The Easiest Chicken Pasta Ever

Whether you need to feed just yourself or your whole family, try out this recipe and watch how fast it becomes a staple when planning weekly meals! Everyone loves Italian-style food and this dish is so good your family will be wondering if you cheated and brought home Olive Garden take-out!

Start off by filling a large sauce pan 2/3 full of water and putting it on the stove over high heat. Salt the water with a hefty amount of coarsely ground salt - this will add a salty flavor to the pasta without having to add extra.

You can add a bit of olive oil too. Just a teaspoon or two will do - it will keep the pasta from sticking together while it cooks. Now, while you wait for that water to boil, you can take care of the rest of your prep...

Grab a small-medium onion and finely chop it. Set them aside in a small dish. You can use more or less onion based on your taste - this amount for this recipe serving 6 will give a distinct onion taste without being too overpowering.

Get 2-3 large cloves of garlic. Peel and mince them. Set that aside in the same dish as the onion. If you don't have fresh garlic on hand, you can also use the pre-minced kind that you can buy in a jar from the grocery store. (Use 2 teaspoons or so.) Personally, there's nothing more satisfying to me than crushing a clove under my knife, peeling it, and chopping the sticky delicious substance myself - but maybe I'm just crazy?

Did I mention you may not want to kiss anyone after this meal?

Get a stick of butter (Yes, real butter. Yes, a whole stick. It's feeding 6 people - in reality it's really no more than you'd put on your pancakes or french toast.) and chop it into small cubes - about 1/2 inch or so. Set the cubed butter aside in a separate dish.

 

Take 6 thawed chicken tenders (cheaper and smaller than chicken breasts) and cut each one into bite-sized pieces. (They cook much faster if you chop them before cutting them!)

And never, ever, EVER cut raw meat on the same cutting board or with the same knife that you plan on using later for a non-meat item! I saved the meat for last to avoid this potentially very serious health hazard!

Put a medium-large frying pan over low heat and coat the bottom in a thin layer of olive oil (adds a touch of flavor and keeps the food from sticking or burning!) Extra virgin olive oil is really the only oil you should ever cook with - ever - but if your household is too cheap to carry olive oil or simply hates the taste, canola or vegetable oil will also suffice.

While you're letting that oil heat up a little, your water should be boiling by now, so add a whole box of your favorite pasta. I chose linguine but you can use whatever you like! Make sure the water is at a "rolling boil" when you add the pasta (them bubbles should be fierce!). Turn the heat down to medium after you've added the pasta - it will still be hot enough to keep the water boiling.

 Keep an eye on the clock - nine minutes after you've put the pasta in the water, it should be done at about the al dente texture.


While you were doing all that, your oil was slowly warming up and should now be toasty enough to rapidly cook your chicken pieces. Carefully drop them into the pan - the oil may spatter, so watch your hands and eyes! If you get oil on your hands, rinse them for about a minute under really cold water. If it gets in your eyes, flush them out for a few minutes with clean (NOT TAP) water.

Provided your hands and eyes are intact and you didn't get any oil on them, you should be able to keep an eye on the chicken, move it around in the pan, and make sure all the pieces are being evenly cooked. After a few minutes, when they're white on all sides, add the onion and garlic you put aside earlier.

Stir it around so everything is evenly distributed on the pan and stir it fairly consistently. If you keep your pan on a medium-low heat, everything should cook evenly in good time.

You were watching the clock, right? Once that nine-minute mark hits, drain your pasta over the sink. (Watch out for steam - it can burn if you're too close!) Don't turn off your burner - keep it on low and as soon as you empty the pasta out of the saucepan, put it right back on the burner.

Once you've let your pasta drain for a few moments, toss it right back in the saucepan. Add the butter you put aside earlier, and stir it into the pasta until it's completely melted. Try not to have a heart attack at how much butter is being used. I promise - it's really not so bad.

Once the butter is COMPLETELY melted (that's really important!) add about 3/4 cup of parmesean cheese - the finely shredded kind that comes in the plastic container you get in the grocery store is totally fine. It's (mostly) legit cheese and it melts a lot faster and more easily. Anyway, add the cheese and, again, stir it in until it's melted!

Now comes the good part! Your chicken, onion, and garlic concoction should still be simmering away quietly on the burner next door... give it a final stir to make sure it's all cooked through, then turn off the burner and empty the contents of the pan into your butter-and-cheese-coated-pasta-filled sauce pan. Stir it all up until it's evenly distributed.

Turn off the burner under the saucepan once everything is all mixed together and serve! You might want to dish it out individually so your family doesn't take more than their fair share - this pasta is so good they may try and dish out the whole pot for themselves! ;-)