Chicken pasta in a garlic tomato cream sauce is the ultimate comfort meal. Made with pasta, chicken, spinach, seasonings, lots of yummy garlic, and parmesan cheese, you can make this incredible dish in under 30 minutes!
If you have been in the mood for a chicken dinner that is creamy and delicious that your whole family will love, this is perfect for you. Everything from the juicy chicken breast all the way to the healthy spinach gives this dish so much flavor.
It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for something that’s easy for a busy weeknight or if you’re coming over for dinner. Everyone is going to rave about the amazing way this pasta tastes.let’s get started so you can head in the kitchen and whip up a batch.
What You Will Need To Make Creamy Garlic Chicken Pasta
- Pasta: What I love about this garlic chicken pasta recipe is you can literally use any kind of pasta that you like. I typically alter my recipe, depending on what kind of pasta I found on sale.
- Chicken breast: I typically use boneless skinless chicken breast; you could also use boneless skinless chicken thighs. It’s entirely up to you, and whatever you prefer will be fine.
- Seasonings: Normally, I use a combination of garlic powder, Italian seasoning, paprika, salt, and pepper to add more flavor to this dish.
- Olive oil: You want a good quality olive oil to cook the chicken in.
- Butter: The butter helps cook the garlic and adds to the flavor.
- Garlic: For best results, use minced garlic. I stick around to four cloves for this recipe, but you could always add in more or less depending on what you like.
- Tomatoes: The tomatoes enhance the way the chicken pasta looks, but it also makes it taste extra hearty and delicious.
- Spinach: Spinach gives you a boost in vitamins and minerals. You can leave it out if you want to, but I love the flavor.
- Heavy cream: The real star of the show is the heavy cream! It gives this chicken pasta a creamy texture that is crave-worthy.
- Parmesan cheese: You can’t really have an Italian dish without some Parmesan cheese, right?
How To Make Creamy Garlic Chicken Pasta
I don’t know if you can make an easier pasta dish with as much flavor as this one. You’ll need to start off by preparing the pasta according to the package directions. You want to cook it till it’s al dente and not overly cooked.
Then you’ll take the seasonings and add it to both sides of the chicken breast.
Warm up the olive oil in a heavy-duty pan using medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, add the chicken breast and cook them for 5 minutes on each side or until it’s cooked all the way through. After the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan and set it aside.
Using the same pan, add in the garlic and butter. Sautee for 1 minute or until the garlic is fragrant. Then add in the diced tomato and fresh spinach. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the spinach has wilted and the tomatoes have softened.
Turn down the heat and add in the heavy cream along with the parmesan cheese. Use a whisk and stir until it is fully incorporated in creamy. Add in a little bit of salt and pepper to taste.
Drain the pasta and slice up the chicken into thin slices. Place them in both in the pan and stir well. Serve, and enjoy!
How Do You Store Leftover Chicken Pasta?
Let the chicken cool all the way down. After the dishes cooled you can place it in an airtight container. Keep it in the refrigerator for up to four days.
More Yummy Pasta Dishes
- 4 Ingredient Chicken Pasta Casserole
- 15 Minute Chicken Pasta
- Cajun Chicken Pasta
- Creamy Chicken Fajita Pasta
Creamy Garlic Chicken Pasta {with Tomato & Spinach}
Ingredients
- 10 ounces dry pasta, (any kind)
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- salt & pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup tomatoes, diced
- 2 cups spinach, chopped, optional
- 2 cups heavy cream, (or 16 oz)
- 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese, shredded or grated
- salt & pepper , to taste
Instructions
- Prep Pasta: Boil water in a large pot and cook pasta al dente according to package instructions.
- Season both sides of chicken breasts with salt garlic powder, Italian seasoning, paprika, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper.
- Heat olive oil in a large heavy duty pan over medium-high heat and cook chicken breasts 5 minutes per side or until cooked through. Remove from heat and set aside.
- To the same pan, add the butter and garlic and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the tomato and spinach and cook 2-3 minutes or until the tomato and spinach are soft and wilted.
- Reduce the heat and add the heavy cream and parmesan cheese. Whisk until fully incorporated and creamy. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste.
- Drain pasta and slice chicken into thin slices or cubes and return to the same pan. Stir to combine and serve!
Video
Equipment
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Easy & very tasty. But had to add quite a bit of salt to get enough flavor out of the sauce, even though I’d added some of the chicken seasoning blend directly to the cream – perhaps i needed so much because I was using kosher salt? Anyway, I think I’ll add some lemon juice and possibly more tomatoes next time for more complexity and a slightly thinner consistency as it’s quite thick and rich when it all comes together. Still, it’s a great recipe!
