Tuscan Chicken Pasta

Tuscan Chicken Pasta with healthy creamy garlic sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and chicken. 30 minute one pot meal for busy weeknights. Kids will approve!

Whether you have had Tuscan chicken pasta at Olive Garden or White Spot, know you can make healthy restaurant quality meal easy at home. And in one pot in under 30 minutes.

Cooking dinner in one pot is my next favorite thing to Instant Pot. Besides deconstructing meals into soups.:)

It has been a few years since I started making one pot pasta dinners. Kids love them, they are relatively healthy and quick. What not to like?! With renos, business and hockey this is how we avoid processed foods.

You can easily cut this recipe in half if feeding 1 or 2 people.

Ingredients You Will Need

• Chicken breasts or thighs
• Any pasta that can hold sauce
• Sun dried tomatoes
• Bell pepper
• Kale or spinach
• Milk and Parmesan cheese
• Spices

How to Make Tuscan Chicken Pasta

1. Sear chicken breasts with a bit of salt and pepper on each side for 3-4 minutes. They don’t have to be cooked through.
2. Cook pasta. Add pasta, broth, bell pepper, Italian seasoning and cook covered for 10 minutes. It is important to bring it to a boil before reducing heat to low. Keep in mind gluten free pasta cooks faster than wheat. Pasta should be al dente (not too soft, so it doesn’t become a mush).
3. Make creamy sauce by whisking cold milk with cornstarch. Milk has to be cold otherwise cornstarch will lump.
4. Remove cooked chicken and add the slurry. Stir and bring to a boil just enough to thicken a bit.
5. Turn off heat and add remaining ingredients: sun dried tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, spinach, garlic and cooked chicken. Stir.

  

Tips for Best Tuscan Chicken Pasta

• I like to use my Lodge Dutch oven for one pot meals. You can also use medium heavy bottom stainless steel pot with a tight fitting lid.
• Whole wheat or whole foods pasta is more nutritious than white. You can use any though. Good shape pasta to use is short with some cavities to hold the sauce.
• If using gluten free pasta, cook by a few minutes less as it cooks faster than wheat one.
• It is important to stir pasta after a few minutes to prevent it from sticking.
• 3.25% homo milk will make more creamy sauce but 2% will work as well. Do not use skim or 1% milk as sauce will be flat.
• Instead of Italian seasoning, I always use a ratio of dried oregano and thyme.

How to Serve and Store

Tuscan chicken pasta is one of those dishes that tastes best right after cooking. That’s when it’s most saucy, spinach is not too wilted and it’s just fresh. Within minutes, pasta absorbs the sauce as it is sitting. Not the end of the world.

If you are serving later like me (my dinners are always ready at lunchtime because of my job), add a splash of milk and simmer for a few minutes to rehydrate the dish.

Refrigerate for up to 1 day and do not freeze.

Enjoy!