Creamy Chicken Feta Pasta with Tomato Cream Cheese Sauce
By Emma Collins
Prep
10 min
Cook
20 min
Total
30 min
Servings
4
To serve four servings of this meal, prep the chicken, garlic, feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil. Make and serve the pasta at serving time. Creamy chicken and feta pasta with a tomato and cream cheese sauce, with feta folded in and short pasta shapes covered on all sides with sauce, are options.
Olive oil and unsalted butter are used to cook bite-size pieces of chicken until browned. Garlic and red pepper flakes, if using, are cooked with the chicken. Dry white wine is added to the pan and cooked with tomato paste, cream cheese, and pasta cooking water to create a sauce. Other ingredients and seasonings include oregano, feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh basil. Fusilli pasta is suggested but not necessary, other pastas, such as penne and rigatoni, may be substituted. Cut the amount of salt used to cook pasta in half for this recipe to avoid making the dish too salty.
Boil the pasta and cream cheese sauce, without feta cheese, until the pasta is fully cooked. Mix well to coat the pasta. Indicators that the pasta is fully coated are pasta stuck to the sauce and some liquid from the cooked pasta added to the cream cheese sauce as needed to help coat the pasta. Do not add all the liquid from the cooked pasta to the cream cheese sauce, as it may thin the cream cheese sauce. The main error to avoid is failing to save the liquid from cooked pasta.
Serve hot with black pepper and optional additional crumbled feta, as suggested by the article. For meal planning and leftovers, portion the pasta: Refrigerate the dish in an airtight container and add water or stock to help reheat, as suggested by the article, if the sauce has solidified. Portioning the dish will make it easier to reheat and serve the four planned servings on other days.
Why this recipe works
- Serves 4 in 30 minutes. One batch of this recipe can serve a family meal and be divided to use for other meals at another time.
- The sauce contains water from cooking the pasta, which helps the sauce stick to the fusilli and aids reheating by giving leftover pasta a liquid to add.
- Chicken cut into small pieces cooks quickly and evenly. It's also easier to divide pasta dishes containing chicken into meal-size portions and package them.
- An airtight container would be suitable for storing the recipe as suggested. Basil and sun-dried tomatoes are part of each serving of the recipe, not optional toppings.
- Reheating on the stovetop or in the microwave is allowed according to the article's statement that adding a small amount of liquid, including water or stock, to reconstitute the sauce is acceptable.
- Short pasta shapes, including fusilli, penne, and rigatoni, can retain more sauce due to their shape. Short pasta can help avoid an excess of sauce on the pasta.
Ingredients
- •300 g pasta (10.5 oz)
- •water (for boiling pasta and reserving pasta water)
- •salt (use half the usual amount for cooking pasta)
- •1 tbsp olive oil
- •20 g unsalted butter (1 tbsp)
- •450 g chicken breast fillets (1 lb, cut into bite-sized pieces)
- •2 cloves garlic (large, finely chopped)
- •¼ tsp red chilli flakes (optional)
- •75 ml dry white wine (1/3 cup)
- •2 tbsp tomato paste
- •150 g cream cheese (5.3 oz)
- •1 cup reserved pasta water (reserve 1-2 cups before draining, plus more as needed)
- •1 tsp dried oregano
- •100 g feta cheese (3.5 oz, crumbled)
- •75 g sun-dried tomatoes (2.6 oz)
- •6 leaves basil (6-8 leaves, shredded)
- •freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- 1
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add half the salt you would typically use, and cook the pasta al dente according to the package instructions. Reserve 1-2 cups of pasta water before draining.
- 2
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large, deep pan or Dutch oven and melt the butter in it. Add the chicken breast and cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes until slightly golden.
- 3
Stir in the garlic and red chilli flakes and cook for another minute until fragrant.
- 4
Add the dry white wine to deglaze the pot and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the alcohol evaporates.
- 5
Stir in the tomato paste, then add the cream cheese and 1 cup of the reserved pasta water. Stir to combine and allow the sauce to bubble for 1-2 minutes.
- 6
Add the oregano and feta cheese and stir to combine.
- 7
Allow the sauce to bubble for 1-2 minutes, then toss in the cooked pasta. Toss until the pasta is covered in sauce, adding a dash of pasta water if it looks too thick.
- 8
Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes and basil leaves. Season with freshly ground black pepper and serve immediately.
FAQ
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories
643
Protein
48g
Fat
31g
Carbs
40g
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