Several of you have requested this Garlic Chicken Pasta recipe when you’ve seen it on my menu plans. I put off posting it because I was still tweaking it. I THINK I’ve got it the way I like it now!
I like this Creamy Mac and Cheese recipe so much that I finally tried using the same method of cooking the pasta in the milk for this new recipe too. Aha! Now I like it.
Garlic Chicken Pasta
2 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite sized pieces (great way to use up leftover chicken)
1 clove garlic or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or more if you like lots of garlic)
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pasta
3 cups whole milk
3 Tablespoons butter
1/2 t. sea salt
grated parmesan cheese
In a skillet, saute chicken and garlic in olive oil. Turn to low heat to keep warm. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a big pot with the milk, butter and salt. Stir almost constantly, especially as the pasta is becoming tender and the milk is beginning to boil. Cook and stir over medium heat until pasta is tender and the starch from the pasta has thickened the milk, creating a creamy sauce. Stir in the chicken and serve immediately…sprinkling parmesan cheese on each serving.
To make this recipe into Three Cheese Garlic Chicken Pasta:
Follow recipe as above, except before adding chicken to cooked pasta…remove from heat and add 1/2 cup shredded white cheddar and 3 oz. cream cheese. Stir until cheese has melted…add chicken and serve with parmesan cheese.
Huh, I just so happen to have some chicken in the fridge, just waiting to fulfill its destiny. :>) Thanks, Laura!
This looks delicious!
Laura, that looks delicious. Thanks!
Oooh…this looks YUMMY! Thanks for sharing, we will definitely be trying it out very soon. I scored a bunch of Smart Chicken for 0.99/lb (WOOHOO!)and have been needing some new chicken recipes.
That looks very good! I think I will be trying that soon!
Chris
Looks soooooo good! I’m going to try it before the week is out!
Do I have to measure the pasta and milk? I’ve never measured pasta before. Usually I just put some in a pot to make up.
You don’t have to meausre necessarily…just make sure there is enough milk to cover the pasta. The measurements I gave are just guidelines.
Looks so good, I will be putting this on the list for next weeks menu plan! Thanks!
Oooooh; that looks good. In fact, that looks like dinner tonight! lol
Thanks. :)
Whoa- cooking pasta in milk- I have never ever heard of that. I’ll bet its fantastic!
Ok, thanks! I wasn’t sure, since you won’t be draining the milk.
Me either, this will be a first for me too!
I made this today for my husband and he really enjoyed it. We didn’t have any leftover chicken, so I substituted shrimp and it was great! Thanks for the recipe.
yummmmmmmmmmm!!!! I just made this for lunch!
I was soooooo skeptical about the milk and pasta together. But it worked out!
I think I made more of an alfredo sauce tho. I was trying to get it seasoned and the salt just wasn’t doing it lol. So I added cracked pepper, garlic powder, and the parm cheese when it was done (before serving). After adding the parm cheese, it was perfect!
I’m off to make the chicken… I was so skeptical, that I didn’t do the chicken with it lol, just in case I didn’t like it, or it didn’t work out.
Laura, would this work w/spaghetti… more like angel hair pasta?
This does work with spaghetti, but it’s a little harder to stir it since the noodles are so long. Once they soften up though, it works just fine!
We just tried this recipe tonight… and my hubby & I loved it! I used sharp cheddar, simply b/c I couldn’t find white cheddar anywhere in the store (and was way too tired to look very hard-lol). Even with that difference, we enjoyed it! Hopefully will try with white cheddar sometime too!
This might be my family’s favorite meal now. Thanks Laura!!!
My family thought this recipe was okay, but it needed some spice. We still haven’t figured it out…..
I love the idea of cooking the pasta in the milk! What a time saver :)I use brown rice noodles though, you think that would still work? I don’t care for the taste of whole wheat pastas. Ooh, I can taste it now w/some broccoli or asparagus as a side!
So I tried it w/brown rice pasta…and it worked great! It takes a little longer to cook, but it tasted awesome :)
Glad to know it worked! Yay!
So do you boil the milk by itself and then add the pasta (like you do with water), or just put everything in at the beginning? Can’t wait to try this!
No, go ahead and put the milk and pasta in together and let it cook as the milk heats.
I have never cooked pasta in milk, but it turned out great. I agree about making broccoli or asparagus to go with it. Would even be good to add peas or corn to the pasta and chicken.
WOW!!! This is going into my monthly rotation menu! Thanks so much!
I just made this tonight and it was a big hit! My husband loved it. Thank you – the milk trick is awesome.
So I just made this- yummy but it wasnt as creamy as your pic :( Maybe I cooked it at too high a heat and my milk boiled away too fast?? I dont know, but I was sad becasue it was a little on the dry side. I guess I’ll just have to try it again :)
Yes, I’d say turn the heat down next time and add a little more milk if it looks like the pasta isn’t done yet and the milk has all boiled down. Try, try again!! :)
Can I use skim milk or does it need to be whole milk?
I used 2% milk since that’s what I had and it worked great! Since I was making extra for lunch tomorrow, I also used a little more milk and pasta. :)
WOW this was so good! My picky kids loved it :-)
I even shared the recipe with my oldest son who is out on his own and asking for Mac & Cheese recipes.
Thanks Laura for all your amazing recipes and I LOVE your sense of humor, I am so thankful to have found your site.
How many does this serve? I have a potluck Wednesday and would like to share this, but need to know how many to expect it to feed. Thank you!
