Ingredients
- 2 ea Boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" chunks
- 2 tbsp olive oil, extra virgin
- 1 small onion, diced, yellow, sweet, white
- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced, pressed, grated
- 8 oz small dry pasta
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
- 2 cups chicken broth or stock (can sub bullion in a pinch)
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp basil (I usually do 1 heaping teaspoon)
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp red pepper flake
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in the pan
- Add onion, stir and cook until soft and translucent (about 2-3 minutes)
- Stir in garlic and cook an additional minute (do not let the garlic brown, it will taste bitter)
- Add the chicken and cook until the outside is no longer pink
- Add the remaining ingredients except for the cheese and stir well. Turn the heat to medium-high, bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally until most of the liquid has been absorbed
- Stir in cheese until melted and serve
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Adapted from Yellow Bliss Road.
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I’m not a huge fan of spicy, but this seems doable to me! Yummo!
Chelsy, feel free to lower the spice. I never liked spicy foods either but I LOVE this dish!
You had me at spicy and one pan. We eat a lot of chicken as well, but lately ground turkey has been a close second. I love a one pan meal and can make this easily in my wok.Excited to out it in rotation.
It’s a big-time favorite at my house Enjoy!
Okay, now i’m hungry lol. Thanks for the recipe idea! I love anything I can make in a single pot
I love a new pasta recipe! thank you for sharing this!
i love pasta , thanks for sharing the recipe .
This is absolutely something I would make for dinner? Yummm
I love one pot meals and this looks good. I’m always looking for different dishes to try. Thanks for sharing.
My husband and I are looking for a new dish to mix things up. We will have to give this recipe a try!
I’m always also on the lookout for quick easy foods and this looks delish! Can’t wait to try it!
This looks delicious! I love finding easy recipes for dinners.
Let me know what you think after you try it!
Yum! My husband and I love spicy dishes so we’ll have to give this a try. Adding it to our meal list!
Amy, it’s GOOD! We love it at our house, my 8-year-old will even eat it!
This looks so good and only one pan?! Yes please!!
Ali, it’s SUPER simple and really delicious!
This sound amazing! Will definatly have to give it a try!
Holly, it really is!
This looks interesting. I may have to try this for my family. Thanks for sharing!
Melinda, it’s a really great dish. My 9-year-old loves it!
Mmmm this sounds and looks so good! I’m going to have to try it!
Stephanie, it really is!