Chicken Garlic Parmesan Pasta

This Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Pasta recipe combines tender, seasoned chicken with a rich and creamy Parmesan sauce over perfectly cooked pasta. It’s a comforting and flavorful dish that’s easy to prepare for a satisfying meal any night of the week.

An easy pasta dinner that sprung out of the viral Tiktok video of the Buffalo Wild Wings Garlic Parmesan Chicken Pasta. My take on this amazing recipe will feed your whole family without using a store-bought preservatives-heavy sauce.

Once you make this pasta, your family will most likely say it is the best pasta they’ve ever had, as it easily beats any restaurant meal too.

Did I mention it takes less than an hour to make everything?

Ingredients Notes

This garlic parmesan chicken pasta recipe calls for a few pantry staples and is very budget-friendly.

Chicken

• Boneless skinless chicken breasts cubed (roughly 1/2-1 inch thick) or use any leftover rotisserie chicken. Chicken thighs have a more tender chicken meat so you can use them.
• Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, to taste. Aromatic herbs and loads of garlic make sure you have flavors in every bite. You can use your favorite dried herbs individually (like basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme) instead of the mixed seasoning.
• Olive oil. Any other neutral vegetable oil works for cooking chicken. Avocado oil is a great option. If your chicken is burning, you can add a little bit of unsalted butter.
• Minced garlic. Fresh garlic has much more garlic flavor than any garlic powder.
• Grated Parmesan cheese. Freshly grated parmesan cheese is better than store-bought.

Pasta

• Fettuccine or spaghetti. Short shapes like rotini or penne pasta, even bow tie pasta can work too.

Garlic Parmesan Sauce

• Butter. Unsalted is better, but if you only have the salted version, taste the sauce before you add more salt.
• Heavy cream (heavy creamy plus cream cheese). Both make amazingly smooth and creamy sauces that complement this delicious dish exactly in the way we want. If you tried it with cream already and that’s too thick for you, use full-fat milk instead or half and half.
• Grated or shredded parmesan cheese. I love creamy pasta with lots of cheese. Feel free to use any of the easy melting cheeses like Gouda, Pecorino Romano, mozzarella, cheddar, etc.
• Garlic powder – there is never too much garlic flavor. Onion powder is cool to use too, if you want.
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Fresh parsley, fresh, chopped, for garnish (optional)

This recipe uses a sauce that is made from scratch, I don’t use Buffalo Wild Wings Sauce at all here. I find it quite high in sodium. BWW garlic parmesan sauce also uses vinegar, but my homemade creamy garlic sauce doesn’t have it.

Of course, you can always use the bottle of BWW sauce as a shortcut to save time, then you will only need a handful of ingredients!

Garlic Parm Sauce VS Alfredo Sauce

The sauce we’re making is basically a version of Alfredo sauce with 4 main ingredients butter, cream, garlic, and parmesan. Many white sauces have the same ingredients but just in different ratios.

Kitchen Equipment You Need

• Skillet to cook the chicken. Make sure to use a large skillet and not to overcrowd it while searing the chicken. You can do it in batches too. You can use a stainless steel pan with higher sides too, in that case, you can make everything in one pot!
• A pot to cook pasta.

How To Make This Chicken Garlic Parmesan Pasta Recipe

1: Cook Chicken

1. Season the chicken breast with garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper – tossing to evenly distribute the seasonings. Make sure all sides are evenly coated.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. 
3. Add minced garlic and sauté for about 1 minute until fragrant.
4. Add the seasoned chicken breasts to the skillet. Cook each side for 6-7 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and golden brown.
5. In summer, feel free to grill chicken on your grill. If using a meat thermometer, the chicken is done when its internal temperature is at 165 degrees F.
6. Remove the chicken from the skillet and let it rest for a few minutes.
7. Sprinkle the chicken with grated Parmesan cheese and set aside.

2: Cook Pasta

1. While the chicken cooks, start working on pasta and cream sauce.
2. Boil a large pot of salted water. Add the pasta and cook according to the package instructions until al dente. Drain and set aside.
3. Another way to do it is to deglaze the pan you used to pan-sear the chicken with some chicken broth and boil the pasta in the same pan.

3: Parmesan Garlic Sauce

1. Melt the butter over medium heat in the same skillet used for the chicken.
2. Add the heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, and garlic powder. Stir continuously until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
3. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Add the cooked pasta to the skillet with the sauce. Toss to coat the pasta evenly.
5. Add the already-cooked chicken on top of the pasta.
6. Garnish with chopped parsley and additional grated parmesan, if desired.

What To Serve With Garlic Chicken Parmesan Pasta

You can serve it with:

• some garlic bread,
• and if want a little kick, sprinkle some red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper. Can make hot sauce for this recipe too.
• For sides, you can make some steamed broccoli or some spinach.
• Garden or leafy green salads.

Storage

Storing. Store parmesan garlic chicken pasta leftovers in an airtight container for 4-5 days. Reheat in a microwave.

Freezing. I don’t like freezing pasta as it changes the texture, but it is possible. Store in a freezer-safe container for 2 months. Thaw overnight and reheat as usual.

Making This Dish In A Crock Pot

You can use a slow cooker to make the sauce and chicken and cook them on low for 3-4 hours.

You have to boil the pasta separately. Then you can add pasta to the chicken and sauce, toss, and serve.

Substitutions & Variations

• To make this recipe zero gluten, use gluten-free pasta.
• Bulk up this pasta dish. Add some fresh spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, or mushrooms.
• For more fatty protein – add some crispy bacon bits or pancetta.
• Use white wine to cook the sauce and keep it from thickening too much.
• It is super easy to make this pasta vegetarian, simply replace boneless chicken breasts with veggies or plant-based protein like chickpeas or falafel balls. As the original recipe uses lots of dairy is quite hard to make it completely vegan. I haven’t tried.

Tips To Make The Best Garlic Parmesan Chicken Pasta

• You need to make al dente pasta because it will cook further with the sauce, and if you overcook it while boiling, the texture in the finished dish won’t be great.
• If the sauce is too thick you can use some reserved pasta water to thin it out.
• To add some refreshing flavor, sprinkle some fresh lemon zest over the dish.
• Cook pasta in chicken broth to infuse it with flavors.
• Don’t cook the sauce at high heat – the dairy can curdle and it will ruin both texture and flavor. Don’t forget stirring occasionally.

If you love this easy pasta dinner recipe, you’re going to love these other pasta meals too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

More Great Garlic Parmesan Chicken Recipes

Garlic Parmesan Chicken

Air Fryer Garlic Parmesan Chicken Wings

Garlic Parmesan Chicken Wings & Drumettes

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