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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.
Hi!! Made this recipe before but just noticed that in the picture directions is says to use 1 1/3 cup grated and then 1/2 cup of grated parm. When do u use the shredded?? Want to make this again tonight.
I have made this recipe twice. My family loves it. It is definitely a weekly must!! Or maybe every two weeks. But anyways awesome recipe. My husband refuses to eat spinach but he didn't mind at all with this recipe.
I added grated mozzarella to this dish and it was fantastic
I made this and it was way too watery. Next time I'll just use 1 cup of half and half. I don't like watery soupy pasta. :\
I made this last night and it was soooo good! My picky italian fiance actually liked it. Due to my exhaustion of being super pregnant, I did a few things different. I didn't add as much red pepper because of not liking things super hot. I added two pinches of it and it still had a kick and I also used frozen peas instead of spinach (because I completely forgot to grab spinach at the store) and slightly cheated by using a can of diced tomatoes instead of the fresh ones. Still beyond good! Thanks for posting it!
Delicious! Please correct the recipe- there is no way it can be 1 Tablespoon of red pepper. 1 teaspoon of red pepper gives it a strong kick- even for this Louisiana girl. Any more than that and it drowns out the flavor. You may also want to clarify how you cook your spinach. Do you sautée or steam it? Also, it takes way more than 20 minutes to prepare. Otherwise, great dish!!
This dish was fantastic!!! I did not have fresh tomatoes, so I used 2 cans of diced tomatoes (drained). Also, I used fresh, raw spinach and wilted it with the tomato/garlic mixture. So delicious!!
I am constantly looking for new dishes to try so I came across this one and have been wanting to try it. Well tonight I made it and I must say it is absolutely delicious!! I will back off a little bit on the crushed red pepper next time, but other than that i wouldn't change a thing. I cant wait to try some of the other recipes on this site. Thank you Julia..
Can I use sun dried tomatoes instead? I don't like a lot of tomatoes in my pasta and where is the garlic part I don't see it in the recipe?
I saw this thought I have to give it a try and I will. I'm going to cut the chicken into bite size pieces though for my one year old. I can't wait to try this.
I made this for my family (2 adults, a 4 year old, and 10 year old). The 4 year old wound up having plain noodles because I could not feed this to her. A tablespoon of red pepper is WAY to much! My husband and older daughter love spicy food and they put hot sauce on almost everything. I made myself a very small bowl because I do not do spicy. I had a hard time eating any of it but didn't want to waste it. I shoveled in as much as I could stand and then washed it down with milk and garlic bread. My husband and daughter even said it was too spicy for them. I added another 3/4 cup of half and half to the left overs (of which there were many) hoping to tone down the spices and take it to work for lunch. I heated it up today and found the even adding all the extra half and half there is still no hope for this overly spicy dish. The pepper covered up all the delicious flavors and I felt like i wasted money on all of those other fresh wonderful ingredients since all you could taste was pepper. I've never cooked with red pepper flakes and was hesitant to put that much in, but since that's what the recipe called for I added it. I should have listened to my gut. I may make this again, but I would completely omit the red pepper. There's just no need for it.
Wish I had read other comments before making. I completely agree 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes is WAY too much. I couldn't hardly taste anything else because of the overpowering red pepper flakes. I think it'd be good if that was reduced a bit, though.
Just to echo what so many said, this calls for way too much red pepper. There are also unneeded steps and could be simplified in many ways. First, you don't need to cook chunks of seasoned chicken; you end up losing all the spices in the watery juices and secondly you're told to remove the chicken, slice up more and put it back. To simplify, just pre-bake the chicken (or boil or however you want to cook it) and just shred or slice it and put it in the pan, THEN season, etc. The spinach, cooked bacon and everything just gets tossed in. Also DO NOT use that much red pepper. My good sense said it was wrong but I trusted the recipe without reading the comments. My bad. I would just skip the stuff honestly because table pepper is much better for this kind of recipe, and probably around 1/2 tsp. I ended up drinking tons of water with my meal, and the leftovers were doused in milk to make it palatable. Not well written or practical, I'd say this was a 1/10.
Hi there!
I made this recipe last night and the hubby and kids really enjoyed it. I will be making it again.
I did want to bring this to your attention. The recipe calls for shredded and grated parmesan cheese. However, in the written directions, step 4 and step 5 both state to add grated parmesan~ there's no mention of when to add the shredded.
I figured it out a little late but both were added and the dish was great.
Thanks for sharing!
Made this tonight...absolutely delicious!!
Here are my tweaks to the recipe. Used a little container of grape tomatoes, sliced in half. Used fresh spinach. Added one large shallot, minced. Red pepper was one teaspoon. (Still very hot). Used grated parmesan cheese, no shredded. (A good pre-grated store bought).
I fried my bacon until crisp in a large pan. Drained all the grease out (bacon on paper towels to drain). I added 2 T. olive oil to this pan and sautéed chicken as directed. Put on plate. Then I added the minced shallot and garlic...cooked this over low heat a few minutes, added the tomatoes...a couple of minutes more cooking. Added the fresh spinach. Stirred until wilted...added red pepper. Then added 1/3 of the bacon, crumbled. Stirred.
Added the half/half...brought to a low boil and then added the grated parmesan cheese by just sprinkling it evenly over the mixture. I didn't really stir it...just pushed around and incorporated it into the half/half. Just for 2 minutes.
I had precooked my pasta, so I added the penne pasta to the sauce. Gently mixed until it was covered. (No heat). Added the remaining crisp bacon crumbles. I put the lid back on the skillet at this point to keep everything warm while I sliced the chicken.
I thinly sliced the two chicken breasts. I did not add to the pasta and sauce but scooped the pasta into bowls and topped with the sliced chicken (still warm) and sprinkled with a tiny bit more of grated cheese.
Yum, yum, yum!!!
This will become a well used recipe when we are in the mood for comfort food!!
Thanks Julia!!
Im sorry but this recipe really didn't work. I followed it perfectly and it just turned out clumpy and watery and wayyyyyy too spicy.
This recipe was great... The only thing was the crushed red pepper... I used Cajun seasoning instead... This recipe is something that would make a great date night recipe... The prep time make for a great conversation starter...