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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.
This was a huge hit with my family! It was delicious! I added fresh mushrooms. Thank you!
So glad it was a hit, Karleen! 🙂
The anecdote before the recipe and the instructions above the recipe state many times "lots of veggies"
There are literally 2 vegetables. Tomato (fruit) and spinach.
Perhaps I missed these other veggies, however, 1 cup of spinach does not a "lot of veggies" make
You can definitely add more veggies if you like. It's 1 cup cooked spinach (or 3 cups fresh) - so that's quite a lot for a pasta dish.
I substituted half and half for the cream as the instructions said you could and the sauce separated. The overall flavor was very lackluster despite the quality of the ingredients used. It was a disappointment. I would not make this again.
Oh no! In that case, I would suggest to bring the sauce (with half-and-half) to a brief boil, remove from heat, then sprinkle freshly grated cheese on top across the whole pan (not just dump it in one spot), and stir it in off heat. Then, gradually put the pan on low heat and continue stirring until the cheese melts.
I downsized the recipe for 1 but ended up enough for another meal. While I found it very tasty and mine looked just like the photo, but for me it was a bit too rich. I May have put too much Mozzarella in the sauce. Next time I’ll cut back on the cheese. As always your suggestions make me want to try almost every recipe!
Thank you, Pauline, so glad you liked this recipe! 🙂 You can reduce the amount of cheese and also reduce the heavy cream to 1 cup to cut the richness.
So did I miss the bacon???? Its in the recipe name but I didn't see it in ingredients or in instructions until "add bacon"...
Alex, the bacon is there! (it's the 3rd ingredient from the bottom). The funny thing is that you're not the only one who doesn't see the bacon in the ingredients list. I think it's because the rest of the ingredients are links while the bacon is just plain text.
I would cook bacon first, take out and drain fat, then cook chicken in same pan and follow directions as stated.
Great time-saving tip! Thank you, Donna.
can you replace the heavy cream with anything?
Anne, you can replace it with half-and-half or evaporated milk. You can also use full-fat or lite unsweetened coconut milk.
I could not wait to eat this! Smells fabulous while cooking. My husband came home from work, walked in the door & said "something smells REALLY GOOD!". Filled up my bowl & I'm quite disappointed! Despite adding more garlic (because there's no such thing as too much garlic) and more bacon (because there's also no such thing as too much bacon!). I was going to add a few other of my go-to seasonings, but decided to make the recipe as written. Wish I would have added the other or more seasonings. One comment was it lacked flavor & I'd have to agree! I'll try it again because I love the basic combination. To anyone making this, I'd say to at least double up on all seasonings & garlic & maybe add anything your gut tells you to add!
Thank you, Lala, for your constructive feedback and criticism - it's very helpful to me and other readers! 🙂
One way to add more flavor is to dissolve a chicken bouillon cube (or half of it, to taste) in the sauce - that flavor will go well in this recipe.
Somehow the bacon isn't included in this recipe? Please fix this major error.
Tauna, bacon is included in the list - it's the third ingredient up from the bottom.
Lovely recipe, super easy. I substituted tomato paste as I had no tomatoes and mushrooms for spinach. Delicious!
Barb, thank you for sharing your substitutions - so glad you enjoyed this recipe! ❤️
How much tomato paste did you use?
The written recipe and the video are completely different. I'm making this now and don't know which way to go...
Elizabeth, I finally realized what you mean. I did update this written recipe to make it better.
I would follow the written recipes even though both methods work (the video method and the written method).
Julia,
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe. It's delicious and full of flavor . I know i will be making it often.
So happy to hear that, Rose! ❤️
I added a jar of Alfredo sauce, felt it was to dry.
But the recipe was easy and very tasty, I’m sure I’ll be making again. Thank you for sharing!
Lauren, thank you for sharing that adding a jar of Alfredo sauce worked great! The more sauce the better! 🙂
Can I use a can of whole tomatoes? Unless they're home grown tomatoes, they usually don't taste very good. Thanks.
Bill, yes, canned whole tomatoes would work just fine! Enjoy! 🙂
Definitely not boring and very easy to make! My sister and I loved this and it's a keeper. Will be sharing this recipe with friends! S0 so so good!!
Jolene (love your name!) - so glad you both enjoyed it! Thank you for your review! ❤️
"This is a restaurant dish", said my husband last night at dinner!!! This pasta dish is delicious! The flavour is amazing, easy to make and is definitely a "yes, this recipe is a keeper". I look forward to sharing the recipe and site with friends!!! We can't wait to try other recipes from Julia's Album!!!
Karen, your comment makes me so happy! ❤️ I hope you find many other recipes on my site that you'll love. My homepage is a great place to start: https://juliasalbum.com
I really found this recipe lacked flavour. It took a long time to make and it was really awful and boring. Definitely won’t make it again.
I am really not sure how it can be lacking in flavor with all the bacon, spinach, tomatoes, garlic, Parmesan, and red pepper flakes in it. Maybe, season it with enough salt next time to help bring all the flavors together?
I have been making this recipe for years. One of my go to comfort foods to cook. Made it again for the first time tonight in a while, and added a splash of an aged white wine. Brought the flavor out and made it even more spectacular than it already is!
Mallory, I am so happy this pasta is one of your favorite recipes worth repeating! 🙂 Adding white wine to the sauce definitely elevates any pasta dish!