Easy Chicken Penne Pasta Recipe is a one pot skillet meal perfect for family dinner. Everyone will love this delicious chicken paired with a rich and creamy sauce over pasta.
Easy Chicken Penne Pasta Recipe
This is one of the easiest and tastiest recipes around. Dinner is so easy when you make Chicken Penne Pasta Recipe.
Skillet recipes are one of our favorites to cook during the week because they come together so quickly. Seriously in just minutes, this entire pasta dish comes together for an amazing dinner.
You can also stretch your meat budget with this recipe. It calls for 3 chicken breasts and the pasta helps to make this into a meal for a crowd.
Everyone will love this flavor packed meal.
Ingredients for chicken penne pasta:
- boneless skinless chicken breasts
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- minced garlic
- butter
- heavy cream
- chicken broth
- Parmesan cheese
- penne pasta
How to make chicken penne pasta quickly:
In a large skillet, cook the chicken in the olive oil over medium high heat.
Season with salt, pepper, and minced garlic.
Continue cooking until the chicken is no longer pink. This only takes a few minutes.
Turn the heat to low, stir in the heavy cream, chicken broth, butter and the Parmesan cheese.
Cover and simmer for a few minutes until flavors combine.
What to serve with creamy chicken penne pasta?
This dish is so easy and you just stir in the cooked pasta and serve. We use penne pasta but any type of pasta will work.
Feel free to use what you have on hand. Other ideas include: elbow, fettuccine, bowtie and others.
We served ours with salad and it was such an easy and delicious dinner. The cream sauce is so amazing so you will want something to dip into that amazing sauce.
We love Garlic Bread Cheese Sticks Recipe and it is perfect for getting every last bit of that amazing sauce.
You could also try Roasted Green Beans or learn how to steam broccoli in the microwave for a super easy veggie side dish.
Just keep it simple!
Variation ideas:
- Try shrimp instead of chicken.
- Add in peas or broccoli to the skillet.
- Cajun seasoning or Old Bay would be delicious mixed into the sauce.
- We have even added mushrooms.
- Sun dried tomatoes would be tasty to mix in.
The options are endless for this easy skillet dish!
Make sure you have a good skillet to make chicken penne.
We use a cast iron skillet and it’s perfect for this recipe. I have the Lodge cast iron skillet but you can see all the different brands here.
Cast iron is amazing! You can make so many different recipes and they are great for skillet recipes.
If you are not already cooking with one, you should! They are amazing and the food cooks so evenly.
Don’t be hesitant to use cast iron because it really is simple to use and maintain. It cooks the food so evenly and recipes turn out great.
Garlic chicken penne pasta is so easy and delicious!
Once you make this, you will love how simple it is to make. It is truly a quick meal but so delicious.
This pasta dish is now a family favorite. The chicken breasts are so tender and flavorful from the seasonings.
Even better, since the recipe only calls for a few chicken breasts, it is a frugal meal as well. You could also substitute chicken thighs if you prefer.
We all love this recipe so much that we have doubled the recipe to have leftovers for lunch during the week. It really is so good and the best meal.
Clean up is a breeze as well. This recipe is a win-win.
Let us know if you try creamy garlic penne pasta!
Give this a try and leave a comment letting us know how it turned out. I think your family will love it. This meal takes only minutes and everyone gets to enjoy a fabulous meal.
Print this creamy chicken penne pasta recipe below:
Easy Chicken Penne Pasta
Ingredients
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
- 12 ounces penne pasta, cooked al dente
Instructions
- In a large skillet, cook the chicken in the olive oil over medium high heat.
- Season with salt, pepper, and minced garlic.
- Continue cooking until the chicken is no longer pink, about 8 minutes.
- Turn the heat to low, stir in the heavy cream, chicken broth, butter and the parmesan cheese.
- Cover and simmer for a few minutes until flavors combine.
- Stir in the cooked pasta and serve.
Nutrition Facts
Try these other chicken pasta recipes:
- Crock Pot Parmesan Chicken Pasta
- Crock Pot Pesto Chicken Pasta Casserole
- Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Pasta
- Crock Pot Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta Recipe
- Crock Pot Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta
Try these other easy skillet recipes:
- Tex Mex Skillet Chicken Recipe
- Easy Salsa Chicken Skillet Recipe
- Skillet Chicken and Rice Burritos
- Skillet Chicken Honey Mustard Chicken Recipe
- Quick Skillet Chicken Fajitas Recipe
- Balsamic Chicken – Easy Skillet Chicken Recipe
- Brown Sugar Skillet Chicken
- Skillet Roasted Red Pepper Italian Sausage Pasta Recipe
When does broth get added?
(Sorry: meant to give five stars)
UPDATE: after this sat while I did the dishes, it thickened up and looked like your pic (minus the parsley flakes)
I just stumbled upon your site recently (the ranch/bacon chicken hobo dinner is delish, we added corn on the cob cut into quarters into the packet).
I noticed on this particular recipe, you have chicken broth & butter in the ingredient list but the instructions do not indicate when to add either one. I assume the chicken broth should be added with the heavy cream but I am not entirely certain where to add the butter. Generally, alfredo/cream sauces involve flour & butter to make a roux, but this one caught my attention because it takes out that step.
Thanks for sharing all the great recipes!
Sounds great, was going to make tonight. Only question is when do I add in butter and chicken broth? On ingredient list but not on directions to cook. Please let me know , thanks for all the other great recipes.
It’s added with the heavy cream. Sorry about that – I have corrected the recipe. Thank you!
How many ounces of chicken is 3 chicken breasts
Generally, it’s 15-25 ounces based on the size of the chicken breasts.
Can milk replace the cream?
Yes it can. The sauce will be thinner with milk instead of cream but will still taste great!
Every time I do this recipe, and I follow exactly, it comes out milky. How can I prevent this?
You can use less cream or you can simmer it for a bit longer once you stir in the pasta to cook off the extra liquid until the pasta is the consistency that you prefer. Thank you!
So easy to prepare and the end result was delicious! The broth and parmasan cheese really added great flavor and I would make it again! Easy to complement this meal with an easy salad or steamed vegetable dish of your choice.
10/10 delicous! Easy recipe with very common ingredients. Worst thing is when you find a recipe and it has ingredients a regular person has in their cabinet/fridge.
Add bacon for a smoky flavor!!
I know I am being picky about the directions, but shouldn’t there be mention of putting on a large pot of water to boil the pasta come before cooking the chicken? Will be making this for dinner tomorrow and will start the pasta first.