Tuscan Chicken Pasta
This is one of my newer recipes. I had a can of sun dried tomatoes and needed to do something with them. I love pasta and my new favorite thing is to mix fresh spinach with my pasta. It helps me feel like I am eating a healthy pasta. 🙂 This recipe uses my classic white sauce as its base and includes crispy strips of chicken.
Tuscan Chicken Pasta
Pasta with Chicken, Spinach, and Sun-dried Tomatoes
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 - 2 Chicken Breasts boneless, skinless, 1 large or 2 small
- ¼ Cup Flour
- Salt & Pepper
Sauce
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 3 tbsp Flour
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Cup Chicken Stock
- 2 Cups Half-n-half
- ½ Cup Sun-dried Tomatoes chopped
Pasta
- 8 oz Penne Pasta
- 10 oz Fresh Baby Spinach
- ¼ Cup Parmesan grated
Instructions
- Thinly slice the Chicken Breast into bite size pieces. In a zip lock bag mix 1/4 Cup of flour with 1/2 tsp of Salt. Add the sliced Chicken, seal bag and lightly shake to coat chicken in flour mixture.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large sauté pan on medium heat. Cook the chicken in two batches in the pan crisping up the floured surface. Add additional olive oil as needed. Set aside.
- Start water for cooking the pasta. Don't forget to add salt to your water. This is your only chance to properly season your pasta. 🙂
- In a sauté pan melt 2 tbsp of butter with 1 tbsp of olive oil on medium heat. Stir in 3 tbsp of flour and cook for a couple minutes. Then slowly pour in half-n-half and chicken broth. Be sure to continually stir as you are added the broth and half-n-half. Otherwise your sauce may end up lumpy. Continue cooking for about 10 -15 minutes until sauce thickens. Then add the sun-dried tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- By now your pasta water should be boiling. Cook the pasta until al dente per the package directions. I have found that to ensure the pasta does not overcook, I will set a timer to cook it exactly as directed on the package. Reserve 1 Cup of Pasta water before draining the pasta.
- Add the pasta to the sauce and cook for a 5 more minutes adding small amounts of pasta water as needed to thin out the sauce if it gets too thick. Add cooked chicken and spinach, toss in sauce.
- Sprinkle with Parmesan and add additional salt and pepper as needed.