Best Creamy Chicken and Bacon Pasta
This is an easy and delicious weeknight dinner. A flavor packed creamy sauce topped with perfectly golden brown chicken.
Servings: 2 people
Ingredients
- 200 grams dried pasta (or 300 grams fresh)
- 150 grams bacon chopped into small pieces
- 1 chicken breast Mine was 225g (use more if you like!)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ - 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3 garlic cloves finely chopped/minced
- ¾ cup heavy cream see notes
- 50 grams parmesan finely grated
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon black pepper finely ground
- ½ cup packed Italian parsley finely chopped
Instructions
Boil your pasta
- Cook your pasta in well salted boiling water, undercooking by 1 minute. Reserve a cup of pasta water before draining.
Prepare the chicken
- Flatten the chicken breast to an even thickness (about 1-1.5cm), I do this by laying some plastic wrap over the top and hitting with a rolling pin. If your breast is too thick then you can cut it in half horizontally so you have two flat pieces or just into bite size pieces is fine too.
- Season the chicken well with salt and pepper on each side then dust each side with the flour.
Cook the bacon and chicken
- Heat a small drizzle of olive oil in a fry pan and fry the bacon pieces until golden. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon so you can use the bacon fat to cook the chicken in.
- If you don't want to use the bacon fat then use 1 tablespoon of olive oil instead. Heat in a fry pan over a medium high heat and fry the chicken for 2 mins each side (or until cooked through if yours is thicker).
- Lightly wrap in foil and set aside.
Make the sauce
- Heat the butter over a medium heat and gently fry the garlic for a minute, it shouldn't brown at all so lower heat if you need.
- Pour in the cream and bring to a very gentle simmer (lower the heat if you need, it shouldn't be boiling).
- Add the parmesan in 2 or 3 separate lots, mixing and letting it melt in between each addition.
- Add the pepper and lemon juice and mix in quickly.
- Add the bacon back in to the sauce.
- Add ¼ cup of pasta water and let it gently simmer for a 2 - 3 minutes to thicken slightly.
- Add the cooked pasta, toss and let it gently bubble away for a minute or two. Add more pasta water if you need to loosen. It should be really saucy in the pan as it will dry up when taken off the heat.
- Mix the chopped parsley through.
- Slice the chicken then serve the pasta with the chicken pieces on top or tossed through.
- Little optional step is to finish the dish with some lemon zest and of course some extra parmesan if you wish.
Video
Notes
Full disclosure if you watch video that my pan was a mess after cooking bacon so I cleaned it before cooking chicken!
Cream - In New Zealand, we have single cream, which is what I use here. In the U.S., heavy or whipping cream works perfectly. If using a thicker cream, you may need a splash of pasta water to loosen the sauce.
Chicken - I usually use organic chicken breast, which tends to be thinner and easy to flatten to about 1–1.5 cm. If your chicken is thicker, slice it in half horizontally or cut into bite sized pieces instead.
Sauce factor -Creamy sauces thicken very quickly once off the heat, so aim for a slightly looser sauce in the pan. It will settle to the perfect consistency by the time you serve.
Storage - Creamy sauces don’t reheat particularly well. Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 2–3 days. Not suitable for freezing.
Lemon juice - To prevent curdling, keep the heat very low so the cream is only at a gentle simmer. Stir the lemon juice in quickly. You can also add it right at the end or squeeze it over the finished dish instead.