Cheesy Chicken Pasta (Easy One Pot Recipe) + Video
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Cheesy Chicken Pasta is a rich and hearty Italian meal that is bursting with flavor. It’s so easy that it just about cooks itself. Make chicken pasta with cheese for an easy and tasty dinner! The tender chicken paired with the cheesy noodles creates a delicious recipe that any picky eater will love!
This simple one pot creamy chicken pasta features a rich sundried tomato sauce that soaks into the pasta. Just toss everything together in a pot and let it cook!
Your taste buds will love this one-pot meal. (It’s enough to feed the whole family – and easy to clean up!)
Cheesy Chicken Pasta
In just 20 minutes, you’ll be ready to dig into a bowl of chicken and linguine coated in cheesy goodness and dotted with fresh baby spinach, onions, and tangy sun-dried tomatoes.
A cheesy chicken pasta recipe that practically makes itself — now that’s my kind of meal!
I also have another incredible garlic chicken pasta recipe made with tortellini and a creamy homemade sauce.
For south-of-the-border flavor, make some Mexican spaghetti.
Your favorite salsa ingredients come together with pasta and sausage to create another knock-your-sock-off, easy pasta dish!
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Dried Italian Seasoning:
This is a fabulous convenience ingredient that’s common in Italian recipes.
If you don’t keep it on hand, combine 1 teaspoon each of dried basil and rosemary with ½ teaspoon each of oregano and dried thyme. - Red Pepper Flakes:
If you’re sensitive to spicy flavors, reduce this ingredient to ½ teaspoon. The chicken cheese pasta sauce will be milder, but there will still be a little heat. - Chardonnay:
The wine adds a rich, buttery flavor to the sauce, as well as a hint of citrusy brightness. If you can use the chardonnay, I highly recommend it.
Otherwise, you can use chicken stock, white grape juice, or equal parts lemon juice and water if needed. - Sun Dried Tomatoes:
Use halved grape tomatoes instead if you’re not a fan of these. Also, reduce the liquid by ½ cup and add extra salt to taste at the end.
Tips to make this Cheesy Chicken Pasta Dish
- You can save time by using leftover chicken cooked or rotisserie chicken! This is a great option if you don’t have time to cook raw chicken breasts.
- Pay attention to the cooked pasta timing as you don’t want to overcook it!
What to Serve with Chicken Cheese Pasta
No Italian meal would be complete without a side of garlic bread or homemade breadsticks!
Make a big bowl of salad using this Olive Garden salad recipe, or roast some veggies to make your table complete.
That said, you could easily enjoy this cheesy chicken pasta all on its own. With pasta, meat, veggies, and cheese, it’s enough to keep you feeling full!
One Pot Creamy Chicken Pasta FAQ
You can use any pasta for your chicken pasta with cheese. As a substitute for linguine, use another long, thin pasta like fettuccine or angel hair pasta.
Even shorter pasta like penne pasta, rotini, or rigatoni will work great. Whole-wheat penne pasta is a great option, too! And let’s not overlook the fact that eating cheesy chicken spaghetti would be super fun for the hungry recipe testers in your house!
Just be sure to use enough liquid to cover the noodles, and then cook until al dente.
I use Entwine Chardonnay. You can find it at Kroger brand grocery stores, and it runs about $10 a bottle.
No need for anything too expensive. As long as you’d enjoy a glass of it by itself, it’ll taste great when used for cooking!
I haven’t tried it with this particular recipe, but I don’t think the linguine will hold up very well under the long cook time.
If you want to try it, cook the rest of the ingredients in the crockpot first, then add the noodles during the last hour or so of cook time.
Or, cook them separately on the stove and mix together your cheesy chicken pasta just before serving. Just know that the flavor won’t be as rich since it isn’t cooked together with everything else.
The biggest thing to remember is that you want the recipe to cool down all the way, before storing it in an airtight container. Then the next time that you’re ready to eat it, you can add it to a skillet on the stove and reheat over medium heat.