You can also break the spaghetti noodles in half (if you’re not a pasta purits) to ease in stirring. :O)
“pasta purist” :O)
Ugh, sorry it’s a little bit past potluck time on Wednesday!! :(
I’d say it serves about eight. Or six if you’re in my family. :)
I think it will work with skim, but I’ve never tried before.
Looks great…could this be frozen do you think?
This wouldn’t be on my top list if foods to freeze but I think it *should* work. :)
I made this dish last night and it was great! I also pureed some cauliflower and added it to the dish. I figured some extra veggies couldn’t hurt.
I made this tonight with skim milk and it turned out exactly the same as using whole milk.
Thank you for this recipe Laura! I didn’t have chicken ready so I threw in a chopped up bunch of broccoli a couple of minutes after the mixture started boiling and it worked beautifully. We had tuna melts and salad with it too. My five year old stirred for me while my other five year old “made” tuna melts. I doubled the recipe for my family of 7 and didn’t have any leftovers. They all loved it!! This one goes down in our family history, everyone loved the same healthy entree recipe. WooHoo! I would double it for a potluck but I bring a 9/13″ pan or bigger because we have a big family and figure we should bring a corresponding size dish to pass :)
I used the base of this last night to make a tuna casserole. I boiled the noodles in milk with butter and added garlic to that. Also added mixed vegetables. When pasta was tender, I added parm cheese and tuna. Put mixture into a casserole dish and topped with cheddar cheese and bread crumbs and baked until golden on top. It was so good. I never thought of boiling the noodles in milk before. Next time I have leftover chicken, I a definitely making this recipe.
This makes so much sense! I have a recipe for baked mac and cheese where the pasta is cooked in the milk and it is so good and so easy!
6 tbsp butter, melted and spread in casserole dish
2 cups macaroni, uncooked
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded fine
4 cups milk, plus a little more
salt to taste
use a 9×13″ dish
place the ingredients in the dish in the order listed, do not stir.
bake 1 hr at 350 degrees
watch to make sure it doesn’t get dry, if it does you could add a little more milk but do not stir.
serves 12
I am making this now…looks promising! I will be back to let you know how everyone likes it. I will also be serving it with broccoli…Roasted Parmesan Broccoli by Melissa D’Arabian from Food Network.
Everyone enjoyed the dish….we all think we would like more garlic and maybe more spices too. I love the way it cooked in the milk, really neat! I used 1% because that’s what we always have, and it worked fine. I also substituted mozzarella because that’s what we had. Next time, the plan is to use the cheddar, ad some spices and more garlic…..wonderful, easy dish, though. Thanks!
Ok, this goes into my menu planning for the week so that I can use up some chicken. I will have to use angel hair pasta but thanks for your previous reviewers, I believe it will work! Thanks for sharing great recipes.
Yum, this was great! I cut up some broccoli and cauliflower really tiny and my daughter ate it up without noticing. She NEVER eats vegetables. Success!
It’d also be good with spinach, or a can of tomatoes.
where has this recipe been all my life? This is awesome! Thanks!
Thanks for another winner recipe! Our family loved these so much, I’ve featured the recipe link on our site’s “In the Kitchen” page.
Thanks for sharing several of my recipes with your readers!!! :)
Made this tonight and it was AMAZING!!! Will definitely be making this again! Even my picky 2 year old ate it up!
My family loves this! We have it quite often.
made this last night, and it was yummy! used the original garlic chicken pasta recipe and topped with a little mozzarella cheese and it was great!
My little one and I tried this last night for dinner since Daddy wasn’t eating with us, and he isn’t really for homemade cheesy noodle dishes. This was ok. I really think I just need to find a good quality cheese and this would be delicious!
I didn’t feel like cooking chicken because it takes so long, so I used fully cooked diced chicken that I bought frozen at Kroger where the keep the chicken nuggets. It worked great.
I just made this and it was way too bland. It just tasted like cream. The recipe sounds good, but it needs some tweaking in order to make it taste like something other than milk and butter.
I am a notoriously bad cook and typically shy away from new recipes. However, this was easy and delicious! Thanks so much for sharing this!
In our family it only serves 4. I guess we eat more than most people :)
Thick and creamy but bland. Needs something but don’t know how to spice it up.
Made it with sparkle of mixed herbs in chicken as well as in milk. Also added mozzarella cheese while adding cheese, which made it bit spiced and more cheesy. If was yummmmy. Thanks Laura.
Just realized I’m out of pasta…:( DO you think this would work with rice? Maybe even make the “sauce” separately and then mix in the end??
Omigosh, that sounds so much more my family’s style! Please tell me that you made it that way — and that it worked? That really has me motivated now! my husband is NOT a pasta friend, but when I suggested this over rice, he said, “Yeah! That’ll work!”
I agree with Jodie…sounds delicious! I would say it should work out great!
I was skeptical about this dish but it turned out great. Needed a bit more seasoning but that is easy to remedy. I used a bag of gluten free rice pasta shells.
I am confused. If the chicken is cooked already then why does the recipe say to sauté the chicken?
Sorry I didn’t write that very clearly. ;) Saute as normal if you start out with raw chicken. If it is already cooked, simply stir-fry it around in the garlic and oil to work in the flavor and heat up the chicken.
I have 2 chicken breasts and have no idea what to do with them. I cook every day and run out of ideas. This looks delicious! I’m putting my chicken breasts in the oven and will be making this dish tonight. To the people that say it is bland, make sure you taste your food along the way, it’s not against the law to add some salt and spices to the dish, if the recipe isn’t flavored enough for you. Pink Himalayan salt, fresh ground black pepper and some Italian type seasoning is always added to my dishes.