Doing this again for friends, really tasty, not to hot/spicy but enough. Tried a few recipes lately an this one came out on top 10/10 thank you ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
J. Myers
This spicy chicken pasta recipe will become your new favourite weekday dinner. For me, it’s the simplicity married with the huge flavour that makes this delicious pasta recipe a must-make. Creamy and with just the right kick of cajun spice, you’re going to love it too.
Try the best spaghetti Bolognese or my one pan chicken pesto pasta bake. From a crowd-pleasing layered chicken lasagna to the easiest pesto pasta, there are many pasta recipes to love here.
❤️ Why you’ll love it
- Creamy rich, comforting – like a warm hug in pasta form.
- Just the right amount of spicy.
- Quick and easy – ready in under 30 minutes.
- Everyday ingredients – nothing fancy, just good honest flavours.
- Customisable – dial up the heat to your taste or add other veg.
- Crowd-pleasing – even picky eaters love this one.
- Just 2 pans – minimal clean up, maximum flavour.
- Restaurant-worthy – made right in your kitchen.
- Pair it with garlic bread, a salad and your favourite wine!
This recipe was first published here on August 15th, 2021 and has been updated with clearer step by step images.
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Ingredients in this spicy chicken penne pasta
With simple, everyday ingredients, you’ll love how they combine into a delicious creamy spicy pasta.
Detailed quantities and directions in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Chicken: Boneless skinless chicken breasts are perfect here. The sauce is loaded with flavour so the added flavour thighs provide isn’t absolutely necessary. Plus, chicken breast is a lighter option that we always have in our freezer. That said, feel free to use breast or thigh meat.
- Cream: You’ll want thickened / heavy cream for this. You can use a lighter cream if you prefer but it may not thicken so nicely and light creams have more chance of splitting when heat is applied.
- Stock: Use a very good quality chicken stock or homemade if you have it. Try a few different types – you’ll be amazed at the difference in flavour between brands. Some are basically water while others have a more robust flavour.
- Onion and garlic: These are used for a wonderful umami flavour.
- Tomato paste: This is a very thick tomato puree with a spreadable consistency, loads of flavour and a touch of sweetness.
- Spinach: Spinach is a wonderful option to add some veggies to this dish. It doesn’t have a dominating flavour but gives a little colour and is nutritionally rich. Feel free to add mushrooms, capsicum (bell pepper) or tomatoes too.
- Parmesan: Please buy a real block and grate it yourself – you’ll get the best flavour this way. You don’t need a lot, parmesan goes a long way.
- Pasta: I use dried penne pasta for this but to be honest, the sauce has a good coating consistency so it works with many styles of pasta. Choose your favourite here, anything from rigatoni through to spaghetti or linguine.
- Spices: Salt and pepper are always great. Cajun seasoning brings both flavour and heat. A little added kick of heat from dried chilli flakes, and paprika is another great grounding flavour. Feel free to use smoked paprika if you love it.
- Parsley: Last but not least, just a little parsley brings a fresh touch to the dish. You can swap this for oregano too.
How spicy is it?
It’s hard to say how spicy is too spicy or not spicy enough since everyone has different tastes. I add a little spice to this here and there to dishes and to me this creamy spicy chicken pasta is about a medium spice level to me. It will make your mouth tingle but not blow your head off or make you sweat.
If you’re nervous about it being too spicy, feel free to cut out the chilli flakes or just cut them down to a pinch.
How to make spicy chicken pasta (summary)
This creamy spicy chicken pasta recipe comes together pretty quickly once you start so I recommend, having your ingredients ready to go and having water on the stove heating, so that it’s boiling when it’s time to add the pasta.
See the recipe card below for the full recipe details.
1. Prep the chicken
First, slice the chicken breast across the grain so that it’s nice and tender once it’s cooked. Season the chicken.
2. Cook the chicken
First, get a large pot of water on the go for adding your pasta later.
Saute the chicken in a large skillet / frying pan over medium-high heat until it’s just cooked through and a little golden on the outside. Set it aside while you cook the sauce and pasta.
3. Cook the sauce
Start by sauteing onions, followed by garlic and chilli flakes. Add the tomato paste and cook for a minute. Start cooking your pasta right about now too.
Add the stock and let it reduce a little.
Add cream and parmesan, melt it in then let it come to a low simmer.
4. Combine everything
Add the chicken, spinach and parsley to the pan, just letting it heat through. Now, add the drained pasta, make sure it’s all hot and serve.
@sugarsaltmagic Spicy Chicken Pasta https://www.sugarsaltmagic.com/spicy-chicken-pasta/ #foodvideos #foodvideo #pasta #chicken #chickenpasta #recipes #recipevideo ♬ original sound – Marie – Sugar Salt Magic
Tips and tricks
- The pasta: Make sure to cook the pasta just until al dente. This means it should be just cooked through but still have bite when you chew it. Don’t cook your pasta until it’s totally soft and mushy.
- Which pasta? Because the creamy, spicy, tomato sauce has a wonderful way of hugging the pasta, just about any shape will work, so use your favourite.
- Seasoning pasta water: Your pasta water should be salty, almost like the sea. Don’t worry, it doesn’t all stick to your pasta, just enough to stop it from being bland.
