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Easy Chicken Penne Pasta is a one-pot dinner that’s ready in under 30 minutes. It’s cheesy, full of flavor, packed with chicken, and picky-eater approved: exactly the kind of simple skillet meal I need on busy weeknights.
Simple Chicken Pasta with Few Ingredients
Coming up with dinner ideas is always harder for me than planning dessert, so I rely on recipes made with easy-to-find ingredients and as few dishes as possible. This chicken pasta is a variation of my Cheesy Penne Casserole, a recipe I’ve made for countless potlucks, but adding pantry staples like rotisserie or canned chicken turns it into a filling weeknight meal the whole family can enjoy.
How to make Chicken Penne Pasta
- Use any kind of pasta you like. I often like to use whole wheat pasta or a pasta substitute, like Banza Pasta.
- Penne pasta cooks fast and is perfect with red sauce because all the little grooves and the hollow center grabs up all the deliciousness.
- I love red sauce with penne pasta and like my baked penne, this one pot meal has lots of cheese. It’s full of mozzarella cheese, of course, but has a secret ingredient that packs even more protein: cottage cheese. It sounds weird but it works: trust me. The kids WILL eat it.
- This recipe is done in under 30 minutes because I started with already shredded chicken. You can use rotisserie chicken or use leftovers! I love making a big batch of my Instant Pot Chicken or Instant pot shredded chicken and using it all week in meals like this or my Enchilada Skillet.
- This is one of my favorite canned chicken recipes because it’s simple to use that and no one will know. Canned chicken is often cheaper (and shelf stable).
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Easy Chicken Penne Pasta
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Ingredients
- 12 ounces penne pasta
- 24 ounce jar pasta sauce, use your favorite
- 4 cloves garlic, pressed
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 cup small curd cottage cheese
- 2 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Boil water in pot or large skillet and cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Add pasta sauce, pressed garlic, pepper flakes and cottage cheese to skillet and heat until bubbly and hot. Add the chicken and cook until the chicken is heated through. Stir in the pasta and mozzarella cheese. Taste for seasoning, add salt and/or pepper as needed.
- Serve hot with parmesan cheese.
Notes
- I am loving Banza Pasta, which is a chickpea pasta and low-carb. It’s in an orange box and tastes like regular pasta!
- Use my meal prep chicken or instant pot chicken or shredded chicken, or you can use a rotisserie chicken.
- To start with raw chicken: Cook pasta as directed in step 1. Then add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and season with salt and pepper. Cook until brown on all sides and almost cooked through, 8-10 minutes (depending on size of pieces). Add the sauce to the pan with the garlic and cook until chicken is fully cooked through. Stir in cottage cheese, pasta, and mozzarella.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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FAQs
I love using red sauce with this recipe because it satisfies most picky eaters. However, alfredo or pesto would be fantastic too.
You absolutely can use canned chicken in this easy skillet dinner.
This was super simple and easy to make! I used a vodka sauce and I shredded a store bought pre cooked full chicken and it was delicious!!! If you are looking for a last minute recipe that requires little time and ingredients, this is a great one to make.
So glad you enjoyed it!
I made this last night. This recipe was so easy and delicious. My husband said it was a keeper. I used ricotta cheese instead of cottage. Will remaking it again. Thank you
Can you freeze any leftovers? I made it again last night so good.
I haven’t frozen it – I often wonder if the pasta will get soggy. If you try it let me know!
Really good! Followed everything exactly and turned out so delicious, definitely a recipe to save for rainy days
Can I just skip the cottage cheese and only use mozzarella? I only have mozzarella on hand and don’t feel like going to the store just to get one thing. If I’m able to do that should I just add a cup of mozzarella in the cottage cheese place?
Yes
I made a few slight changes and loved it! First, I cooked 1/2 an onion in olive oil, added the minced garlic for 1 addtl minute, then poured in a 15oz can of tomato sauce, a 15oz can of onion basil garlic diced tomatoes along with some Italian seasoning, pepper, salt, and the suggested red pepper flakes. Once boiling, I cooked diced raw chicken tenderloins in the steadily boiling sauce for about 10 minutes (reaching 165+). Then I stirred in my boiled pasta and about a cup of shredded Italian blend cheese. All of us (including my 3.5y/o) loved it!
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