Chicken Alfredo Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach, a delicious dish ready in just 30 minutes. Rich and creamy alfredo sauce, tender garlicky chicken and nutritious sun-dried tomatoes and spinach; this it dinner taken to the very next level.
Whenever l run out of ideas for dinner, l know there is always the good old pasta that everybody loves. The regular tomato sauce is nice, but how about something different? Like heavenly different? This creamy pasta sauce is to die for.
It might be a tad rich because of the cream, but it is worth every single calorie. Trust me, you have to give it a try, you have no idea what you lose here. And because the recipe is ready in well under 30 minutes, it makes a fantastic midweek dinner, that everybody can dig into, little ones included.
The sun-dried tomatoes and spinach add not only colour, but also some goodness to the dish. They are delicious and nutritious, and they work beautifully well with all the other ingredients.
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How to make alfredo pasta sauce
We only need a few ingredients here: butter, double cream (heavy cream), garlic and parmesan. You can omit the garlic, but that's the killer ingredient, so I'd keep it.
- Start by melting the butter, add the cream, and stir for a few minutes, until it thickens into a sauce.
- Add the minced garlic, parmesan, and that's it.
This sauce is great for any kind of pasta, and it beats any other cheese sauce you can buy in a store.
How to make chicken alfredo pasta
Start by grilling the chicken.
- Cut the chicken breasts into chunks, season with paprika, garlic granules, salt and pepper, then grill for about 5 minutes until cooked through.
- Add the sun-dried tomatoes and spinach, and cook for 1-2 minutes so that the spinach can wilt.
- When the pasta is cooked, drain well, add the sauce, chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach, and top with more cheese.
Expert tips
Do add a bit of the reserved pasta liquid, as the cream tends to harden pretty quickly, otherwise the sauce stays nice and light. Too much liquid tough, as the sauce won't stick to the pasta as easily. So no more than 2 tablespoons.
If you have leftover chicken, that's perfect to use, as it also cuts down the cooking time by about 10 minutes too. Or any sort of leftover meat you have around, anything goes.
Not to worry if you don't have sun-dried tomatoes, fresh ones can be used instead, just remove the seeds before chopping them. The spinach can be replaced with any other greens too.
Frozen spinach has to be thawed in advance, or it won't have time while the sauce is cooking. You can just add it to a separate pan with boiling water, and boil it while the pasta is cooking.
And that's pretty much it, a super simple, but so delicious meal made in no time with ingredients that you have around. Do give it a go!
Other alfredo recipes
This pasta dish is super simple and easy to make. I absolutely love the alfredo sauce, I made it many times, and these Cajun Chicken Alfredo Pasta, Easy Alfredo Pasta with Salmon and 20-Minute Creamy Shrimp Alfredo Pasta for Two are my absolute favourite.
If you’ve liked my CHICKEN ALFREDO PASTA WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATOES AND SPINACH or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.
Chicken Alfredo Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach
Ingredients
- 2 cups pasta
- 2 small chicken breasts
- 1 cup fresh baby spinach
- 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes
- 3 tablespoon parmesan cheese
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 cup double cream (or heavy cream)
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ground pepper to taste
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the package instructions.
- While pasta is cooking, dice the chicken breasts, place them in a re-sealable bag together with the oil, one teaspoon of garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper.
- Shake the bag well to coat the chicken, add the oil to a pan, then cook the chicken on high heat until tender and brown, that should take about 5 minutes.
- Chop the sun-dried tomatoes and add them to the pan together with the spinach and cook for a further 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- To make the alfrefo sauce, melt the butter in a pan, add the heavy cream and garlic powder and stir well for about 5 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken.
- Grate the parmesan and add it to the sauce, leaving some to top the pasta when ready. Stir in the minced garlic.
- When the pasta is cooked, drain the water and add the pasta to the sauce together with the chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach.
- Remove from the heat, transfer to a plate and grate some more parmesan on top.
- Serve immediately!
Nutrition
Simon Vanbecelaere
Mmm... that looks way too good! I'm instant hungry right now! Must try this soon! Made alfredo before but never with dried tomatoes and spinach.
Thank you!
Daniela Anderson
Thank you very much, glad you like it! ?
larissa
can creme fraiche be used instead of heavy cream?
Daniela Anderson
Yes, that should work well too.
Ciara
This is my new favorite recipe. Better than the best Italian restaurants in our town. I skip the spinach and double the sauce amounts for the extra sauce factor. So good!
Daniela Apostol
That's great, I am glad you liked it!