This chicken and pasta skillet dinner is perfect for a weeknight dinner, and has become part of our regular
rotation. The pasta is cooked in the skillet, and cooked chicken breast and broccoli is added. The creamy sauce has plenty of garlic, onion and red pepper flakes. Asiago cheese, a little heavy cream and final drizzle of lemon juice gives the entire dish a delicious flavor.
I need to readjust what I cook, because I need recipes that I can have on the table in 45 minutes, or less. Ideally, the meal won’t take a lot of prep work and (if I’m lucky) I’ll have leftovers to take for lunch the next day– hence, more time in the morning to get ready to leave for work after dragging myself out of bed at the evil hour of 5:00am.
This skillet dinner prep time took about 20 minutes to put together. I’m pretty skilled with a knife, so if someone is just learning how to chop, chop, chop– then I’d say prep work can take at least 30 minutes. The plus side, though, is that once the dinner is underway in cooking, you can tidy up the kitchen.
Enough said– on with the recipe:
You’ll need boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch squares, sun-dried tomatoes, minced garlic, dried oregano (fresh is okay, too), red pepper flakes, chicken broth, broccoli, heavy cream (you could substitute half & half, I suppose but I haven’t tested that theory), ziti (I used farfalle, because it’s what I had), water, Asiago cheese (I only had Parmesan), and fresh lemon juice. I recommend that you do your mis en place (“mess in place”). Once your have all of your ingredients organized, the cooking part goes fast. Ready?
You’ll use olive oil and you want to quickly sear the chicken. Be sure the chicken is patted nice and dry, or you’ll just end up steaming the chicken. This takes 2 minutes, max. Set it aside in a bowl…
The nice brown bits from searing the chicken will give the chopped onion and garlic a nice flavor and a pretty golden brown… now it’s time to cook the pasta…
Since this is a “skillet dinner”, you’ll be cooking the pasta in the skillet with chicken with water and chicken broth. Once the pasta water looks “syrupy” it’s time to add the sun-dried tomatoes, broccoli and a little more water. The Asiago or Parmesan cheese and lemon juice are on standby…
Give this a little stir…
Put the lid on and let this cook for 3-5 minutes– just until the broccoli is tender and a pretty bright green.
Now, add the chicken and accumulated juices, the heavy cream and the cheese. Allow this to cook a few minutes until the sauce thickens a bit. This dish smells fragrantly delicious.
Off heat, add the lemon juice and season to taste with kosher (or sea salt) and pepper. As far as I’m concerned, this is far better than “Hamburger Helper”– by a long shot.
This might not be a 30-Minute meal, but it’s very tasty. It reheats well and you could even freeze leftovers for a fast “I’m too tired to cook, what can I defrost?” kind of meal.
I have a feeling I’ll be making a few of those when the first day of school starts, in a week’s time– it’s the most hectic time of year at my job! But, I love the high school kids and I cannot say that my job is boring at all.
Skillet Chicken with Broccoli, Ziti, and Asiago Cheese
Equipment
- 1 skillet with a lid
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch squares
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
- 1 medium onion minced (about 1 cup)
- 3 medium cloves garlic minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 8 ounces ziti 2½ cups; can substitute penne or farfalle
- 2 ¾ cups water
- 1 ⅔ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 12 ounces broccoli florets 4 cups
- ¼ cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes rinsed and chopped coarse
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 ounce grated Asiago cheese ½ cup, plus extra for serving
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add the chicken in a single layer and cook for 1 minute without stirring. Stir the chicken and continue to cook until most, but not all, of the pink color has disappeared and the chicken is lightly browned around the edges, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Transfer the chicken to a clean bowl and set aside.
- Add the remaining tablespoon of oil, onion, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the skillet. Return the skillet to medium-high heat and cook, stirring often, until the onion is softened, 2 to 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, oregano, and pepper flakes, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add the pasta, 2 cups of the water, and the broth. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until the liquid is very thick and syrupy and almost completely absorbed, 12 to 15 minutes.
- Add the broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes, and the remaining 3/4 cup water. Cover, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until the broccoli turns bright green and is almost tender, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Uncover and return the heat to high. Stir in the cream, Asiago, and reserved chicken with any accumulated juices and continue to simmer, uncovered, until the sauce is thickened and the chicken is cooked and heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve, passing more grated Asiago at the table, if desired.
Notes
Your "mess in place" photo is pretty and your comment made me laugh 🙂
I would love this but Mr. H doesn't like sun dried tomatoes- rats!
I will so be trying this recipe. I have the 30 minute cookbook of theirs and made a similar one with chicken broccoli cheddar and rice. I loved it so I know I will enjoy this one too. Their recipes are always just perfect!
This looks delicious! I will be trying this one for sure!
Wow that looks yummy as heck, I cant wait to try it!
Oooh, yum: Anytime I see the word 'cream' I know I'll love it! I agree with you that the Cook's Illustrated cookbooks are winners and also that Rachel Ray needs to tone it down a bit. My horses ate all of my carrots before I could steal some more, so they'll have to suffer with a few peppermints!
P.S. Do you teach for your career? I return to campus (teaching) in two weeks (is why I asked). I will be just like you in regard to cooking (time, planning, simplicity, etc.) Ciao for now, Roz
This looks tasty! Isn't it awful to have to go back to work?!
Debby, You're such an organized cook, I need to take some lesons from you with that "mess in place", my mess seems to all over!
Interesting way to cook the pasta, I never would think of that!
I love simple meals~ definitely will be trying this one!
I want to thank you for your blog inspiration as I redesigned my blog….I chose the same blog designer as you used.
Please stop on over to check it out and ALSO…..I have something special for you on my post today!
Blessings, Roz
I love all the ingredients in this pasta, it sounds delicious!
Debby, we should definitely chat! I have a page full of fast recipes that are good after-work dinners.
This sounds like an excellent meal! I'm going to book mark it.
YUM! This looks great! I just got some Himalayan sea salt and organic pepper from Sustainable Sourcing https://secure.sustainablesourcing.com/ and I think I'll try it out in this tonight. Thanks for sharing!
This is a perfect 45-minute after-work meal! (Maybe a little more than 30, but not bad for such good food!). I loved it. I made it a long time ago and just got back to it again, and it did not disappoint! The sun-dried tomatoes are so good. The sauce smelled amazing simmering on the stovetop. This was down-sized a little for their Cooking for Two 2009 cookbook, which I have. It still makes a LOT of pasta, IMO. Highly recommended!!!!!!!