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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.
I made this for my wife and I and was totally impressed by how easy and delicious this pasta was. I will definitely make this again.
Loved this! I did cut way back on all that salt, though.
I’m about to try this recipe for dinner but couldn’t find Asiago cheese. Is there a substitute I can use?
Thanks
Hello, I found this recipe on Reddit. I am on a Provincial lockdown but my work is still open. I am at home otherwise and trying new things. The flavours were delicious and the recipe was easy to follow for a novice cook. Thank you so much for this recipe. I will definitely be making this again.
This was delicious! And so quick to make. I used sun dried tomatoes and a little olive oil and added a chopped onion with the garlic. Due to diet restrictions, I used fat-free half and half and it turned out so rich and yummy.mmalso it’s an easy recipe to halve for two people. Will definitely make it again.
This was delish!! A big hit with my husband and 5 year old who likes virtually nothing! Will definitely be making again in the future. Thanks for the tips of bringing the cheese to room temp and pre heating half & half, definitely helpful!
So glad you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
I thought I followed the recipe carefully, but my sauce separated, curdled. Do you know why this happened?
Let the cheese sit out and be room temperature. When I add everything cold it does this. If I let the cheese be room temp it’s good. Sometimes I let the half and half sit out a few also just to make sure!
Great tips! Also, you can try to use heavy cream instead of half-and-half next time.
Have you made this ahead of time and froze it? Any tips?
I seriously love this pasta dish, and so does the rest of the family. My husband prefers to halve the asiago and use 1/2 parmesan, but my adult daughters and I highly prefer the distinct flavor of asiago. It has been a favorite now for nearly 3 years.
I am so happy to hear that! Thank you for stopping by and sharing such a positive comment!
Very fond of this recipe but my cream always curdles when I add in the asiago and bring dish to a boil the turn down. Still tastes great but not so much to look at. Any suggestions very welcome. Thanks. Susan
You might want to pre-warm the half and half before adding and let the cheese cone to room temp. If that doesnt work, you could try lowering the cooking temp in case the cheese is seperating? Good luck!
Lisa, great and helpful tips. Susan, Do you use half-and-half or heavy cream? You can try this recipe with heavy cream and see if that results in better texture.
I also added 4 oz. of mushrooms and a whole medium onion and half asiago and half parmesan.
Those are wonderful additions!
I tried this tonight. Very easy to make.
It was ok.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This looks absolutely delicious. However, I was wondering if there is a possible substitute for the sun dried tomatoes. My son can't have them. Can you use a stewed tomato well drained possibly. What are your thoughts? I really want to make this and love the idea of the sun dried so I'm trying to figure the next best thing. Please help
You could use regular tomatoes, however, you will have to change the recipe a bit. Regular tomatoes have more moisture than sun-dried tomatoes, so you will have to cook chicken separately from the regular tomatoes. Cook chicken with minced garlic, paprika, and salt in olive oil (without adding regular tomatoes). Add the tomatoes later, when you make the sauce. Take a look at this recipe for chicken and bacon pasta with tomatoes and spinach that uses regular tomatoes.
Can this be doubled?
Yes, you can double this recipe.
I added chopped shallot and mushrooms and sautéed with the garlic and sundried tomatoes, used heavy cream instead of half and half, added 1/2 cup of parm cheese along with 3/4 cup asiago (I doubled the sauce), and added red pepper flakes (we like our food spicy). I added the chicken, cooked pasta, and veggies together while I made the sauce in a separate saucepan. Then merged it all together and it was SO good! Thanks for this recipe, its a keeper!
Brittany, I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Love the addition of chopped shallot and mushrooms!