Cajun Chicken Pasta
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details.
Chili’s copycat recipe made at home with an amazingly creamy melt-in-your-mouth alfredo sauce. And you know it tastes 10000x better!
I honestly haven’t been to Chili’s in about 10 years, but this place really holds such good memories for me. I’ve come here with family on many occasions and I might have had my first real date here. No joke.
Hey, when you’re 16, Chili’s is the best date night you will get. And I wouldn’t mind it on a Friday night right now. After all, have you seen their blooming onion?
But this cajun pasta has always had my heart and soul. That creamy alfredo sauce just melts right in your mouth, complemented by the spicy kick of the cajun chicken topped with refreshing tomato chunks and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
The flavor combination is just perfect, and you can make it right at home in 30 minutes or less. That way you can have date night with the same restaurant-quality at home, in sweats, binge-watching Netflix. Done.
Cajun Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning
- 8 ounces penne pasta
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup heavy cream, or more, to taste
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine chicken, 1 tablespoon olive oil and cajun seasoning.
- Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a cast iron grill pan over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook, flipping once, until cooked through, about 5-6 minutes on each side. Set aside and keep warm.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
- Gradually whisk in heavy cream and lemon zest. Cook, whisking constantly, until incorporated, about 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in Parmesan until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes. If the mixture is too thick, add more heavy cream as needed; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir in pasta and gently toss to combine.
- Serve immediately with chicken, garnished with tomatoes and parsley, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
This recipe was so good! My husband is not a huge fan of pasta and he had two big servings. I did end up using a splash or two more of cream because I like my pasta saucy and I added a few dashes of cajun seasoning as well to give a little heat. I almost didn’t add the tomatoes because I felt they were just for garnish but they are very much needed to add some fresh cooling flavors that help cut through the delicious cream sauce.
EXCELLENT!!! My whole family LOVES this dish! Easy to make and taste almost identical to Chili’s!
I have made this several times. It is Damn Delicious! I usually double sauce and I rarely have lemon on hand so omit it and it taste just fine! It is a huge hit with the kids!
Will be attempting a dairy free version tonight for supper. Subbing canned coconut milk and dairy free provolone for the cream and Parmesan cheese. I love the Chili’s version and sadly my hubby can not have it due to his milk protein allergy.
This looks incredible. Gonna try to make a healthy version of it, probably tomorrow, because pre-diabetes. Sub heavy cream with milk + 2tbsp corn starch. Reduce noodles by 1/2 (to lower carbs) and add 8oz steamed broccoli or green beans to the sauce along w/ noodles. Maybe a little extra lemon zest & cajun seasoning in the sauce.
I appreciate your comments. I like to lighten up casseroles.
Amazing!!!
This is really easy and wonderful. My family loved it. Making it for the second time
Great!
I made this for my wife, she couldn’t get enough, couldn’t say enough great things about it. Sorry no pics, I never remember that stuff until we finish. We put it over Spaghetti squash!
Could this be made with a heavy cream substitute? What would be good?
You can substitute half and half, Alex. 🙂
1cup milk + 1-2tbsp corn starch (mix them real well before adding!) is another substitution suggestion, slightly healthier than half and half if that’s what you’re looking for (I usually use 2% milk). Won’t work in drinks or baking, but works in most cooking, so long as you mix up the corn starch real good. That 1-2 mins before adding parmesan should thicken the sauce up real nice; if it’s too thick, just add more milk.
This was really good! I did add an onion and a couple of chopped bell peppers st the same time as the garlic because always like vegetables I also cut up the chicken before seasoning just because. I will definitely be making it again!!
This dish is so delicious! I use chicken and shrimp. My Family loves it everytime I make it… Thank you so much for this recipe!!
I sauteed the breasts in the olive oil. Removed them when done. I then added the butter & garlic in the same pan. After an minute or so I added about 3/4 cup of chicken broth & 1/2 cup of white wine with the lemon (used 1/2 lemon juiced instead of zest). I added the tomatoes, then cheese. Sliced the chicken. plated the pasta with sauce on. top. Added the sliced breasts along with parsley and sliced scallions. VERY YUMMY! The added broth & wine made the sauce less gooey.
That sounds really good, Cheryl! Thanks so much for sharing your version of this!
I’ve made this before and it was delicious!!! Going to try it this weekend but substituting the chicken for shrimp. Wish me luck!!
Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Made this tonight and my husband said “man, this lady knows her shit.” So good!!
Love that! 🙂
Ive made this for 2 days in a row now. Even had other people make it too from telling them about it!!! Soooo good!!!!
This meal gives me so much life! The spice, the cream, the butter! It’s in our meal rotation at least once a month. We serve it with a rosemary focaccia bread & it never disappoints. Thanks for a wonderful recipe! Way better than the Chili’s version, IMO 🙂
My 12 year old daughter made this today & it was Awesome.
Amazing and a new family favorite! I doubled the sauce and garlic. While the chicken cooked, I squeezed fresh lemon juice on the meat and again while it was plated and covered. I had the lemon because of the lemon zest. (Doubled the lemon zest as well.) Excellent recipe!
Soooo good
This was soooo easy, quick and had minimal ingredients ! The lemon zest made a huge difference! Just that tiny bit gives such an amazing flavor without being “lemony”. I will definitely be making this over and over again!