Description
This creamy chicken bacon pasta is a Sunday night dinner dream with built-in leftovers for lunch. No butter. No cream. Totally awesome flavor.
Ingredients
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The chicken
- 2 1/2 pounds of boneless chicken breast (I used thin cutlets)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil for cooking, more if needed
The pasta
- 1 pound box of thin spaghetti (or whatever kind of pasta you want)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt for water (don't skip this)
- Follow box instructions
- 1 1/2 pounds bacon (cooked and chopped)
- 3 tablespoons of garlic, finely diced (6-8 medium cloves)
- 1/2 cup onion, finely diced (1/2 of a medium-to-large onion)
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil (mix with spaghetti during assembly)
- 1 cup shaker parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup reserved pasta water
- 1/4 regular hot tap water
- More olive oil as needed
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan, optional garnish
- Red pepper flakes, optional garnish
- Lemon wedges, optional garnish
Instructions
- The bacon. You can cook the day before and refrigerate if you want to save a little time. Or cook it at the beginning of the process and set aside to cool before chopping.
- Start heating your pasta water at the beginning of the process. Fill a pot with water and add salt. Some of the pasta water will be used in the sauce and is a critical ingredient so don’t discard the pasta water.
- Trim the fat from around the edges of the boneless breast of chicken. Then cut the chicken in half lengthwise into pieces that are around the same size so they cook evenly.
- Lay out the chicken pieces on one or two sheet pans and season with salt, garlic powder and pepper. Seasoning on one side only – no need to turn and season the other side.
- Finely dice the garlic.
- Finely dice the onion.
- Finely chop the parsley. You’ll use some of this when assembling the pasta and some for garnish.
- Chop the cooked bacon into approximately ½ inch pieces.
- Pasta water should be boiling and you can add the whole box of spaghetti here and cook to package instructions. Put on back burner of your stovetop.
- Heat a tablespoon of olive oil each in two pans and let it get hot ---- then add chicken to both pans. You want it to sizzle when you add the chicken. Heat should be medium-to-high here. If you cook all the chicken in one pan and crowd the pan the chicken will steam which we don’t want.
- Lay chicken out flat in both pans and let cook on medium/high heat for three minutes. After three minutes the chicken should have a nice sear on the bottom. Stir chicken and cook the other side for about a minute. Have kitchen tongs ready to turn pieces individually as needed.
- Add diced onions to one of the chicken pans and mix together. I didn’t add oil here, but add a splash if needed. Cook for a couple of minutes until onions are soft and starting to brown a little.
- Clear a spot and add a splash more olive oil to the center of the pan. Add the garlic to the oil and stir. Let it cook in center of pan for 30 seconds or until it’s fragrant.
- Add the other pan of chicken into the chicken that has the garlic and onion. Stir until well combined.
- Add the bacon to the pan and mix thoroughly. We want the heat to render off a little of that bacon fat. Cook one minute or so here and now it’s done.
- Pasta should be cooked by now and make sure you remove some pasta water and set aside for sauce. This recipe calls for ¼ cup. Take at least ½ to one full cup in case you need more. You can discard what isn’t needed later.
- After you have taken the pasta water out of the pot, you can drain the spaghetti in a colander.
- PASTA ASSEMBLY. Add the drained spaghetti to a large mixing bowl. Add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and toss the pasta. This really helps with making sure the pasta doesn’t stick together.
- Add the chicken bacon mixture to the pasta bowl along with the parmesan cheese, 2-3 tablespoons of chopped parsley and the pasta water. Mix well to combine. (SEE NOTE 1)
- You will need more liquid to make the pasta sauce/coating creamier. Taste the pasta and add either more pasta water (careful – it’s salted) or plain hot tap water from your sink. (SEE NOTE 2) I felt the pasta had enough salt at that point so I added ¼ cup of hot tap water and it was perfect. You can add more if you want it creamier.
- After you add the final liquid, mix well and make sure ingredients are evenly distributed. Serve immediately and garnish with fresh grated parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and lemon wedges if using. (SEE NOTE 3)
Equipment
T-fal Non-Stick Pans (set of 3)
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Pyrex Glass Measuring Cup (2 Cup)
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Measuring Spoons, Stainless Steel
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Calphalon Saute Pan with Lid (5QT)
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Buy Now → Notes
- You can add ½ cup of the shaker parmesan cheese at a time if you prefer. This is how I did it in the video. Add a ½ cup and mix it – add the rest if you want to.
- Once you add the pasta water and mix everything together you will still need more liquid. You should taste it. You will either add more pasta water to get it nice and creamy (but be careful because the water is salty) OR you can simply add hot water from your tap. That’s what I did. I tasted the pasta and the salt was perfect the way it was – so if I added more pasta water the dish would have been over salted. I simply added hot tap water (1/4 cup more worked for me, but if you want yours creamier you can add more).
- The shaker parmesan cheese works best for mixing with the pasta in my opinion. Fresh cheese may be harder to mix and the pasta could stick together. That is why I usually finish the pasta with fresh cheese as a topping. I shred/grate it with my microplane right over the top at the end. It’s delicious! It’s also pricey if you are not using it for anything else so that’s why it’s optional. This will still taste amazing even if you don’t use the fresh cheese at the end.