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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After it comes to a boil, do you reduce the heat or let it boil for the remaining cook time while stirring. Thanks!
You will leave it on medium-high the entire cook time, unless it seems too high then, naturally you will want to reduce it. You will remove the cover to toss with tongs a few times as well. I hope that helps. Enjoy and let us know how it goes!
Amazingly delicious. As written except due to issues with too much garlic I reduced it. This was great! Thanks!
Thanks so much Joyce! We are happy you enjoyed it!
Made it friday! kids loved it! Thank you!
Thanks Jessica! We are so happy you enjoyed it!
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I make this all the time. My family loves it!
We are so happy to hear that Debby!
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I made this tonight! I opt out the white wine and added little bit of heavy cream and a little bit of chicken powder..I didn't add any lemon juice or anything and the red peppers and it was so good!! My daughter loved it. It's a keeper!
Thanks Asonda! We are so happy you enjoyed it!
Made this tonight and it is FANTASTIC. I forgot the spinach but it was still to die for. Yum yum.
Thanks so much Judy!!! We are happy you enjoyed it!!
This is our go-to meal! So easy and beyond delicious!
Thanks so much, Traci!!! We are so happy you enjoy it!
This is awesome, quick and easy to make,have it weekly!
That is great to hear, Susan!! We are so happy you enjoy it!
Made this for dinner tonight and WOW it was fantastic! The only changes I made were: halved the red pepper because I'm not into spicy, halved the sun dried tomatoes and salt. Everybody loved it, thank you for this recipe ��
Thanks so much, Kimberly! We are so happy you enjoyed it!
My husband made this after I sent him the link! OMG it was AMAZING. One little tweak I would make is slightly less red pepper flakes. It had just a bit too much kick for my liking. But, other than that, perfection!!! And, EASY Cleanup!
Thanks so much! We are so happy you enjoyed it!
I made this last night and it was amazing! Will definitely make again! The only change I would make would probably be to use less pasta, after it was all done it seemed that the amount of pasta kind of overshadowed all the other ingredients. I also added some basil and extra parmesean on top, along with extra red pepper flakes for more spice!
Thank you for the great recipe!
Thanks so much, Emma! We are so happy you enjoyed it!
just made it. the kitchen smelled WONDERFUL and it does have a bite!! LOVED IT and will make it again when the boys are home for college break. will have to look at halving the recipe for just the hubby and I. 🙂
Thank you so much, Janet! We are so happy you enjoyed it!
Olga Domimgue 1/04/2018 A 7:00 PM….I made this tonight and it was delicious the wine, it gave it such a great flavor.I can't wait to try another one pot recipe. Thankx
Thanks so much! We are so happy you enjoyed it!
Hello from across The Pond. Having translated this into English (!) it went down a storm. I now know what a dutch oven is and that red pepper flakes must be chili flakes. I say tomato….. and this is a great recipe!
I made this dish today and oh my goodness….I never want to be without this recipe for the rest of my life! It is absolutely delicious.I followed it exactly as written, except I omitted the onions. The best part was that my kids and my husband were out to eat with the in laws so I got to have a huge bowl by myself! I couldn't stop eating it. I can't wait to have the leftovers! Awesome recipe! Thank you!
Thank you so much Kristen! We are so happy you enjoyed it!!!
Im going to try this tonight for my sweet man for valentines….minus the wine…wish me luck !! Happy Valentines day people!!
Awesome! Enjoy and let us know how it goes!
Omg this is wonderful! The family loved it from the first bite! Thanks for making me look like a good cook! 😉
Made this for dinner tonight! My husband and I loved it!
This recipe came through my feed, and I thought that is pretty simple. I did have to get the parm, and used sundried tomatoes. and instead of fresh garlic I used jar garlic. I also didnt have any white wine but I had some local red wine, (Oregon) and that made it very nice. My mom doesnt like spicy, and this was just hot enough for me, but she couldnt eat it. I was disappointed for her. I think the base for this is great, and a person could add or dress it up or down to suit the needs of the diners. I will use this recipe again, but leave out the red pepper. And we used a roasted chicken breast from Costco so it made it very easy to prepare. I was amazed at how easy.
Just wondering if this is crock pot friendly? Not sure I've ever put pasta in the crock….
I just tried this, and my mouth never knew what hit it. So much great flavor and textures. Since it is only for myself, I will get about four meals out of it. It is great if someone likes it spicy, but I will reduce the red pepper flakes in half next time.
Question pleade,,,,,when u put the pasta together n cover pot,,,does it stick together,,,,or it will be fine,,,pleade id like to realy kno,,because id like to place it same exact way in video,,please someone tell me,,Thank You
I am trying this at this very moment. I did use pinot grigio instead of chardonnay and substituted asiago…somehow the parmesan cheese was MIA in the fridge…can't wait to try this…