I Can't Stop Making This One-Pot, Garlicky Pasta (That's Better AND Cheaper Than Anything You Could Order Out)
Every household has a go-to cuisine they come back to again and again. In ours, it's always Italian. We do Pizza Friday, Pasta Sunday, and have a few weeknight staples we never get tired of. We also really, really love garlic.
This One-Pot Garlic-Parmesan Chicken Pasta from Tasty Culinary Director Kelly Paige (aka @kellympaige) hits all the right culinary notes for us: tender bites of chicken, rigatoni, and a cheesy sauce with a bright pop of lemon for spring. It's comforting, kid-friendly, great for leftovers, and comes together in just one pot, so the cleanup is as easy as the prep.
But what truly gets me? The creamy, garlicky base that makes this one-pot wonder taste like it's straight from an Italian restaurant. Serve it with some of the pairing ideas below to make it a full Italian-inspired experience, all from the comfort of home with a budget-friendly price tag. Mangiamo — let's eat!
Tasty
How to Make It
Start by heating the avocado oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. While that warms up, sprinkle the chicken with your seasonings. Add it to the skillet and cook for about four to five minutes, stirring occasionally, until it's nicely browned on all sides.
Tasty
Toss in the garlic and stir constantly for about 30 seconds, at which point it will begin to smell amazing.
Next, stir in the rigatoni, chicken stock, heavy cream, and cream cheese. Bring everything to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to medium-low.
Tasty
Let it simmer for 10–12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is perfectly al dente.
Finish by stirring in the Parmesan and lemon juice until the sauce is smooth, creamy, and well combined.
Taste and season with a little more salt and pepper, if needed, and top with a sprinkle of parsley and extra Parmesan just before serving.
Easy Swaps and Substitutions
Although this dish is delightful as-is, here are some of my go-to variations:
Add blue cheese — Feeling wild? Go bold by stirring in a sprinkle of crumbled blue cheese.
Swap the chicken for shrimp or sausage — I love using a mix of sweet and spicy Italian chicken sausage.
Give it a Tuscan summer vibe — Because I'm perpetually daydreaming of Tuscany, I sometimes toss in basil and sun-dried tomatoes, especially as the summer season nears.
Go green — Add a handful of spinach, arugula, or kale for a bit of color, crunch, and extra nutrients.
Zest it, baby — Brighten the dish up even more by grating in some lemon zest. It's a wonderful way to utilize every part of that lemon you've just juiced.
Pack it with veggies — Sauté some sliced mushrooms with your chicken to give this dish that umami oomph, or add chopped zucchini.
Switch up your pasta — Penne, ziti, fusilli, or even wide, flat pappardelle work beautifully with this dish. Just adjust the simmer time as needed.
Tasty
What To Serve It With
Garlic bread — Dare I say, you can pair this garlic pasta with homemade garlic bread? Plus, it promises the perfect vessel for scooping up every last bit of your extra sauce.
Arugula salad — A bowl of peppery arugula and a simple lemon vinaigrette is delicious. I often toss in toasted pine nuts and shaved parmesan, too.
Roasted broccolini — Just drizzle with olive oil, roast until crispy, and add a little lemon zest before serving.
Artichokes — Artichoke everything! Serve marinated artichokes alongside your antipasti platter or throw them on the grill with even more lemon and garlic.
Wine Pairings, Please!
Albariño — A white grape variety grown in Spain and Portugal, Alberiño has a crisp acidity and slight salinity that goes well with garlic (I especially love this one when I do the shrimp swap mentioned above).
Pinot Noir — For a red, Pinot Noir won't overpower the flavors and acts as your 'palate cleanser' before bites.
Prosecco — Of course, there's nothing like a crisp, bubbly Prosecco — always light and celebratory.
And For Dessert?
If you're turning this into a full evening affair, the dessert options are plentiful. I opt for a lemon olive oil cake to keep the theme or a simple scoop of citrus sorbet, though I can't resist sweet berries with whipped mascarpone in the summertime. And sometimes, just a square of dark chocolate with sea salt is all you need to seal the deal.
Tasty
Have you tried this dish yet? What do you pair with it? Share your culinary creativity with us in the comments below!
Want to try Kelly's One-Pot Garlic-Parmesan Chicken Pasta or search for more easy one-pot meals? Download the free Tasty app to save this recipe and 7,500+ others — no subscription required.
