One Pot Creamy Chicken Broccoli Pasta with Cream Cheese and Parmesan
Creamy bites of curly pasta tossed with cubed chicken and fresh broccoli florets make up a satisfying and complete meal in just a couple of minutes in this easy one pot chicken pasta.
Ingredients
- 3½ cups Cooked Short Pasta - I'm using curly rotini pasta
- 1 lb Chicken Tenderloin Pieces
- 4 cups Fresh Broccoli Florets - lightly steamed for 3 minutes
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 2 cloves Garlic - minced
- ¼ cup Red Onion - fine diced
- 2 tbsp All Purpose Flour
- 2 cups Whole Milk or Half and Half
- 1 tbsp Cream Cheese - softened - such as Philadelphia cream cheese
- 2 tbsp Ground Parmesan
- ½ tsp Coarse Salt
- ½ tsp Cracked Ground Pepper
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil - plus more for pan as needed while cooking chicken
Instructions
- Add your favorite cooked short pasta to a bowl and set aside. If not prepared, drop into a pot of boiling water and prepare 'al dente' according to package directions.
- Steam broccoli florets on medium high heat for 3 minutes then transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Season and coat chicken tenderloin pieces with a 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt and a 1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper plus 1 tbsp of good fruity olive oil.
- Drizzle a bit of olive oil into the bottom of a large skillet. Cook chicken tenderloin pieces over medium-high heat for about four minutes on each side (flipping once in between). When cooking time is up, remove cooked chicken from the pan, transfer to a plate, and cover loosely with foil.
- In the same pan you used to cook the chicken, toss in the butter and melt butter in pan on low (so as not to let the garlic burn). Toss in minced garlic plus 1/4 cup of fine diced red onion. Cook on gentle heat until onion is golden, translucent, and caramelized, and garlic is fragrant and tender, about another 2 to 5 minutes.
- Switch to a whisk and sprinkle in all purpose flour whisking it in until it forms a golden brown paste. Cook for 1 to 2 more minutes until nutty smell from the flour is gone.
- Splash in the whole milk or half n half cream. Whisk it in constantly as you pour and let come to a light simmer whisking until just lightly thickened to coat a spoon.
- Melt in the softened cream cheese plus the ground Parmesan cheese and whisk to combine. Immediately turn off the heat (as the sauce will continue to thicken with added heat). If too thick, thin out by adding a splash more cream or milk and whisk in. Taste and check seasoning. If needed, season to desired taste with pinches of coarse salt/cracked pepper.
- Cut cooked chicken tenders into bite-sized pieces and toss into the pan with creamy white cheese sauce.
- Toss in cooked short pasta plus prepared broccoli florets and stir all ingredients together in the same wide pan to combine. Sprinkle with additional ground parmesan and minced parsley. Serve hot.
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