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Creamy Chicken and Bacon Pasta with Spinach and Tomatoes in Garlic Cream Sauce - an Italian-inspired dish with lots of vegetables! Sliced chicken breast and bacon are tossed with veggies and penne pasta in a delicious, creamy, homemade Alfredo sauce made with Parmesan cheese.
Family Dinner Win: Creamy Chicken & Bacon Pasta
Craving an easy-to-make comfort food that a whole family will love? Then, make this chicken and bacon pasta! Cream sauce absorbs the wonderful flavors from the ingredients in the recipe, and with every single bite, you get all the goodness and all the flavors! This is one of the best chicken pasta recipes you'll ever try! Serve it with my apple spinach salad, easy garlic bread, or homemade garlic butter dinner rolls. Also, don't miss my other family-favorites like chicken feta pasta, creamy chicken orzo with tomatoes and spinach, chicken burrata pasta, and sun-dried tomato chicken pasta.
Ingredient Notes
- Use thinly-sliced skinless, boneless chicken breasts or chicken tenderloin meat. Either cut of meat will work.
- Use shredded Parmesan cheese. Do not use grated Parmesan cheese, use the shredded kind. What I usually do is buy a block of Parmesan cheese and shred it myself. Freshly shredding the cheese results in the best sauce texture. You can, however, use store-bought pre-shredded Parmesan cheese. Just do not use the grated kind.
- You can use cooked spinach, frozen spinach, or fresh spinach. All will work.
- Make this chicken pasta gluten-free. All you need to do is use gluten-free brown-rice penne pasta instead of regular penne. You can also use gluten-free quinoa pasta, chickpea or lentil pasta.
How to Make Chicken Bacon Pasta (Step-by-Step Photos)
- Cook pasta: Bring a large pan of water to boil. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain.
- Cook the chicken: Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add chicken and cook on one side for 4 minutes over medium-high, sprinkling paprika and Italian seasoning on top. Flip and cook for 3 minutes on medium-high heat, then reduce heat to low-medium, flip again, cover, and cook until the chicken is no longer pink in the center. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
- Make the creamy sauce + add veggies: In the same pan, add heavy cream and bring to a boil. Stir in Parmesan, reduce to low-medium, and simmer until the cheese melts and the sauce is creamy, about 1-3 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes, spinach, garlic, and crushed red pepper; cook on medium just until the spinach wilts. Add sliced chicken and half the cooked bacon, then mix everything together.
- Add cooked pasta to the sauce: Top with the remaining bacon and thinly sliced chicken, then sprinkle with Parmesan before serving.
What is Half-and-Half and Its Substitutions
- You can use either heavy cream or half-and-half in this recipe.
- Half-and-half is the US milk product that combines ½ whole milk + ½ heavy cream or whipping cream to form a lighter cream (unlike heavy cream).
- Substitute ½ cup of milk + ½ cup of heavy cream for 1 cup of half-and-half.
- If you live in the UK, half and half would be the equivalent of single cream. Alternatively, you can mix half double cream and half regular milk (if you live in the UK).
What to Serve with Chicken Bacon Pasta
I love serving Chicken Bacon Pasta with crusty garlic bread, homemade garlic butter dinner rolls, crusty rye bread, or bread machine loaves to soak up all that delicious Parmesan sauce. Since the pasta is already hearty, I usually pair it with a simple salad like one of these:
Other Chicken & Bacon Pasta Recipes
Chicken and Bacon Pasta with Spinach and Tomatoes in Garlic Cream Sauce
Chicken pasta recipes can get boring. Not this Italian-inspired recipe! You'll fall in love with the flavors in this Chicken Pasta with Bacon, Spinach, and Tomatoes in Garlic Cream Sauce. Easy weeknight dinner that the whole family will love! Sliced chicken breast and bacon are tossed with veggies and penne pasta in a delicious, creamy, homemade alfredo sauce made with Parmesan cheese.
