Cajun Chicken Pasta
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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?
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I recommend like 4 times the seasoning or just eyeballing it; also you add cayenne pepper to get some flavor and kick.
We make this probably once a month, and every time we do we say the same thing…. “THIS IS AMAZING!”
Such a simple, perfect spicy recipe. Thank you for this!
This recipe is amazing! I added a little more garlic to the sauce, but it turned out better than the Chili’s Cajun Chicken Pasta
Super yummy! One of my new favorites!
Excellent recipe. I used shredded Mexican cheese because I forgot the parmesan. I recommend cooking the cream sauce longer than is stated to get it to thicken, as well as use 1/2 to twice the amount of butter and heavy cream.
This pasta was absolutely delicious! My husband doesn’t usually like any kind of pasta, but he ate 2 servings! I was really pleased with the outcome! This pasta made me feel like I could be a chef in a expensive restaurant! It’s really easy to cook and inexpensive to buy!
Very easy and very yummy!!
I love that you use heavy cream in this pasta recipe! It makes the dish so much more flavorful and creamier.
Could you use half heavy cream and half 2% milk with some flour to help with calories? Or even use all milk with flour. I can’t wait to try this but I am on a diet still!
Yes, of course!
A million thank-you’s for this recipe, because it is PERFECT! And it’s easily vegetarian by just leaving the chicken out, so we love it. I’m under orders to make it every week now!
This was so good! My grocery store had no Roma tomatoes so I used a couple spoons of the mild Rotel instead. Also, to thicken my sauce, I used a couple tablespoons of low fat cream cheese since too much Parmesan can make a sauce too salty. I will definitely make this again!
Thanks for your feedback, Wanda!
This was amazing. My kids even loved it. My husband had 3 bowls!
Made this recipe last night and it was fantastic. I mixed a little cayenne pepper with Cajun seasoning and it gave the chicken a good flavorful taste. Thanks for sharing this recipe
That sounds great! Happy you liked it!
This dish is soooo good and easy. I made it with sundried tomatoes because I love them but I also topped it with the Roma tomatoes and that was super good because it was cold and juicy. This dish is awesome as a leftover too.
Great!
Do you happen to know how many carbs are in 1 serving? Thanks.
Nutritional information is provided only for select and new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information. Hope that helps!
What kind of cream is this recipe asking for
Heavy cream.
Hi! I was wondering if this could be prepped or prepared and frozen? If so, how would you recommend do so?
Freezing sounds like an amazing idea but unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself. Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
This was definitely a winner in our house! I opted to bake the chicken and added asparagus to the pot along with the pasta for an added veggie and it was delicious. Hubby and toddler approved meal, will be going in the monthly rotation for sure!
Happy you and your family enjoyed it!
Girl, you just made my day. I love this dish. Perfect for family dinner. Thank you!
Awesome! Thanks Megan!
Made this tonight and it was amazing!!! My husband’s new favorite meal! Thank you for sharing!
That’s so great Emily!