To add some different flavors to this easy pasta recipe, you can top with a little bit of white cheddar cheese or different types of cheese as well. Pre-shredded cheese is a fast and simple way to get that gooey melted cheese flavor back on top of the juicy chicken and noodles.
Since I consider this recipe to be the ultimate comfort food, you can add all types of good options to the leftovers to give it a new flavor! Dicing a few bell peppers and adding them along with a little bit of garlic powder can make a leftover dish taste new and unique as well. One pot meals give a great variety on how to enjoy and eat them the next day!
Enjoy!
With love, from our simple kitchen to yours.
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Other One Pot Pasta Recipes
Cheesy Chicken Pasta + Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 ounces baby spinach leaves, divided
- 1 cup sun dried tomatoes packed in oil with Italian herbs, drained (about 7 ounces)
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2" bite sized pieces
- 6 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 pound dry linguine
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 32 ounces (4 cups) reduced sodium chicken stock
- 8 ounces (1 cup) chardonnay wine
- 4 ounces fresh Parmesan cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Combine 1/2 of the spinach with the tomatoes, onion, chicken, garlic, pasta, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper in a 5-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Pour chicken stock and wine over top. Cover and bring to a boil.
- Cook 7-9 minutes until pasta is al dente (with a bite to it). Toss pasta with tongs occasionally to keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot. You will still have some liquid in the pan when the pasta is done cooking. This is going to make the base for our delicious cheese sauce.
- Turn off the heat and add the cheese to the pasta. Toss pasta with tongs until the cheese melts into the pasta. Toss in remaining spinach.
- Serve and enjoy!
Video
Donna’s Notes
- Dried Italian seasoning is a fabulous convenience ingredient. If you do not keep it on hand, combine 1 teaspoon dried basil, 1 teaspoon rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon oregano and 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme.
- This dish is just spicy enough to make your tongue tingle. For a very mild sauce, reduce the red pepper flakes to 1/2 teaspoon.
- I know some people are sensitive to alcohol. The wine adds a fabulous rich buttery flavor and a bright citrus flavor to the pasta. If you can use the chardonnay, I highly recommend it. However, you can substitute with chicken stock, white grape juice, or lemon water (1/2 cup fresh lemon juice and 1/2 cup water).
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.
Originally published October 2016, updated and republished November 2023
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Looks really delicious and I will try it … I'm opnly a bit sceptical if 8-10 minutes is enought for the meat to be ready. It looks raw …
The meat finishes cooking in the full mixture with the pasta and everything else I have had it and made it several times and it is very delish.
Did not come out tasting very good. The flavors together taste kind of like a cheap tv dinner
Husband and kids loved it (as did i) I've made it twice now. Second time I added quartered mushrooms and no spice (for the kids)….all good! Extra parm is a good thing too!
This recipe is wonderful. I substituted my homemade tomato powder (3tbs) drizzled with olive oil. Today I added mushrooms. Great recipe. Thanks for posting this.
I made this tonight and it was (by no fault of the recipe's) a fiasco! My new onion from the store was rotten inside, then my new jar of crushed red pepper didn't have the sprinkle lid on tight enough so I dumped about 1/2 cup of red pepper in the dish. I did my best to scoop it out, but I had already lightly browned my chicken and added all of the other spices, so it was quite hot for my fingertips at that point. I tried to dilute the dish by adding 2 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes, but it was still WAY too spicy for my kids. My husband loved it though! Spicy is right up his alley. 🙂
I will definitely make this again! Other than my ridiculous amount of red pepper and the addition of the tomato sauce, I made the recipe as written. Beautiful and tasty!
This is awesome! People shouldn't be afraid of the cost of the sundried tomatoes–they are great in here, and the recipe is big–I had two helpings and saved six more. I wouldn't be afraid to increase the chicken (why did I measure it, why was I so silly?) This will be in my favorites file! And good for when I have a bunch around! Thank you!