Ingredients
- 10 oz penne pasta (for gluten-free version, use gluten-free brown-rice penne)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb chicken (skinless, boneless chicken breasts or tenderloins)
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (thyme, oregano, basil - combined)
- salt to taste
- 1.5 cups heavy cream
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- 5 tomatoes (medium, chopped in large cubes)
- 3 cups fresh spinach or 1 cup cooked spinach
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes crushed
- 6 bacon strips cooked, drained off fat, and chopped
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese shredded, for serving
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil, add pasta, and cook according to instructions (usually 10 to 15 minutes). Drain the pasta. Proceed with the recipe while the pasta is cooking.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet, on medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook on one side on medium-high heat for 4 minutes. While it cooks, sprinkle the uncooked sides of the chicken with paprika, Italian seasoning, and salt. Flip the chicken over, and cook on the other side for 3 more minutes on medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low-medium, flip chicken over again and cook, covered, for several minutes until no longer pink in the center. Remove chicken from the pan and keep chicken warm.
- To the same pan (but without chicken), add heavy cream and bring to boil. Only after the heavy cream starts boiling, add shredded Parmesan cheese. Immediately reduce to simmer (low-medium heat) and stir, while simmering, until the cheese melts and the sauce is creamy, for about 1 or 3 minutes.
- To the same pan with the creamy sauce, add chopped tomatoes, fresh spinach, garlic, crushed red pepper. Stir in the sauce on medium heat just until the spinach starts to wilt and sinks into the sauce. Add ⅓ of the cooked chicken (sliced into small strips) and half the bacon (already cooked and drained of fat). Mix everything. Remove from heat.
- Add cooked pasta to the skillet with the sauce and reheat on low heat. When ready to serve, top the pasta with the remaining half of bacon (cooked, drained of fat, chopped, gently reheated) and the remaining ⅔ of the cooked chicken (sliced into small strips, gently reheated). This is done for presentation purposes.
- When serving, top the pasta with ½ cup of shredded Parmesan cheese.
Video
Notes
- Cream: You can use either heavy cream or half-and-half.
- Lower-fat alternatives to cream: To replace 1 cup of heavy cream, whisk 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into 1 cup of milk. Cornstarch thickens without adding flavor. Or, use evaporated milk (NOT condensed milk).
- How to cook pasta al dente? Cook the pasta about 2 minutes less than indicated on the package instructions. "Al dente" literally means "to the tooth" or firm to bite.
- Do you rinse pasta? If using regular, wheat pasta, do not rinse it with cold water. Rinsing pasta with cold water removes the starch which helps absorb the sauce.
- If using gluten-free pasta, rinse it with cold water after cooking to prevent it from getting mushy.
Storage & Reheating Tips
- Fridge: You can store the leftover chicken bacon pasta refrigerated in an air-tight container for up to 4 days.
- Reheat: Reheat the pasta gently on the stovetop on medium-low heat, without simmering. Or microwave for 1 minute, checking for doneness every 30 seconds. Make sure the sauce does not overheat and separate. Keep in mind that reheating the cream sauce on high heat will cause the cream to separate.
- I do not recommend freezing this dish: If you freeze it, the creamy sauce might not have the same texture when you reheat it. It might separate.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information
Chicken and Bacon Pasta with Spinach and Tomatoes in Garlic Cream Sauce
Amount per Serving
Calories
1149
% Daily Value*
Fat
77
g
118
%
Saturated Fat
35
g
219
%
Trans Fat
0.2
g
Polyunsaturated Fat
9
g
Monounsaturated Fat
28
g
Cholesterol
225
mg
75
%
Sodium
755
mg
33
%
Potassium
1071
mg
31
%
Carbohydrates
65
g
22
%
Fiber
5
g
21
%
Sugar
9
g
10
%
Protein
48
g
96
%
Vitamin A
5361
IU
107
%
Vitamin C
31
mg
38
%
Calcium
438
mg
44
%
Iron
4
mg
22
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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.
Your Chicken Bacon Pasta looks delicious, I have been hungry for a good tasting pasta lately. Would love to have you share on my weekly Linkup #OMHGFF
Hope to see your dish soon!