- Reserve pasta water, always! Whenever you cook pasta, do yourself and your meal a huge favour and save 1 cup of the pasta water before draining. Pasta water is seasoned and starchy. If you add it to your dish before serving, it will add a touch of flavour, while thinning the sauce if need and also making the sauce extra silky.
- Slice the chicken across the grain: This ensures it stays tender to eat.
- The sauce consistency: You can thin or thicken the sauce to your preference. For a thicker sauce, make sure to reduce the stock well. You can thin the sauce out by adding a touch of the pasta water until it’s perfect for you.
What to serve with spicy chicken pasta
To be honest, I serve this as it, on it’s own but to make it super special some garlic bread or parmesan toast is perfect on the side or to dunk into the sauce.
It reheats well
Any leftovers? Lucky you! This spicy chicken pasta reheats beautifully, on the stove top or in the microwave. If using the microwave add a little dribble of water first.
Store any leftover in the fridge in an airtight container.
If you want to freshen the meal, just a lightly dressed side salad is lovely.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Did you try this cajun chicken pasta recipe?
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Video
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, sliced into strips
- 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning (notes 1)
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ medium red onion, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste (notes 1)
- ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
- ⅔ cup cream
- ½ cup lightly packed finely shredded parmesan (35g / 1¼oz)
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley (notes 1)
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 200 g dried penne pasta, or other dried pasta (roughly 2 ½ cups)
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- Large frying pan or skillet
Instructions
- Bring a large pot, half full of well salted water, to a boil.
- Season the chicken in the cajun seasoning, paprika, salt and pepper. Give it a good mix.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat, then drop the temperature down to medium. Place the chicken in the pan. Cook, turning every so often until just cooked through 6-7 minutes – set aside.
- In the same pan, still over medium heat, cook the onion for a few minutes until it softens. Don’t let it burn.
- Add the garlic and chilli flakes and cook, stirring for a minute.
- Place the pasta into the boiling water.
- Add the tomato paste to the frying pan and stir it around with with the onions and garlic for one minute.
- Add the chicken stock and stir to combine and deglaze the pan. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the cream and parmesan and stir to melt and combine.
- Return the chicken to the pan, along with the spinach and parsley. Stir well and heat until the spinach has wilted.
- Retain 1 cup of pasta water, then drain the pasta. Add the pasta to the frying pan and mix everything together. If you need to thin the sauce add a little pasta water at a time until you have the consistency you like.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons worldwide).
- Chicken: Use skinless chicken, breast or thigh.
IN THE POST
These links will take you up to the post – just scroll down to get back to the recipe card.- How spicy is it?
- Process shots
- Tips and tricks
- What to serve with spicy chicken pasta
- It reheats well
MORE EASY CHICKEN RECIPES!
FAQ’s
Yes, you can substitute chicken thighs for the chicken breast.
You can simply leave out the dried chilli flakes to reduce the spiciness.
Yes, you could substitute a plant-based cream equivalent or coconut milk in place of the cream.
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20 Comments on “Spicy Chicken Pasta”
So good. Recipe has made it into my regular rotation. Have made it, tweaked it, modified it and always is delicious. Great reheated too.
I’m so happy you love it, Janelle. Thank you so much for dropping back to leave a review.
Hi Marie! I made this pasta for supper tonight and it was delicious! I’ve been receiving your emails for a while but never commented. I recently came to understand more about Google algorithms and reviews from Jo Cooks. Since then, I am trying to be more faithful about stars and leaving a comment. I don’t do any social media at all and recently left many of the bloggers that I had been following because I don’t have any interest in wanna be internet influencers. I SOOO appreciate you not participating in anything AI!!! I just want recipes for real, yummy, food! Keep up the great work! I love your recipes! Thank you for the great meals!!!
Oh, I’m so happy you love it, Becky and thank you so much for your support. It means so much 🙂 Yes, comments and especially the ratings are so important as Google can see them and uses them in it’s ranking factors.
Doing this again for friends, really tasty, not to hot/spicy but enough. Tried a few recipes lately an this one came out on top 10/10 thank you
So, so happy to hear this, J. Thanks so much for dropping back to leave a review 🙂
Absolutely amazing and easy to make!
So happy you love it, V. Thank you so much for dropping back to leave a review.
Can I use lactose free cream in this recipe
Hi Margo. Yes, that should work fine.
Looks delicious. Can someone tell me what 2/5 cup of cream is in ml’s please.
Apologies Tira. This should read 2/3 cup (160ml). I have fixed the recipe now. Thanks for letting me know.
Made it and loved it. Used mozzarella cheese instead and substituted cream for milk. Delicious and easy. Thanks Marie
I’m so happy to hear this, Kim and I love how you tweaked it to work with what you had on hand!
I’ve made this twice. It’s so tasty!
Yay! So happy to hear you loved it and truly appreciate you giving it a try!
Best pasta recipe ever!! Spiced up my lockdown days…
I had some Nandos mild sauce so I added that as well.
Definitely will be doing it again.
Thanks so much Noush. So happy you love it and I love how you adapted it to what you had on hand.
Oh this pasta looks terrific – so irresistibly delicious, creamy, and hearty. It might be a little too hot for this kind of pasta now, but it will be perfect in a couple of months!
Thanks so much Ben.