Who doesn’t love a one pot meal?! This One Pot Cajun Chicken Pasta is creamy, savory, spicy, and packed with veggies. Parmesan cheese and evaporated milk comine to make a thick, luscious sauce for a creamy cajun chicken pasta no heavy cream in sight! Celery, onions, peppers, also known as “the trinity” in cajun cooking, along with mushrooms, give lots of flavor to this one pot dish. Although I grew up in Alabama, I was born in Louisianna. To me, there is not much better than the flavors of cajun food. It is spicy, rich, and bold. Pair this pasta dish that includes traditional cajun flavors with a salad and garlic bread and dinner is served.
Chop, Chop
I know I said this is a one pot meal, but I’ve got good news. It is also a one-cutting-board meal. I haven’t had a dishwasher in about 7 years, so I’ve gotten pretty efficient at dirtying the least dishes possible. Although, to be fair my husband does most of the dishes now and he would probably disagree. I might have regressed just a little since I don’t have to wash often anymore, but don’t tell him please. Let’s continue. To start this recipe, we are going to need to chop lots of veggies. I’d suggest piling everything onto your largest cutting board, grabbing your favorite knife and turning on some music. We want our veggies to be pretty uniform in thickness, about a quarter inch slices. If you’ve got some veggies that have seen better days, this is a great way to use them up. Peep my wrinkly peppers for reference. Want some extra color in your pasta? Use a varity of red, green and yellow peppers and swap the yellow onion for red.
Grab your pan, Jan
Now that our veggies are ready, go ahead and preheat a little of your olive oil over medium high heat. We want some color on our veggies, so don’t be afraid of the temperature. Drop them (gently place them) into your hot skillet and let them do their thang. We are looking for a little caramelization on the veggies and translucent onions. In non-cooking terms, we want them just a little brown, but not burnt and we want the onions to start to look a little more clear. While your veggies are cooking, using that same cutting board, go ahead and cut up your chicken. Sprinkle all your spices on top and toss it together. Yes, It is going to look like a lot, but trust me it will be good. I also apologize in advance, but you will need to get one bowl dirty because once your veggies are finished, you must remove them and add your chicken.
See all those beautiful spices? Yum. We don’t want pale cooked chicken, ok. We want bronzed, brown, delicious chicken. All that color is called caramelization and it = flavor. Once our chicken has some color, go ahead and dump all those veggies back into your pan. Mix everything up and then add your pasta and water. At this moment, I’m sure there is an Italian grandma somewhere cringing a what we are doing. Although you could cook your pasta and add it in, remember our sauce that is creamy without the cream? We are going to accept the help of some extra-starchy cooking water from our pasty to make a luscious sauce. Cooking trick! Anytime you are making pasta, save about a cup of the water you cooked your pasta in. If your pasta sauce is dry or isn’t adhering well to your pasta, add a little pasta water to help bring it all together.
Saucy
Now I know you are hungry and tempted to keep peaking, but please keep the lid on while your pasta is cooking. I’m also going to say this just once but, we do not cook our pasta into oblivion, OK? When I say al dente, you are probably going to try the pasta and think it is not cooked. This is ok. This is actually more than ok. As the pasta sits, it absorbs more sauce and gets a little more tender. If the goal is to avoid too soft pasta, we have to finish cooking before it is finished cooking. Once we have al dente pasta, add in the cream and parmesan cheese and give it a stir. At this point you might think, “Anna Kate, this is some pretty watery pasta. I thought we were making a luscious, creamy pasta sauce?” We are. Give your pasta and sauce 5 minutes to simmer together, stir, then cover it and remove from the heat. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes and when you open it, your pasta will be perfect and the sauce will be thick, creamy, cheesy, spicy, and luscious.
If you are hungry and ready this one pot creamy, spicy, pasta of your dreams, here is how to make it…
One Pot Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta
Equipment
- 1 12 in saute pan with a lid or a 6 qt. dutch oven with lid
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 3 cup white button mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 2 medium bell peppers, thinly sliced
- 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup celery, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 12 oz evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 2 1/2 cup water
- 10 oz penne pasta
Instructions
- In a large skillet, saute veggies in 2 tbsp olive oil on medium high heat 8-10 minutes until the onions are soft and translucent.
- Remove the veggies from the pan, reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil. Toss the chicken in the cajun seasoning, basil and salt and add to the olive oil in the pan. Cook for 4-5 minutes to brown and cook through.
- Add the veggies back to the pan and toss with the chicken. Add the pasta and water to the pan, cover and allow to simmer on low for 8 minutes, just until the pasta is al dente.
- Add the evaporated milk and parmesan cheese to the pasta, chicken and veggies. Stir together and allow to simmer, uncovered 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.
Notes
- The pasta will likely look very saucy once you add the evaporated milk. Not to worry! The pasta will absorb the liquid and it will thicken as it sits.