Tender sautéed chicken and perfectly cooked pasta are tossed together with a creamy tomato sauce and then topped with yummy mozzarella cheese to make this incredibly delicious Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta! It’s an easy 30-minute meal bursting with flavor!
Quick And Easy Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta Recipe
Comfort food is like happiness in a bowl! And this dish has all the qualities of a good solid comforting meal. It’s tasty, creamy, and filling. But honestly, aren’t almost all chicken pasta dishes comforting!?! From a simple Cheesy Chicken Pasta Bake to a big plate of Creamy Chicken Marsala Pasta, I’d say they all hit the spot!
And in the case of this Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta recipe, it’s no different, but a tad unique for a pasta dish. The sauce is basically composed of just fresh tomatoes, green onions, butter, cream, and lots of chili powder. No additional garlic or onions are used at all. It didn’t need it! Between the chicken, chili spice, and cheese, it’s perfection in a pan.
Why We Love This Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta
- Quick And Easy! This is a simple dinner that you can throw together in just 30-minutes with basic pantry ingredients. It requires very little prep and any type of pasta will work.
- Creamy Comfort Food! This dish is rich in flavor and filling. Noodles with creamy sauce and cheese are like a match made in comfort food heaven!
- Family Favorite! Chicken with pasta is a dish that the whole family can enjoy. You will not have any trouble getting the kids to eat when you serve up this meal.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Pasta – I use rotini pasta for this dish, but any bite-size pasta will work like rigatoni, penne, fusilli, or farfalle. You can also use gluten free pasta too if you prefer.
- Butter – Always use unsalted butter in cooking to control the amount of added salt unless a recipe states otherwise.
- Chicken – I always make this chicken pasta with boneless skinless chicken breasts. However, you could also use chicken thigh meat too or even turkey breast if you like.
- Spice – Chili powder and red pepper flakes are added for a layer of mild spice.
- Salt – It both seasons the pasta and boosts all the flavors of the different ingredients.
- Black Pepper – Use fresh ground black pepper if you have it on hand.
- Tomatoes – Fresh chopped are best, but you can also use canned diced tomatoes. Just make sure to drain the juice.
- Green Onions – Adds a nice touch of mild onion flavor.
- Parsley – Fresh chopped parsley adds yet another layer of flavor and a bit of color to the dish. You can also use dried parsley too if that is all you have on hand.
- Cream – You can use heavy cream or half and half for a lighter dish. This makes the sauce rich and creamy as well as thickens it up a bit.
- Chicken Broth – I always opt to use low sodium or no-sodium broth to avoid over-salting.
- Mozzarella Cheese – Adds a lovely cheesy finish that blends perfectly with the creamy sauce. You can also use grated Parmesan cheese if you like.
How To Make Creamy Chicken Tomato Pasta
This creamy pasta dish may be layered in what tastes like refined fancy flavor but it’s super easy to make! All you have to do is boil some pasta, sear some chicken, toss some stuff in the pan with the chicken, and then mix it all together. It’s an easy peasy 30-minute meal!
Cook The Pasta
To begin, you need cooked pasta! Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. And I mean super salty. It seasons the rotini as it cooks. Now, cook the pasta according to the package directions or until al dente in texture, which means still a bit firm when bitten. Then when it’s done cooking, drain the noodles and set them aside for a later step.
Sauté The Chicken
While the pasta is cooking, you can begin cooking the chicken. First, melt the unsalted butter over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Then add the chicken pieces to the hot pan and sprinkle them with the chili powder, red chili flakes, salt, and black pepper. Now, sauté the chicken for about 5 minutes or until it is no longer pink and cooked through.
Make The Sauce
Once the chicken breast is cooked, add the tomatoes, green onions, and chopped parsley to the skillet. Now, stir everything together and cook for another 2 minutes. Then add the cream and chicken broth to the mixture and cook just until it comes to a boil.
Assemble The Dish And Serve
To finish the dish, add the cooked rotini to the skillet and toss it with the chicken and sauce to coat. Then sprinkle with the grated mozzarella cheese and some more parsley. Now, serve the creamy tomato chicken pasta with a vegetable side like Parmesan Roasted Broccoli or a fresh Greek Salad.
How To Cook Pasta Al Dente
Al Dente basically means cooked so as to be still firm when bitten. Nobody likes mushy pasta. In order to get pasta to the al dente point, cook it about 2 minutes less than indicated on the package instructions.
Note that the pasta will also absorb all the sauce the longer it sits, which will also make it softer.
