Cheesy Chicken Pasta Recipe (Easy One Pot) + 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!)
The recipe card gives all the simple steps to make this easy meal – it’s perfect for busy weeknights!
When it comes to delicious pasta recipes, this cheesy delight is a must-make! The pasta noodles pair perfectly with the tender chicken and fresh basil!
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 Recipe (Easy One Pot) + 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 2024
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Just made it. Very yummy. I used zucchini noodles and it was fantastic.
Did you put the zoodles in at the beginning?
Did you put the zoodles in at the start?
I made it last night, I add red bell pepper and mushrooms. This is a keeper
I made this last night…delicious!! Very spicy…but good..and very easy.
Made this tonight for the first time minus the chicken and will definitely make it again.
Can you use steak instead of chicken?
Those veggies looks great!
love the basic recipe, but I do not eat any bird or biproduct. going to try it with shrimp and and a different broth. Can you give me a suggestion on the broth?
I use vegetable cooking broth in substitute of chicken broth
put shrimp in at end…IMHO…maybe 3 mins b4 time up
Sounds delicious. Will definitely be making it!
Yum!
This looks so delicioius!
Definitely want to make this! Has anyone tried adding fresh basil at the end?
I did. I threw ten whole leaves in with the spinach at the end. Was delicious!
Congratulations on the upcoming cookbook! I'll be waiting on pins and needles. Love this recipe. So easy. So delicious!
My daughter is vegetarian. I will eliminate chicken, use vegie stock instead of chicken stock. Do you suggest any other variations to this. Would shrimp work as a protein??
My daughter is vegetarian. I will eliminate chicken and replace chicken stock with vegie stock. Any other suggested variations or additions? Do you think shrimp would work as a protein in this dish?
I made it today. It is the best tasting pasta dish I ever made! I want everyone to taste it. I' ll definitely be making this again. Maybe with some shrimp thrown in! Thanks.
You can even do a version of this adding (on top of this original recipe EXCEPT minus the chicken…..) a bottle of clam juice, one cup of white wine and then put in some uncooked jumbo shrimp and 1 cup of fat free Half & Half and some lemon juice (to make it even creamier) the last 10 mins of cooking time..
Oh, and add some nice pecorino Romano cheese on top of it all and gently fold that in to help accommodate for all the extra liquid!
Made that—so good and I never used sun dried tomatoes before this! Yum!!! Better the next day.
what can i substitute for sundered tomatoes? family hates them
I have used 3 cups grapes tomatoes sliced i half. I would also cut the liquid by 1/2 cup and check for seasoning at the end. You may need another pinch of salt. Enjoy and let me know how it goes.
What if I don't have any tomoatoes on hand and only have grated parmesan(kraft)? Also white wine ok? Trying to make with fridge ingredients 🙂
Wow – I made this tonight for dinner and it was awesome. Everyone in my family loved it and they are food snobs. I didn't tell them it was all cooked in one pot until afterwards. The flavors were great! I am so glad I found this site. I saw the video on Facebook yesterday.
Would love to make this for dinner tonight. My son is allergic to dairy though… can we just leave it out or will they make the dish too soupy? Any suggestions for a substitute?
Hi keri i made it for my little girl and myself at the weekend. Shes allergic to wheat soya and dairy. I substituted everything for free from things. Im uk based and i used violife parmesan. I also substituted the wine for water. At the cheese adding stage there was not much liquid left just enough to create steam to wilt the spinach and melt the cheese. Hope this helps
My fussy husband loved it! Delicious and easy.
Does the chicken cook all the way in this short amount of time?? Can you brown the chicken before throwing in the pot to ensure it is cooked thoroughly?
Wondering the same thing
It did cook all the way through, actually I felt like it was over cooked. I cut mine into chunks. Browning it and adding it later would have been better, but it defeats the purpose of a one pot dish 😊
Mine cooked perfectly.
I made this dish omg absolutely delicious. The only problem I had and this me I couldn't get the linguini in the pot as easy as you did. The noodles were too long is there something you did different? But eating it as we speak. Great dish.
You could always break it up.
Break them in half.
Could place them diagonally by pushing some of the other ingredients aside?
if i don't own a dutch oven would a large steel pot work instead?
Absolutely! Enjoy and let me know how it goes Meredith.
I made this tonight, and it was delicious. I think the only thing I might change is to cook the chicken separately, and add it with all the spinach at the very end. I didn't like the spinach that cooked with the pot. Stirring it in at the end wilts it perfectly. Thank you for this recipe! I can see it becoming a stand by here.