Yes, more kosher salt is needed compared to table salt. Everyone has a different salt tolerance so I would season to taste!
I didn’t have fresh tomatoes and had to use canned and it still turned out super yummy!
Just made it, I added some red pepper flakes for some additional kick to the chicken.
Loved it.
I’m not normally a cheesy creamy sauce type person, however, this is now a firm family favourite and I would urge everyone to try it at least once
I haven’t actually made this dish… But my Dad (who is a chef) said that this looks like a really good recipe. Can’t wait to try this for supper tonight!!
Just made this for dinner!! It was a hit!!
Delicious and so flavour full!
It was very liquidy. And lacked a lot of flavour. Way too much sauce to tomato ratio.
I made this for 3 hungry hockey boys. It was sooo easy to make (especially since I used left over rotisseire chicken). 😆They all agreed that it was delicious and should go in rotation!
So glad to hear that!
I busted
D E L I COUS! Had everything in stock and was craving this type of dish. Excellent recipe. Only thing was i cooked breasts in oven broiler. I burn them on the stove. Then used that cast iron to do rest of recipe. Hands down all around good. 5/5.
Delicious and easy! I used roasted chicken for ease of prep and added chicken seasoning (garlic powder, italian seasoning and paprika) directly to cream sauce. I suggest doubling amount of spinach if you like more greens. Our protein rotini absorbed the sauce like a champ!!! 🙂
I’m so happy that you’ve enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing this kind review!
This was tasty. I used a rotisserie chicken.
Easy to follow recipe, and it is delicious! A new family favorite and fun to make.
That was soooooo bland. I had to add ALOT more spice to this recipe. It’s just not good as is.
delicious and highly praised by my husband and 2 lovely neighbors.. everyone enjoyed it and came back for seconds. this was an easy and simple recipe, i enjoyed making the dish!
Get yo a** outta here
It was so quick and easy! Loved the detail instructions. Added a little bit of lemon juice at the end for my personal preference
I enjoyed how easy it was to make. Not expensive. Not messy,lol. Just a quick and easy mean. And it taste delicious!
THIS RECIPE IS SO GOOD MY SKINNY HUSBAND HAD SECONDS!
Wow! Had to create a Recipe category in Pinterest! Thank you so much for sharing this Deliciousness!
For those of us who can’t handle tomato seeds, I used sauce, and because we had it on hand, used 2 rotisserie chicken breasts. This recipe is as satisfying as mac and cheese! Wonderful sauce.
This is amazing! Very easy to follow. I made a Vegan version. I’m in the UK, so I substituted the real chicken for plant based chicken “What the Cluck”, the butter for Flora spread, the cream for Oatly cream cheese and plant based Philadelphia cheese, and sprinkled with vegan parmesan from M&S.
Will definitely be making again!
I expect the recipe as posted is very good, but as I didn’t have heavy cream, so made a slight adjustment and added some extra herbs. (it still turned out to be a 5* keeper)
Instead of the heavy cream I used some Marscapone, thinned down with some milk to the consistency.
I also added chopped fresh herbs – Parsley, Thyme and Corriander/Cilantro – and used Smoked Paprika., which gave plenty of flavour, avoiding the need to use salt (Except when boiling the Pasta).
My wife certainly enjoyed it – she had more than I did!
Wow! All I can say is wow! Definitely adding this to my list of dinners! Total crowd pleaser all 4 of my kids, my husband, and I lived it! Definitely recommend!!!!! Simple fast delicious!
Made this for the family today and they loved it. It is delicious. My family is crazy about sun dried tomatoes so I added a cup of that and the recipe went to another level! . I used 1 cup of cream and 1 cup of half and half and it was still creamy and delicious. My husband kept saying he wanted more but was too full, he is not really a pasta fan so that is saying a lot for him!
Guys if you like sun dried like we do, add those – delicious!
Boil the pasta or it cooks in the pan?
Looks pre-boiled/cooked and then added.
I did not have spinach so I put peas in the dish. It is a keeper.
I need to triple this but I only have about 3 cups of heavy whip on hand, do you think milk will work?
Would this sauce still be good without the chicken?
Going to be totally honest, found this recipe on my mobile, couldn’t see measurements or weights, so threw the ingredients in without scrolling to the measurements at the very bottom (my bad), but…… it was gorgeous, loved it and will definitely be making this often.
Looking forward to making tonight, one question – can I replace the spinach with spring mix from the grocery store? It seems to be safe from what I’ve seen online just wanted to check with the chef. Thanks!