Tasty
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
a day ago
- Fox News
America's favorite pasta reveals strong regional preferences, study shows
From spaghetti lovers to penne passion, America's pasta preference reveals a carb-loaded culture clash across state lines. A study conducted by Inspired Taste aimed to uncover America's wide range of pasta favorites – namely, each state's favorite pasta shape. In doing so, it found unexpected regional preferences and nationwide outliers. Spaghetti is the national favorite, leading the country with 26% of the overall vote and winning in 20 states, particularly in Mississippi, where 55% of residents favored the classic noodle - the strongest single-state loyalty to any pasta type. Penne trails spaghetti by a thin margin. (See the video at the top of this article for a pasta-making demonstration.) Penne was second with 25% of the vote and was the preferred pasta in 17 states, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. It's the top contender in states like Washington and Oregon. "What surprised me the most was just how close the race was between spaghetti and penne, which only had a 1% difference," Joanne Gallagher, recipe creator and co-founder of Inspired Taste in Walla Walla, Washington, told Fox News Digital. "It shows how deeply people take their pasta choices." The rest of the findings are as twisted as fusilli. Elbows are the outcast. Even though elbows are the fourth-most popular pasta shape nationally, not a single state picked it as its favorite. Arizona stands out as the biggest penne lover, with 50% of residents favoring it – higher than any other state's penne preference. Though not leading nationally, fettuccine dominates California at 33%. Hawaii and New Mexico are the only states to favor angel hair pasta, or capellini. South Dakota, Alaska and Montana are the only states to choose rotini – a swirly, long pasta – as their top choice. For more Lifestyle articles, visit Orzo and angel hair are tied for least-loved, with 18% of respondents calling them their least favorite. "Everyone has a pasta shape that speaks to them, and that's what makes pasta so fun to cook with," Gallagher said.
USA Today
2 days ago
- USA Today
Moore Crunch! pretzel review: Heck yeah.
Moore Crunch! pretzel review: Heck yeah. There's a lot to like about Moore Crunch! pretzels. They're founded and crafted by an autistic adult, Marcus Moore. And the best thing about Moore Crunch! products? They're freakin' awesome. These are, in all honesty, the best pretzels I've ever had. They may be the best thing I've reviewed in my four years here. As much as I may want to talk about Moore Crunch!'s mailer -- replete with a massive foamboard poster detailing Marcus's backstory -- let's just get into it with my reviews of the company's offering of all kinds of incredible flavors: Garlic Ranch: A+ I'm excited about this blend. It speaks to my Italian roots and my current place in the midwest. Opening the bag unveils a stay fresh zip lock top -- a nice touch, but an unnecessary one for a one-ounce bag. The smell is baked bread and potent garlic, which is, honestly, just about perfect. I wasn't sure what to expect from the texture -- with a name like Moore Crunch! I expected a harder, crumbly pretzel. But these are a little more pliable. They crunch, to be certain, but they also have some give. You get into a softer interior that's more satisfying to chew than your typical Snyder's. It's a little more crumbly than your typical spindle, and it works. I like to eat my pretzels in small bites, spitting them down the middle with my front teeth before flinging them back to be digested. These work great for that. Each twist is well dusted in a combination of garlic powder and Hidden Valley-ish ranch. The balance is nice, with the tang of the garlic leaning into the softer, creamier base of salad dressing powder. The flavor hits each bite equally, lasting as long as it's on your tongue and a bit afterward. I have no doubt my breath is absolutely banging after this, but I don't care. It's worth it. What I said before about the resealable bag? That would probably hold true if these came in a half pound size. A single serving of these isn't enough. They're wonderful. The seasoning is addictive and the texture is just about perfect. It's one of the best snacks I've ever had. Maryland Crab: A- I don't much like seafood (hey, we're back to talking about food textures, neat) but I have had crab fries. This isn't Old Bay seasoning, but the smell coming from the bag tells me it's close. Once again, the bag is well coated in a fine dust of flavoring. There's a certain spice of paprika and black pepper that immediately zaps your tongue. It isn't as savory as the garlic ranch, which allows you to taste the pretzel a bit more than its predecessor. It's fine -- it's a pretzel -- but it slides to the background after that mild peppery influence rolls back at the end of each bite. The seasoning here isn't hot, but it's much more crisp than the last round. Again, it's deftly balanced and lingers through the satisfying snap of each bite. It doesn't hit the spot in quite the same way as the garlic ranch, but it's still an impressive and original leap into what had been a fairly routine snack. Cinnamon Sugar: A Pouring the bag onto a plate unleashes a proper stockpile of cinnamon and sugar. Once again, Moore Crunch! delivers its flavors in satisfying amounts. The cinnamon sugar is almost a dead ringer for the coating on Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. This is a good thing. That's basically like eating candy for breakfast. The texture remains soft but crunchy. The cinnamon sugar is sweet but savory. It's absolutely more of a dessert snack, but there are some real "walking through the mall and getting within 100 yards of an Auntie Anne's" vibes going on here. This stands as further evidence Moore Crunch! gets things right across its spectrum of flavors. The pretzels are a bit softer than other sticks. The flavor is familiar but still unique and liberally applied throughout each bag. These are next level pretzels. Most importantly, they're really, really good. Would I eat it instead of a Hamm's? This a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I'm drinking (or eating) to my baseline cheap beer. That's the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm's. