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 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 2023
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Made this last night. It was wonderful!!!!
Just made this tonight, and it was a HUGE hit. Really glad there was enough for leftovers tomorrow. I'm already looking forward to dinner tomorrow night. 🙂
I made something similar, but not with the wine addition…it was a hit! My picky eaters ate it all up!
This was really good just the right about of heat and the wine brings out all the flavors. I think the would be good with shrimp or some sausage
Winner, winner, Cheesey Italian Pasta Chicken Dinner!!! Followed the recipe to the T, but with only a half teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and I've (we've) created a MASTERPIECE
I loved this recipe…made it twice so far and the whole family loved it both times. I want to experiment a bit to create a seafood variation…maybe 3 cups veggie stock + 1 cup clam juice, sub shrimp for chicken?
Just made this! Awesome!! I used the wine as stated in the recipe. Will make again!! May try some different cheeses, I like to experiment! Mushrooms may be good as well. 🙂
I just made this dish. The only cheese I had was shredded mozzarella. Still turned out beautifully.
I used thawed, frozen chopped spinach, added in the beginning, sauteed bell peppers, thawed roasted tomatoes and some dehydrated tomatoes, Hing powder as a sub for the onion/garlic and 1/8th cup lemon juice with water to sub for the wine. We loved it so much that I'm making a fresh pot, but using the wine this time.
This was so good, I'm making it again before we run out. I used broken up angel hair and frozen chopped spinach.
Omg….after making this several times and NEVER having a fail….i had to finally post. It ALWAYS comes out great and is very forgiving to changes i have made depending on my pantry. I have used shrimp, chicken or both. I have added mushrooms i had to use up, fettuccine instead of linguine and i have doubled the spinich. But i have never changed the wine….i always use the chardonnay and never skimp on the cheese. Everyone has loved it….even my Italian Mamma. It will go in my recipie file….but with your name on it. Thanks for this treasure. 😀Lorraine
Has anyone tried this with fresh pasta? we use gluten free fresh pasta – i'm thinking that i can just throw it in a bit later in the cooking (since it only needs 3 min to cook). Thoughts?
Yes im positive that will come put great. I do the same when i add shrimp….i just add it later on. This recipie is almost failsafe….you'd have to try hard to ruin it. Somehow, its like magic.
L.🌝
Can you sub chardonnay with water? I bought all ingredients with EBT/food stamps, so did not have the cash to get wine and I'm not sure EBT/food stamps would cover it, nor would I feel good about buying any kind of alcohol with it. Please let me know! If I dont hear back from you, I'm just going to try it and see if the dish is still just as tasty!
Just add more chicken broth. Itvwill be fine.
Just do the broth and one cup of fresh squeezed lemons. It’s what I do because I don’t drink alcohol. It’s awesome!!
Oh my yum! My 4 year old and I made this tonight and loved it. I used a shallot instead of an onion and sauteed it before I added the other ingredients. This was the best 1 pot meal I have had. I can't wait to try your other recipes! Thank you for sharing!
The first time we made this we followed the recipe exactly, next time substituted asparagus for the spinach and fresh grape tomatoes and that became the family favorite. Best quick quality recipe ever.
This tastes like something from Carinos or Olive Garden. And super easy.
Has anyone made this with gluten free pasta? I adore this recipe but recently was diagnosed with celiac disease. I'm craving this pasta and I'm afraid of being disappointed if it doesnt work with gluten free noodles
Where's the video?
Made this tonight for hubby & our neighbor. Enjoyed by all. I followed the recipe closely (except I halved the red pepper flakes as I'm not a spicy fan) and the nice thing is you can adjust this to your taste. Next time I will omit the Italian seasoning as I'm not a fan of rosemary in my Italian dishes – this will be added to my meal rotation
I don't know if I should even say I made it because I modified it so much. My wife doesn't like chicken pasta, so I used Italian sausage. I forgot onion, but it still came out good. No sundried tomatoes available, so I used canned stewed. And I didn't have wine–grocery store doesn't have cooking wine and I never know what to buy–so I used 1/5th or so vinegar to water. I used a 1.5:1 vinegar water to pasta ratio.
So despite the fact I was basically just making up ingredients, it was amazing.
So Yummy! I think I will add mushrooms next time.
Have made this a few times in the past and always delicious. Normally no left over’s but on this occasion I have some left over and wondering if it would be suitable to freeze??
Hi Peter,
Yes, you should be able to freeze it for a couple of months. Be sure to thaw it in the fridge before reheating. If you find that it’s a bit dry after reheating, add a couple of tablespoons of broth or water.
TSRI Team member,
Becca
I am a long time subscriber. Love your recipes, and this one is an old favorite. My only comment is that when I print this the header is too large and takes up the whole first page. I only want the recipe. Is there a way to eliminate the following:
The whole top comment
Tried this recipe?
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Hi Jean,
Sorry about this, we will look into it and get this fixed. Thanks for letting us know! Have a great day.
TSRI Team Member,
Holli
Amazing recipe. 5 stars easy. We have always cooked Pasta, Linguine, with Tomato sauces like Marinara, Basil sauces but this recipes skips all of that and offers an alternate approach which is so good. I followed most of the protocols as is except for a few substitutions and the outcome was amazing. My wife, adult daughter and I all were blown away with the the amazing creamy taste. I use a Le Creuset French Oven which is of course perfect for this kind of recipe and again the recipe and the French Oven delivered in spades. Thank you ever so much for this marvellous addition to our cooking repertoire. I rate this a 5 star project and I commend the “The Slow Roasted Italian” for doing some really wonderful consumer advice with regard to food preparation.
Hi Bernie,
Thanks so much for your kind words. We are so happy you and your family enjoyed it. Have a great day!
TSRI Team Member,
Holli
Love the flavor but I think I used too much broth/wine. I was worried there wouldn’t be enough to boil the pasta, but there there was too much to thicken with the cheese. Still tasted great!