Serve With This
Expert Tips
- I prefer using chicken breast or boneless and skinless chicken thighs for this. Make sure to cut them in equal bite size pieces, this way all the chicken pieces will be cooked evenly.
- Don’t buy pre-shredded cheeses, I recommend shredding your own cheese, because pre-shredded cheese usually has added ingredients which help prevent the shredded cheese from naturally sticking together.
- Don’t be shy, add more veggies to your pasta. Spinach or asparagus would be perfect in this dish.
- You can easily turn this into a gluten free pasta. All you need is to use gluten-free pasta instead. There are lots of gluten-free options.
Leftovers And Reheating
Store leftovers in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days. Make sure to refrigerate within two hours of cooking. Keep in mind that the pasta will soak up all the sauce.
Make Ahead
You can absolutely make this in advance and as a matter of fact, the longer this sits, the better it will taste because the flavors will develop even better. However, do keep in mind that this pasta won’t be as creamy anymore as when you first make it because the rotini will absorb all the sauce.
If planning to make this ahead, another option would be to just make the sauce, and when ready to serve, cook the pasta and heat the sauce together with the pasta. This way it will taste fresh and it will still be super creamy and delicious.
Craving More Chicken Pasta Recipes? Try These?
- Cajun Chicken Pasta
- Cheesy Chicken Pasta Bake
- Chicken Pesto Caprese Pasta
- Easy Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake
- Tomato Spinach Chicken Pasta
- 30 Minute Skillet Chicken Enchilada Pasta
- Greek Chicken Pasta
- Creamy Chicken Marsala Pasta
Looking for more recipes? Follow on… My Newsletter Pinterest Facebook Instagram
Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounce rotini pasta uncooked
- 3 tablespoons butter unsalted
- 1 pound chicken breast skinless and boneless, cut into bite size pieces
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili flakes
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon pepper or to taste
- 1 cup tomatoes chopped
- 6 green onions chopped
- ½ cup parsley fresh, chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream or half and half
- ½ cup chicken broth low sodium or no sodium added
- 1 cup mozarella cheese shredded
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to package instructions until it’s al dente (cooked until it’s still firm when bitten). Drain and set aside.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add the chicken to the skillet, then sprinkle with the chili powder, red chili flakes and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink and is cooked through, should take about 5 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, green onions and parsley. Stir and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add the half and half, chicken broth and cook until it comes to a boil.
- Add the rotini pasta and stir everything together.
- Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and parsley if preferred. Serve while warm.
Video
Recipe Notes
- Leftovers: Store leftovers in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days. Make sure to refrigerate within two hours of cooking. Keep in mind that the pasta will soak up all the sauce.
- Make ahead: Make the sauce ahead, then refrigerate. When ready to serve cook the pasta, then add the pasta to the sauce and cook until heated through.
Made this last night for dinner with some of our end of the season tomatoes (the wonky ones) and it was so good. Next time I’ll add even more tomatoes. The only thing that I omitted was the black pepper figuring the other 2 peppers would be adequate and they were just the perfect amount of heat for us. Thanks for a great dinner and enjoy this wonderful fall weather…
Thank you! The weather’s been wonderful and we’re loving it. 🙂
This is definitely going onto my list. We have some tomatoes that are fairly wonky shaped by this time of year and this would be a perfect way to use them.,. they have to be chunked up anyway. I can’t have alot of pasta but using rotini is a great way to get as much of the creamy sauce as possible!
Very true! Let me know how you like it, Chris!
I didn’t know red pepper flakes were so hot. lol
I think it’s fantastic but too hot for my kids, next time I’ll just nix the peppers 🙂
This was an easy dinner to make and my family liked it very well. I cut down the amount of spice, as I was afraid it would be too much. Next time, I may add some frozen peas right near the end. Thanks for this recipe!
While it was tasty, two cups of liquid was way too much. It ended up like soup.
I think there is only meant to be one and a half cups of liquid in total. One cup of heavy cream. Half cup of chicken stock. Perhaps you added a full cup of stock ? I know I almost did until I read over the ingredients a second time before adding each bit. Just a thought. It’s certainly a great recipe and simple too. My nine year old niece was here when I was making it and she has insisted on making it for her family this weekend, without any assistance.. Mind you, I have to be on Zoom on standby for any S.O.S moment. LoL
I used half heavy cream and half non-fat milk for the 1 cup of half and half. After I added that and the chicken broth to the pan things seem very runny, but it started “soaking” in! This is a yummy, easy dish. Can’t wait to eat the leftovers!