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Asiago Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach - with everything smothered in a delicious Asiago cheese sauce. Easy recipe that tastes great and looks great.
If you love Asiago cheese, this is a great recipe to try! Asiago definitely has a very strong and distinctive flavor, and when melted into a creamy sauce for this Asiago Chicken Pasta, that flavor becomes more smooth yet you can still recognize it's an Asiago cheese. To me, using Asiago cheese in a pasta sauce is my favorite way to use it. And it is perfectly complemented by chicken sauteed with garlic, spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes!
Short pasta, such as penne, is perfect for creamy pasta recipes like this one - Asiago cheese cream sauce perfectly coats every single pasta bite. Both pasta and chicken are literally drowning in the Asiago sauce deliciousness! This recipe can easily be made gluten free by using gluten free brown rice penne.
Asiago Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach
Ingredients
- 8 oz penne pasta (use gluten free brown rice penne, for gluten free version)
- ⅓ cup sun-dried tomatoes with oil 2 tablespoons
- 1 lb chicken breast sliced in half, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- salt
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- 1 cup half and half and more - (half milk - half cream to form a lighter cream)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup Asiago cheese shredded
- 2 cups spinach fresh
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain, rinse.
- Use sun-dried tomatoes in oil - if the sun-dried tomatoes are too big, chop them into smaller bites.
- Heat sun-dried tomatoes (cut them) in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and chopped garlic on medium heat. Add chopped chicken breast to the sun-dried tomatoes and oil - generously season the chicken in the skillet with salt and paprika. Cook chicken until it's cooked through completely.
- To the same skillet with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes, add 1 cup of half and half and ¼ teaspoon salt - bring to boil. Add ½ cup of grated Asiago cheese (half of what the recipe calls for) and stir for about 30 seconds to melt the cheese. Reduce the heat from boil to medium and continue stirring to make sure all cheese melts. At this point, if the sauce is too thin, gradually add the remaining ½ of Asiago cheese on medium heat, constantly stirring all around the skillet.
- If the sauce gets too thick, add another ⅓ cup of half and half and stir.
- Taste the sauce - if ¼ teaspoon salt was not enough, add more.
- Add cooked and drained pasta to the sauce. Add spinach, mix everything - cover with the lid and let the pasta sit to allow spinach to wilt, on low simmer. After spinach has wilted, stir everything together to combine, taste and add more salt, if needed.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
How much is one serving? Also what would the nutritional facts be if I didn't eat the pasta?
This was very good, even my 4 year old, who rarely eats anymore, cleaned her plate.
I think next time, I may add some crimini mushrooms.
Thank you! 🙂 So glad you liked this recipe!
Made this for dinner last night, followed the recipe exactly (aside from halving it from 4 servings to 2) and it was PERFECT!! Thanks so much!!!
So glad you liked it! 🙂
You know it’s a good recipe when my kids (8 and 5 years) cleaned their plates and asked for more. So easy and tasty to prepare! Thanks for sharing with us. Karen
Glad to hear that! 🙂
Just finished making this recipe. Awesome! Tell all the above commenters to take a hike. This is not an American cheese, mac and cheese recipe. That bunch of above cats were meaner than I have ever encountered on Pinterest! My mama said "if you can't say anything nice, Say NOTHING at ALL! I know what Asiago cheese tastes like and was thrllled to find the recipe. Don't be discouraged. When they learn to cook AND spell they will come kicking and screaming into the world of adult food. I am 72 years old and have been cooking for 59 years, This recipe is wonderful. Barbara Karr.
Thank you, Barbara, for such a passionate comment! 🙂 So glad that you enjoyed the recipe and glad that you appreciate the flavor of Asiago Cheese as much as I do! 🙂
I just finished making this recipe. I cut the garlic down a bit because it's just to strong for me! Awesome ! Thank you!
You're very welcome! I am glad you liked it!
Aauce worked perfectly for me. I did leave out the noodles and substitute rice on the side. I alao used soy milk instead of half and half, and added onions and mushrooms. It was delicious.