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I pick Moore Crunch! pretzels over a cold can of Hamm's? Let's pair 'em up, they both rule. This is part of FTW's Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Donna Vickroy: We'll never know our family history if we don't ask questions
It was during a break in the interview with his 108-year-old aunt that the man whispered, 'Wow, I didn't know any of this. I'm learning so much.' I've written a lot of stories about a lot of people over the years. So often, family members have been shocked to learn of the hardships and accomplishments of their own elders. In most cases, the younger people knew facts about the older person's life — they'd been in the service or grew up an orphan — but not details, like they went hungry or embraced kindness even when in distress. When it comes to recounting how the ordinary folks in our own families endured extraordinary circumstances, so much seems to go unsaid. In any given episode of the PBS documentary, 'Finding Your Roots,' you'll watch the featured celebrity express shock at the events of an ancestor's life. Years ago, I interviewed the family of a Chicago Heights man who served in the Italian army during World War I. The father had passed away and his adult children uncovered his war journal, which was written in an obscure Italian dialect. With the help of a professor in Italy, they were able to translate the book to English, revealing a heartbreaking story of suffering. Though he had immigrated to America, the man had been drafted to fight in the Italian army back home. During a brutal battle, in which he recalled most of the soldiers in his trench were killed, he was captured. As a prisoner of war, he nearly starved to death. Upon learning her father's history, his daughter was moved to tears. She finally understood why he always ate so slowly, savoring every bite of food, including a common apple. 'I never knew any of this,' she said. More than not, history gaps are a common occurrence in families, including my own. It was on the eve of a serious surgery that my father-in-law finally agreed to be interviewed. I knew he had served during World War II, and that he had been back to the same parts of France and Germany several times. But, until that night, I didn't know why. He was a stoic man not given easily to emotion. I'd asked on many occasions about his war experience and he simply supplied cursory facts about time served. But on this night, a simple question opened the floodgates: 'You've been all over the world. But why did you travel to the same parts of Europe again and again?' 'To visit the grave of my friend,' he said. I grabbed a notebook. He had been a soldier in the 290th Engineering Combat Unit of the U.S. Army during World War II. Deep in the winter of 1944, he was on the frontlines in northern Germany, battling both the Nazis and a bad case of frostbite. When he couldn't get his boots on one morning, his commanding officer sent him to the field hospital. That night while he was recovering in the safety of the medical facility, the Germans attacked, killing almost everyone in his unit, including his best Army buddy. Many of the slain were subsequently buried at an American cemetery in France. Over the years, my father-in-law felt compelled to pay his respects to his friend and fallen comrades again and again. Upon hearing the story, my then-50-something-year-old husband became emotional. 'How come I never knew any of this?' he asked. His father shrugged and said, 'You never asked.' I think that simple explanation is why so many of us know so little about the family members who came before us. We can search ancestry files for facts and records, but the stories attached to that data often go unsaid. I recently learned that my maternal grandmother, who died in 2003, was a family heroine whose sacrifice and resilience went unnoticed or at least uncelebrated by most of her descendants. She found a way to divorce her abusive husband and retain custody of her four children during the 1940s, at a time when women had little say in the court system. I was very close to my grandmother and I am sorry she never confided in me, that I had to learn of her gallantry third-hand. I am even sorrier I never asked the right questions. I can't imagine how frightening it had to be for her to press charges against an abusive man, knowing the best outcome would be to become a single mother during wartime. As the story goes, the Army actually provided her the opportunity. When her husband was called up, he immediately went into hiding. Seizing the moment, she apparently ratted out his location and, with him shuffled off to boot camp, quickly filed for divorce. My nana endured a difficult life. But because of her quiet disposition, her grandchildren never would have guessed it. Even though America is a relatively young country, it has generational stories to tell. Tales of struggle, resilience, personal successes, heartbreaking losses, hilarious antics and big dreams offer a spotlight on the past and insight into who we are. Unless we find a way to prime the pump, too many these personal accounts will die with the protagonist.
