Chicken and Bacon Pasta in a homemade creamy Cilantro-Lime Alfredo Sauce – creamy, flavorful spaghetti in a delicious white cheese sauce!
The sauce is made by cooking garlic, adding freshly squeezed lime juice and cilantro and then mixing everything with the cream and freshly grated cheese. Super easy recipe that takes only 30 minutes to make, from start to finish!
Recipe Notes
- Use fresh cilantro.
- Use freshly squeezed lime juice – it’s so flavorful and has a much more pleasant acidity than some bottled lime juices.
- Use shredded Mozzarella or shredded Parmesan cheese.
- Cook bacon in advance in the oven and drain it on paper towels, before using the bacon in this recipe
Other recipes with cilantro and lime
If you like cilantro and lime combination as much as I do, here are my other favorite recipes:
- Cilantro Lime Honey Garlic Salmon
- Cilantro Lime Chicken Thighs and Potatoes
- Cilantro Lime Black Bean Rice
- Cilantro Lime Honey Garlic Shrimp
Creamy cilantro lime spaghetti with chicken and bacon - refreshing recipe that uses fresh ingredients, such as fresh cilantro and freshly squeezed lime juice.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb chicken breast , sliced
- salt and pepper
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 2 tablespoons lime juice freshly squeezed, use less if bottled juice
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon cilantro fresh, chopped
- 2/3 cups heavy cream
- 2/3 cups milk
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- 8 oz spaghetti (use gluten free brown rice spaghetti for gluten free version)
- 1/4 cup reserved cooked pasta water
- 1 teaspoon fresh cilantro chopped
- 8 strips bacon , cooked, drained of fat, and chopped
Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-hot heat. Generously season sliced chicken with salt and pepper, add to the hot skillet and cook for about 5 minutes until done. Remove sliced chicken from the skillet.
To the same skillet, add minced garlic, lime juice and chicken broth. Cook for 1-2 minutes on high heat, deglazing and scraping the skillet until the liquid is reduced and making sure garlic does not burn and brown too much. Mix in chopped cilantro.
Add heavy cream and milk. Bring to boil, the immediately add cheese and mix in until melted, while boiling. Then, remove from heat.
Cook pasta according to package instructions, drain, reserving some cooked pasta water.
Add pasta to the sauce, along with the half of the chicken and half of chopped bacon. Mix everything in and season pasta with more salt, if needed.
Top with the remaining half of the chicken, the remaining half of chopped bacon, and more chopped cilantro.
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I’m devastated. I’ve made this before and it was perfect. This time it didn’t thicken up at all. I followed it word for word. So sad.
My suggestions:
1) Use freshly shredded Parmesan cheese.
2) Use 1 cup of heavy cream only and omit the milk. That might help with thickening the sauce.
3) Make sure the pan is hot when you add heavy cream and bring heavy cream to a brief boil before reducing the heat to simmer. Then, start adding the cheese, while the sauce simmers.
Loved! But changed up the recipe. Added diced green onions instead of cilantro. Did 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan 1/4 cup fresh mozzarella.
Definitely making again!
Ashley, I am glad you enjoyed this recipe! Green onions sound delicious!
Not sure what to add the heavy milk and cream? And what does it mean by heavy milk just normal milk? I did the recipe but skipping that step since i did not understand and it was delicious however can someone explain i would like to do the full tecipie in the future
The recipe says to add heavy cream + milk. By heavy cream I mean heavy whipping cream.
Very tastey recipe! The only issue I had was the dairy products curdling under the heat .. Any suggestions? Not sure what I did wrong. Whisking didnt seem to help. Thanks!
I would bring the sauce to boil and keep stirring to get rid of all lumps – should take only about a minute. Then reduce heat to simmer and keep stirring for a nice, creamy texture.
I made this for dinner tonight and I have to say the sauce is literally as good as any I’ve had in a restaurant! I doubled the recipe and had no issues at all and everyone at the dinner table went back for seconds. lol For me, the lime flavor didn’t really come through so I don’t know if it would make a difference in the end or not. Next time I make this I am going to try it with shrimp instead of chicken. This recipe has certainly been added to our meal rotation!
Christina, thank you, I am glad you liked it!
I used turkey bacon to reduce the fat some. This was delicious.
Thank you, Briget. Good to know that the recipe works with turkey bacon.
Looks so amazing! I love anything that has bacon in it. Gonna try it out soon.
I just made this and it was delicious. But, how much pasta do you use and also how do you use the additional pasta water? Love your recipes!
I think this sounds amazing! What is the reserved pasta water used for?
Kelli it helps to “marry” the sauce with the pasta because of its starchiness if you’re looking to thin out the thickness of the sauce. (This is understanding from watching Rachel Ray )
I would guess it is used to thin/flavor the Alfredo sauce.
I’m going to use veggie noodles or spaghetti squash – save the calories for the good stuff!