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Cajun Chicken Pasta

By Jen Lunsford

on Mar 29, 2022, Updated Jan 29, 2024

2 Comments

Cajun Chicken Pasta is so tasty and can be made quickly! An easy weeknight dinner recipe that’s creamy and filling with just a bit of heat.

Chicken and pasta is a winning combo as-is: add in a delicious cream sauce and some Cajun seasoning and you’ve got something special! Goes great with some Cheesy Garlic Bread or a tossed salad.

Cajun Chicken Pasta

In case you all didn’t know yet, we love delicious and easy dinner recipes here on the site. Like most folks, we’re pretty busy throughout the week and don’t usually have the time to put together a big, elaborate dish for dinner. Instead, we either like to order food from out or make some of our favorite quick weeknight dinner recipes. Recently, we got a pan out and easily made some of this Cajun Chicken Pasta.

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Cajun food, from what I’ve tasted, always seems to have this warm, comforting taste to it: the seasoning is a perfect mix of heat, herbs, and spices. Thrown into most recipes, it’s certain to be an improvement. Thrown into a Creamy Chicken Pasta recipe like this? It’s just perfect- kind of like a Cajun Chicken Alfredo, almost! We even brought in some bell peppers to help things taste just a bit more southern and Cajun.

One pan recipes like this are perfect for those busy weeknight dinners: it leans on solid dependable flavors while tasting far from bland. We think this Spicy Chicken Pasta tastes great as is, but it could work with any number of easy side dishes as well! Serve up with some nice, crusty bread or some green veggies for a filling, full meal.

Loved our recipe? Try some other chicken pasta recipes next!

• Casseroles are so easy and always turn out tasty: let’s start off with our Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole. Chicken, bacon, cheese, and pasta is already a pretty good combo but it tastes even better with a blend of ranch and alfredo sauce! Baked together, these ingredients all come together into a delicious and melty casserole that’s perfect for the cooler months.
• If you’ve got some leftover rotisserie chicken sitting around, you can make The Best Chicken Spaghetti. This comforting chicken pasta recipe speeds things up by using some pre-cooked chicken and a few canned products. This helps you make this rich and filling pasta dish up quickly and still have plenty leftover for seconds!
• Few things are as comforting as chicken noodle soup, and that’s why we love our Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole. It’s loaded up with veggies, egg noodles, and plenty of rotisserie chicken and is plenty creamy thanks to some cream of chicken soup. So easy to put together and bakes in less than an hour- what’s not to love here?

Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta Ingredients

• Butter
• Onion – Go with some sort of yellow or sweet onion.
• Bell Pepper – We went with a red and a yellow bell pepper here for some more color.
• Garlic
• Cajun Seasoning – Consider using some of our Homemade Cajun Seasoning!
• Paprika
• Cayenne Pepper – Omit this if your cajun seasoning mix is plenty hot as it is.
• Chicken – Chicken breasts or chicken thighs- whichever you prefer. Chop down into bite-sized pieces before cooking.
• Parmesan – Freshly-grated, if you can. The canned stuff might work, but fresh parmesan just tastes so much better in a recipe like this!
• Heavy Cream
• Cream Cheese – Soften this beforehand.
• Chicken Broth
• Pasta – For our Cajun Chicken Pasta recipe, we went with this Barilla Penne and it worked out really well! Whatever pasta you end up using, cook and drain it then set aside before starting this recipe.

How to make Cajun Chicken Pasta

1. Sautee onions in butter until translucent then add bell peppers, garlic, and spices. Cook until soft then add chicken and cook through.
2. Add in parmesan, cream, cream cheese, and chicken broth and cook together until it forms a sauce.
3. Toss in cooked pasta and stir together to coat evenly. Cook until heated through then garnish with green onions before serving.

We’ll start by getting our veggies cooked. Melt some butter over medium to medium-high heat then add in our onion- diced. Give that a few minutes to cook and get translucent before adding in the bell peppers, garlic, and the spices.

Stir to combine and let cook for a few minutes until the peppers soften. Now add in the chicken- chopped into bite-sized pieces.

Cook the chicken for about 6-10 minutes- it might take longer for bigger pieces to cook through. After that, we can add the parm, heavy cream, cream cheese, and broth.

Stir occasionally while your sauce ingredients melt down and cook together into a cohesive, creamy sauce. This might take around 10 minutes. Once you’ve got a sauce made, we can can finally add in our cooked pasta.

After adding in the pasta, give everything a good stir to coat and combine and let cook another 2-3 minutes to warm everything up.

If you like, garnish with some freshly chopped green onions.

Serve up while still warm and creamy. Enjoy!

5 from 1 vote

Cajun Pasta

By: Jen Lunsford

Cajun Chicken Pasta is so tasty and can be made quickly! An easy weeknight dinner recipe that's creamy and filling with just a bit of heat.

Prep: 7 minutes mins

Cook: 32 minutes mins

Total: 37 minutes mins

Servings: 6 servings

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Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 12 oz Penne Pasta, cooked according to package directions
• ▢ 3 tbsp Butter
• ▢ 1 small Onion, diced
• ▢ 1/2 Red Bell Pepper, seeds removed and diced
• ▢ 1/2 Yellow Bell Pepper, seeds removed and diced
• ▢ 1 tbsp minced Garlic
• ▢ 2 tsp Cajun seasoning
• ▢ 1 tsp Paprika
• ▢ 1 tsp Black Pepper
• ▢ 1/2 tsp Salt
• ▢ 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• ▢ 2 lbs Chicken Breast, cut into bite size pieces
• ▢ 1 cup Heavy Cream
• ▢ 1/4 cup Chicken Broth
• ▢ 4 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
• ▢ 1 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded
• ▢ 1/4 cup Green Onions, chopped

Instructions 

• Prepare pasta according to the package directions. Drain and rinse in cold water. Set aside.
• In a large skillet over medium heat melt butter and sautee onions until translucent.
• Stir in the red and yellow bell pepper, garlic, cajun seasoning, paprika, black pepper, salt and cayenne pepper.
• Cook until the bell pepper becomes soft (about 4 more minutes).
• Add the cut chicken and and cook until chicken is cooked through (about 10 minutes).
• Add the heavy cream, chicken broth, cream cheese and parmesan cheese.
• Stir and cook until cream cheese has melted and sauce has thickened (about 10 minutes).
• Add the prepared pasta and stir to coat.
• Cook until pasta has warmed through (about 4 minutes).
• Top with green onions.

Nutrition

Calories: 600kcal, Carbohydrates: 25g, Protein: 45g, Fat: 35g, Saturated Fat: 20g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 9g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 187mg, Sodium: 791mg, Potassium: 779mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 1951IU, Vitamin C: 37mg, Calcium: 272mg, Iron: 2mg

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