Thank you, Beth! Your additions and substitutions sound delicious!
I was looking forward to this for a few days and tried this tonight. I agree wth one of the previous commenters - I would have made a roux and used a cheese that i know would have melted in well (parm). I try to take it easy on cheese and only use occasionally. With assiago (not a cheese i'm familiar with), this was a clumpy mess. I also would have made sure the sauce was thick before i added pasta and spinach as spinach releases a lot of water. Really not a fan of the recipe a written (texture is not good, I'm tossing), but am a fan of the flavors involved. With some tweaks, it could be good.
Hi Jen! Sorry to hear this did not work for you. I make sauces like this one all the time (there are many recipes like this one on my site), and it works just fine. I think it's important to bring the sauce to boil before adding the cheese. Only then, add the cheese and keep stirring all around the skillet, while everything boils, until you see the cheese start to melt. If it clumps, keep stirring it around the skillet and add more liquid (half and half or heavy cream) and continue stirring on high heat until you see the sauce turn smooth. Then, reduce heat.
I would add the half and half at the end, as boiling it curdled the sauce. I think I would add the spinach to wilt first, then the half and half, then the cheese.
So I’m in Germany with the Army and the commissary does not carry Asiago cheese. I can’t seem to find it in a German grocery store either. Can I use parmigiana regiano instead?
My family loved it! I didn't have aisago cheese, so I used a cup of italian cheese and 1/2 a cup of parmesan. I also added an extra cup of spinach, more garlic, and a little more half and half, and seasoned it with basil.
So glad your family liked it! 🙂
Add me to the list of whom this sauce didn’t come together properly. I love the flavors, but I think the cheese sauce needs to be prepared separately with a roux, the way you would make a traditional cheese sauce. Making this all in one pan made a clumpy mess that tasted good, but didn’t have the creamy sauce I was hoping for.
Sorry to hear the sauce consistency was off. Just a couple of ideas of what might fix this: make sure the pan is hot, and bring liquids to boil before adding cheese. Continue stirring, until the cheese melts. Try using heavy cream next time (instead of half & half), and use half the amount of cheese. Then, after the cheese melts, you can thin the sauce with a small amount of milk.
Made this. added mushrooms and yellow peppers. also some cayenne for a kick. turned out perfectly. also doubled up the recipe for tons of leftovers.
Thank you, Gabe! I am glad you liked it!
Sounds great! But, I am making this dish for 5 people and I know this recipe says there will be enough for 4. So should I double it or will there be enough to get 5 good portions out of it?
If you serve this recipe as is to 5 people, the portions would be quite small.
Loved it..I added some parmesan cheese and it turned out really great... It will surely be a repeat!
Thank you, Lana! So glad you loved it!
Constitutive criticism, you need to have someone proof read your recipes, this one is over written and repetitive, see "directions 1 and 2" for example. You add a lot of salt without suggesting that one should then taste and adjust before adding more.
Here's my rewrite:
Instructions
1. Start a pot of water to boil the pasta, only use a bit of salt in the water.
2. Heat 4 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add minced garlic and chopped onions and sauté for about two minutes, then add the sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms and cook until mushrooms have browned a bit.
3. Add the chopped chicken breast to the skillet along with a generous dash of salt and paprika. Stir and taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Saute until chicken is fully cooked.
4. Add 2 cups of half and half and 1/4 teaspoon salt to the chicken and sun-dried tomatoes mushrooms and onion and bring to a boil. Add grated cheeses and stir for about 30 seconds to melt the cheese. Reduce the heat from boil to simmer and continue stirring to make sure all cheese melts. At this point, if the sauce is too thick, add another 1/3 cup of half and half and stir to achieve a good consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings, reduce heat to low and hold sauce while you cook the pasta.
5. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain, rinse.
6. Add the spinach then the cooked and drained pasta to the sauce, mix to combine - cover with a lid and let the pasta sit on low simmer to wilt the spinach. Stir to combine, taste and add more salt, if needed.
I definitely get quite verbose with my recipe instructions. And, thank you for your feedback!