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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It tastes absolutely delicious! Great recipe☺
Can you make this ahead?
Yes, it reheats well!
Hi , I’m just curious what type of brand did you use for Heavy Cream ?
Does it matter what kind ?
I’ve never really used heavy cream before so I want to be sure before buying it .
You can use any brand.
I am not sure what I did wrong- followed the recipe to a T. There is no thickening agent- so the sauce was very thin. Basically just cream. Flavor was good, but wrong consistency.
Just made this Dish, it was very very good. Made it just like it says, everyone in my family loved it, It will definitely be in my weekly recipe for home cooking
Oh yes, Cajun chicken! My hubbie will be making a trip to the grocery store tomorrow despite the fact that we have about a foot of snow! But I wanted you to know that I love the section on your site where you list ingredients so that I can cook a Damn Delicious meal with on-hand ingredients! And someone in my family had better get your cookbook for this wannabe chef! Thank you girl!
I think you have done an excellent job with the Cajun theme. Look super vibrant and gorgeous.
I have tried a lot of your recipes since coming across one by chance and let me say I don’t think I’ve come across a disappointing one yet!!! Keep them coming!
Made this one tonight but instead of doing a full cup of heavy cream I did about half cream and half soy milk and changed out the tomatoes for broccoli and spinach bc my boyfriend doesn’t like tomatoes.
But this was SO TASTY!
Made this dish last night and it was AMAZING. I am VERY new to cooking and I was surprised at how easy this pasta was to make (: Thank you so much for the awesome recipe!
It really did taste like Chili’s!
You, my dear, are amazing!! I cannot get over how fantastic this dish is!! Followed your recipe to a T & it turned out perfect! It’s definitely one for the rotation ’round here! Thanks for all your amazing recipes. Keep doing what you’re doing!
I’ve made this. And made this. And made this again. My entire family absolutely LOVES it! We used shrimp tonight instead of chicken. We were in no way disappointed. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!!
Can I substitute half and half for the heavy cream?
Yes.
It was a great day for me when I made this wonderful cajun chicken pasta. I like pasta so much & tried many of its kind but this one was really yummy & delicious. I would love to try this out every week ! Thank you for sharing this mouth watering recipe 🙂 !!
I’ve made this several times. One of the few recipes everyone in my house likes. The kids ask almost weekly when will I make it again! Thanks so much for sharing!
I just made this today, and it is so good! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I love having pasta but the Cajun Chicken Pasta I have never tried.
Looks really delicious. Will give it a try today.
Thanks for the wonderful post.
WoW Yummy .. Thanks for sharing this delicious post!..
Made it, loved it! I sear my chicken in butter instead of oil. I have a Deiss zesting tool and this recipe gave me a chance to use it! Will definitely make again!
This was absolutely amazing!! My husband loves Chili’s Cajun chicken pasta…. And he said this may be my best dish I cooked. Thank you!!! 🙂
Your cooking food is looking so delicious that my mouth become full of yummy water. I know this will be healthy and delicious. Keep posting such a good posts so that i can also cook and serve good food in my family.
Thanks