Tuscan Chicken Pasta is such a great pasta recipe to make for an easy dinner!
Besides cooking the pasta, this recipe is made entirely in a large skillet. This is an all-in-one meal, with pasta, chicken and a veggie (spinach). We usually just grab a hunk of bread and a bottle of wine and call this dinner. It’s a repeat recipe for sure in our house.
Ingredients needed:
- penne pasta
- olive oil
- boneless chicken breast
- salt and pepper
- garlic
- chicken broth
- heavy whipping cream
- Italian seasoning
- sun dried tomatoes
- Parmesan cheese
- fresh spinach leaves
- fresh parsley
How to make Tuscan Chicken Pasta:
Prepare the penne pasta, according to package instructions- to al dente. You may substitute another kind of pasta for the penne, if you’d like. I’d suggest rigatoni, bow tie or rotini.
Heat oil in a large skillet. Add the chicken, salt and pepper and cook until browned on both sides. Turn the heat down a bit and stir in the garlic. Turn heat down a little more and add in chicken broth, heavy whipping cream and Italian seasoning. Stir in sun dried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese.
Stir in the cooked pasta, and let the sauce thicken. The last step is adding fresh spinach and stirring until it is wilted.
Add in a little extra Parmesan when ready to serve. Garnish with fresh parsley, if desired.
This pasta has a creamy sauce, but not overwhelmingly so. There is nothing worse than pasta dishes that are soaked in too much sauce! The flavors of sun dried tomato and Parmesan cheese are great with the fresh spinach and chicken. It’s a lovely pasta dinner recipe!
This recipe can be divided into 6 servings. If you have more hungry people eating this meal, you may wish to divide it into 4 servings instead. Enjoy!
If you’re into skillet dinners, you might also like to try my easy skillet lasagna or this skillet baked ziti. Skillet chicken parmesan and this chicken cheese steak skillet are also favorites.
Tuscan Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
- 16 ounces penne pasta
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1½ cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- ⅓ cup finely chopped, oil-packed sundried tomatoes (drained)
- 1 cup grated Parmesan (plus more, for topping)
- 2 cups baby spinach leaves
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- In a large pot of salted water, cook the pasta to al dente according to the package instructions; drain.
- Add the oil to a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the chicken, spreading it out in an even layer. Sprinkle on the salt and black pepper. Let the chicken cook until browned on the first side, about 2 minutes, and then flip it and cook it for 1 to 2 minutes more (it doesn’t have to be fully cooked now, it will continue cooking).
- Turn the heat down to medium. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
- Turn the heat down again to medium-low. Add the chicken broth, heavy whipping cream, and dried Italian herb seasoning. Bring to a simmer and let it cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Stir in the sun dried tomatoes and Parmesan. Stir in the cooked pasta. Let it simmer to thicken the sauce, about 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Turn off the heat and stir in the baby spinach until wilted.
- Serve garnished with parsley and additional Parmesan if desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Lori,
We love this recipe!
I’ve also shared it with some of our Vegan friends, and they love it too!
The only changes that they made to the recipe were:
“I used coconut milk and cream, nutritional yeast and added dill for the other recipe”
Something to consider: Perhaps in future you can add a Recipe 4 as part of the alternatives for a Vegan version of the original recipe? 🙂
Just an idea…
But we LOVE your recipes and I’m going to start leaving my comments on the other ones as well!
Thanks a mil…looking forward to the dinner ideas this week!