I made this and it was SO GOOD! I am not a good cook but this was so easy. I used the white grape juice and left out the red pepper. Can't wait to try more of your recipes. Thanks!!!
Wonderful recipe, thank you!! I increased the chilli flakes as my husband and I love chilli, I increased the parmesan as everyone knows you can never have too much cheese! Next time I will reduce the amount of salt. This will become a real go to for us from now on. Wonderful for leftovers for lunch for the rest of the week too!!! WINNING!!!!! 😀
I have made this once so far-delicious!! A little spicey tho. I bought some frozen broccoli and peppers today and was wondering how that would taste in this?? Also, when/how do I add since frozen?? Suggestions??
I made this tonight–in my electric pressure cooker! It was so easy and so good! I did 1/4 of the recipe, which actually gives me 2 meals. 🙂
Can you elaborate? How long a cook time?
The name of the song is "An Italian in America"-Coffee Shop Jazz
This recipe was amazing. Has anyone substituted the spinach with broccoli? I was going to make it again and do that. Also has anyone substituted the sun-dried tomatoes with sun-dried tomatoe PESTO? I did and it was great! I thank you for giving a great recipe where the possibilities are endless!
Made this tonight with my favorite chardonnay and it was to die for!! The entire family loved it! Will definitely be making this one again! LOVED the one pot method and it was perfectly done! Thanks so much for sharing it with us!!!
I saw this recipe and cooked it for tea tonight. My daughter was eating it out of the saucepan same as my hubby. We have thoroughly enjoyed.
Where is the actual recipe itself?
Loved this dish…only changes asiago cheese and Pinot Grigio…also added no salt….was delicious for new years eve dinner
I made this on New Year's Eve and we looked it! My husband kept going back for more, 3 times at least.
I just made this dish. Yummy! It was fantastic. I panicked a little when it didn't appear there was enough liquid to boil the pasta. I added a little bit more chicken stock but it probably wasn't necessary. I also reduced the red pepper to approximately 1/2 teaspoon and would consider 1/4 teaspoon the next time. I guess I am a spice wimp! Thank you for this easy and really good dish!
Absolutely delicious! Will make it again for sure. I love that's all made in one pot.
Absolutely delicious. I love that it's all made in one pot.
I made one batch exactly to the publish recipe. Turned out great but the noodles tasted much too strongly of the chicken stock for my tastes. Second batch I cut the chicken stock in half and used half vegetable stock. Worked perfectly.
OMG! THIS WAS SO GOOD!!!There's some left for lunch tomorrow! I'm Not a fan of sun dried tomatoes but this recipe made a fan out of me! Easy to put together And smells delicious!!
Does the alcohol cook out? I love the taste of wine in my Italian but cant do the alcohol content because I am pregnant.
LOVE this dish….super easy and delicious!!! the only changes I made: I added mozzarella in lieu of parmesan, some capers and extra red pepper flakes. Just YUMMY! THANK YOU for posting, am going to try OTHER one pot dishes too!
Made this yesterday, my takeaway: 1) Dice the garlic very small, I sliced it like the recipe said and it was too large to fully cook, made the entire pot sharp with garlic (which is okay, but not for everyone). 2) I used salt-free Herb-Ox bullion instead of stock to keep the sodium level down and only added 1 tsp or regular salt. 3) I would suggest using a large Teflon skillet instead of the stock pot, it was very cumbersome to mix, even with the linguine broken in half. 4) The linquine was very al dente, I was unwilling to test a noddle early because I wasn't sure the chicken was fully cooked. 5) It needs more spinach, 8 ounces isn't enough, and I too would add it all at the end. 5) Next time I will finely mince the garlic, omit the chicken, and throw in some shrimp at the end. The chicken just kind of complicated things, shrimp would be so easy. Other than that, loved it (and I did use the wine … might have needed a couple more minutes at a boil for the alcohol to burn off).