Chicken Pasta Sun Dried Tomatoes Spinach is so delicious that once you make it, you’ll be making it again and again.
This recipe is delicious and easy to make. Chicken breasts are sautéed until tender – if you like, reserve the chicken juices and make a little sauce – then chicken is topped with sundried tomatoes and hot cooked pasta for an easy and delicious dinner.
CREAMY TUSCAN CHICKEN PASTA
This Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta has the most amazing, creamy sauce. It’s loaded with the flavors of the Mediterranean – sundried tomato, baby spinach, garlic, red pepper, and parmesan. Super quick and easy. A restaurant quality dish on the table in under 30 minutes.
CREAMY TUSCAN CHICKEN PASTA IS A FAMILY FAVORITE
You’re gonna love this Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta! It has a permanent place on the dinner rotation at our house. It’s so full of flavor and so delicious. It’s got the perfect combination of flavors – starting with the creamiest, garlicky parmesan sauce with a touch of garlic. (I can’t call it garlicky. I’m working on a post for a Middle Eastern garlic sauce to share with you. It’s garlic INTENSE. A knock-your-socks-off garlicky. This pasta sauce has a friendly amount of garlic.)
CREAMY TUSCAN CHICKEN PASTA IS A ONE DISH MEAL
This Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta is a one dish meal. It’s loaded with slices of chicken and lots of veggies – sundried tomatoes, baby spinach, and red pepper. I love it left-over the next day for lunch (and breakfast). It makes a perfect meal prep idea.
READY IN UNDER 30 MINUTES
Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta is so easy to make. Sauté the chicken, sauté the veggies, add the cream, broth, and cheese. Toss in the baby spinach and pasta. Bam! You’re done. Don’t you love a delicious meal that’s ready in under 30 minutes? That’s magic, my friends.
Chicken breasts are sautéed in a little oil until golden brown and cooked through. I use oil from the jar of sundried tomatoes, it’s so flavorful.
It’s totally optional, but I like to flatten the chicken breasts with a kitchen mallet to even them out and make them thinner, like cutlets. If they are thick, I cut them in half horizontally first.
Remove the chicken from the pan, add a little more oil, and sauté some chopped onion until soft. Add the diced red bell peppers and sauté for a few minutes. When the peppers are almost soft, add the sundried tomatoes, garlic, and Italian seasoning and let sauté for one minute. Deglaze the pan with chicken broth, scraping up any browned bits. Add the cream and bring to a simmer. Let it simmer for about 2 minutes, then add the parmesan cheese and cook until melted. Turn off the heat and stir in the baby spinach. Salt and pepper to taste.
Combine the chicken and sauce with hot buttered pasta and Enjoy!
Asiago Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach
Asiago Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach – with everything smothered in a delicious Asiago cheese sauce. Easy recipe that tastes great and looks great.
If you love Asiago cheese, this is a great recipe to try! Asiago definitely has a very strong and distinctive flavor, and when melted into a creamy sauce for this Asiago Chicken Pasta, that flavor becomes more smooth yet you can still recognize it’s an Asiago cheese. To me, using Asiago cheese in a pasta sauce is my favorite way to use it. And it is perfectly complemented by chicken sauteed with garlic, spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes!
Short pasta, such as penne, is perfect for creamy pasta recipes like this one – Asiago cheese cream sauce perfectly coats every single pasta bite. Both pasta and chicken are literally drowning in the Asiago sauce deliciousness! This recipe can easily be made gluten free by using gluten free brown rice penne.
Asiago Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach
In this recipe, everything is smothered in a delicious Asiago cheese cream sauce: chicken sauteed with garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and spinach.
PREP TIME: 20 mins
COOK TIME: 20 mins
TOTAL TIME: 40 mins
COURSE: Main Course
CUISINE: American
SERVINGS: 4 servings
CALORIES PER SERVING: 547 kcal
Ingredients
- 8 oz penne pasta (use gluten free brown rice penne, for gluten free version)
- ⅓ cup sun-dried tomatoes with oil 2 tablespoons
- 1 lb chicken breast sliced in half, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- salt
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- 1 cup half and half and more – (half milk – half cream to form a lighter cream)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup Asiago cheese shredded
- 2 cups spinach fresh
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain, rinse.
- Use sun-dried tomatoes in oil – if the sun-dried tomatoes are too big, chop them into smaller bites.
- Heat sun-dried tomatoes (cut them) in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and chopped garlic on medium heat. Add chopped chicken breast to the sun-dried tomatoes and oil – generously season the chicken in the skillet with salt and paprika. Cook chicken until it’s cooked through completely.