I can convey enough how flavorful and easy this recipe was to make. Only change I made was adding a bit more garlic because my husband and I are garlic lovers, but otherwise stuck straight to the recipe. Was definitely a hit with the family including my 2-year-old. Will definitely be adding this to my meal rotation!
YouR directions don't say anything about the shredded parm cheese. You mention the grated parm cheese twice.
Hi Nicole, to me shredded and grated Parmesan cheese means the same thing: I manually shred the block of Parmesan cheese into medium size strands. Sometimes, I buy pre-shredded Parmesan cheese from the store - I buy the type of cheese that comes shredded in strands not the powdered type. Do not use the powdered type of Parmesan cheese. Either shred it yourself (from the block cheese) or buy the shredded kind that comes in fine strands, or thicker strands, but not the powdered type.
OMG>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>This was delicious!
Tasted just like a favorite pasta dish of mine at a restaurant in town...that I never could replicate!!! I added a few jiggers of my balsamic vinegar..to give it a bit more pop...but was so good. My husband loved it as well.
Having this meal right now and I am pleased! Only alteration I made was seasoning the chicken on both sides. Also, I think you accidentally have the instruction to add grated cheese twice. I assumed that you meant to say "add shredded cheese once half and half comes to a boil", so that's what I did and added the grated cheese at the very end! Going to try more of your recipes! Thank you for sharing!
Made this last night for 8 people, so I doubled the recipe. It was delicious. Also, still good next day which is unusual for alfredo sauce. Will definitely make again for company. Between the bacon, cheese and half and half, way too much tasty fat for an everyday meal.
17year old granddaughter fixed this recipe and it was simply delicious. I am making it tomorrow for great granddaughter. Yum yum. Thanks for posting it.
You are very welcome! I am glad you liked this! 🙂
This was a hit tonight with hubby and me! The only changes I made were to prep (except I did use fat-free half 'n half which worked just fine). I didn't add the cooked chicken and bacon until the end when I tossed it all together with the pasta and sauce in a big bowl. Then I dished out the individual servings and heated up in the microwave. This is a keeper! Thanks so much, Julia. I'm pinning this one to my "make again" recipes. 🙂
Thank you! I am so glad you liked the recipe! 🙂
Just saw rcip for chicken, bacon & Parmesan cheese. Do you think instead of cooking the chicken separately, I could use cook d, shredded chicken & then add the tomatoes, etc.? Our grocery store offers cooked shredded chicken that is delicious & a time saver. Thanks for the help.
Yes, shredded chicken would be great here, too!
I'm confused do you use grated Parmesan or shredded to make the sauce?
It doesn't matter really whether the cheese is grated or shredded, just don't use the kind of Parmesan that comes out of the shaker in an almost powdered form. I prefer to buy a block of solid Parmesan cheese and just shred it myself.
My niece and I made this recipe it was delicious....great with moscato
Thank you, Juanita! I am glad you liked it! 🙂
Your recipes look delicious, and I will definitely be trying some. However, one, should never, ever rinse cooked pasta in cold water. It strips the starchs from the pasta that hold on to the sauce. And if you move the pasta into the sauce while it is al dènte over cooking won't be a problem. I always use a large wire pasta straines, and take the pasta straight from the pan and out it into the sauce. That way there is no worry about dumping the pasta into a colander, while trying to save the pasta water.
Thank you, I am glad you think my recipes look delicious. 🙂 Yes, you are correct about rinsing pasta. I use gluten free pasta (brown rice pasta) in my recipes, and I always rinse it to make sure it keeps its texture and doesn't get mushy. It's different from regular pasta. Maybe I should clarify it better going forward. 🙂
Delicious recipe, I could have also ate with out adding the cream sauce to it.
I agree - this recipe will work great without the cream too! Just add the cheese! 🙂
a bit of a weird question but can you omit the spinach altogether? not sure my kids would like those two ingredients in it.
You can omit spinach, this recipe will still taste great!
What are your thoughts on substituting fresh basil instead of spinach?
I think fresh basil will be great here, even without spinach, just don't add too much of fresh basil, as the flavor could be overpowering.