- To the same skillet with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes, add 1 cup of half and half and ¼ teaspoon salt – bring to boil. Add ½ cup of grated Asiago cheese (half of what the recipe calls for) and stir for about 30 seconds to melt the cheese. Reduce the heat from boil to medium and continue stirring to make sure all cheese melts. At this point, if the sauce is too thin, gradually add the remaining ½ of Asiago cheese on medium heat, constantly stirring all around the skillet.
- If the sauce gets too thick, add another ⅓ cup of half and half and stir.
- Taste the sauce – if ¼ teaspoon salt was not enough, add more.
- Add cooked and drained pasta to the sauce. Add spinach, mix everything – cover with the lid and let the pasta sit to allow spinach to wilt, on low simmer. After spinach has wilted, stir everything together to combine, taste and add more salt, if needed.
Notes
What is half-and-half?
To substitute for 1 cup of half-and-half, do this: combine ½ cup of whole milk with ½ cup of heavy cream.
Tomato Spinach Chicken Pasta
This tremendously delicious Tomato Spinach Chicken Pasta is definitely a winner. It’s quick and easy to make, incredibly rich in flavors, and can be on your table in about 30 minutes. Perfect for weeknight dinners!
Tomato Spinach Chicken Pasta
Any quick dinner that tastes this good will be a favorite of mine. This chicken pasta recipe is absolutely full of flavor with lots of fresh ingredients. Incredibly healthy and light, this recipe is really good with a Mediterranean flare, packed with vegetables and chicken.
This pasta is a really filling meal on its own but if you’re like me and love a piece of bread next to your dinner, my crusty bread or garlic bread are some fantastic sides to serve with it. If you have extra mushrooms, bell peppers or onion, feel free to add some into the mix. It’s also a great way to clean up some things in the fridge that need eating.
Why You’ll Want To Make This Pasta Dish
✅ QUICK AND EASY. Such an easy recipe that can be whipped up in less than 30 minutes from start to finish.
✅ DELICIOUS. This is one of the most flavorful pasta dishes and should not be missed. It’s bound to become a family favorite in no time.
✅ HEALTHY. Lots of spinach in this dish to make us strong. To make this dish a bit healthier, use whole wheat pasta instead.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Pasta – I used penne pasta but rotini, or other small shaped pasta works just fine.
- Tomatoes – Use sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil that are chopped and then reserve the drained oil and use that instead of olive oil. Sun dried tomatoes provide so much flavor to any dish.
- Chicken – You’ll want to stick with some boneless skinless chicken breasts, but boneless skinless chicken thighs also work wonderfully.
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper to taste. Add or omit as much as you like. Feel free to add in a little Italian seasoning to your taste for extra zip.
- Red pepper flakes – I’ve included some red pepper flakes to provide a touch of heat. Add more or less to your taste.
- Tomatoes – Chop several fresh tomatoes for some healthy goodness.
- Garlic – Lots of minced garlic is used and goes very well with the other flavors in this pasta. Use as much garlic as you like.
- Spinach – Lots of fresh spinach, and if you think it’s too much, it’s not, it will all wilt down. If you can’t find any, buy frozen and drain it very well and will still give you a great tasting meal. Feel free to add a little fresh basil leaves along with the spinach.
- Cheese – Anything with cheese is better in my opinion. I used some freshly grated parmesan cheese.
How To Make Tomato Spinach Chicken Pasta
Cook the pasta. Boil the water and cook pasta al dente and according to package instructions.
Cook the chicken. In the meantime, add the sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, chicken pieces, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to a large skillet, stir and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink.
Finish cooking. Add the chopped tomatoes, garlic, and spinach to the skillet or pan and cook for another 3 minutes or until the spinach wilts a little.
Combine pasta and sauce. Add the drained pasta to the skillet along with ½ cup of the Parmesan cheese and toss everything together well.
Finish and serve: Drizzle some high-quality olive oil over the pasta and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.
What Does It Mean To Cook Pasta Al Dente?
Pasta is best when cooked “al dente” which is when it’s tender but still firm to the bite.
What Kind Of Pasta Is Healthy?
Whole wheat pasta is an easy to find healthier noodle that will bump up the nutrition of your pasta dish. Made from whole grains, it boasts 5 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein per serving
What Other Pasta Shapes Can We Use?
There are so many different pasta shapes and any of them can be used. Try fettuccine, fusilli, linguine or macaroni to name a few. You can also use regular, whole wheat or spinach pasta as well. Mix it up to your taste.
Expert Tips
- You can use a scoop of pasta water to help with the creaminess of your sauce, this is useful if your pasta gets too dry.
- Pack this dish with other veggies such as asparagus, broccoli, peppers or even mushrooms.
- Make this chicken pasta gluten-free by using gluten-free brown-rice penne pasta instead of regular penne.
Leftovers
Store this pasta dish in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Reheat the chicken pasta in the microwave or in a skillet, with a couple of tablespoons water to loosen the sauce and pasta.