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Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Pasta is an easy recipe that combines protein, carbs, and veggies in a simple homemade cream sauce. It's a perfect dish for creamy chicken pasta lovers!
If you're tired of dry, tasteless chicken breast recipes, then it's time to try different ways to cook chicken. In this creamy chicken and broccoli alfredo pasta, the chicken is moist and tender, as it is smothered in a creamy, white cheese alfredo sauce. This delicious family favorite dinner combines protein (chicken), carbs (pasta), veggies (broccoli) and a homemade creamy sauce.
This recipe has been repinned literally a million times, because it's simple and quick, with the amazing alfredo sauce made completely from scratch.
What do you put in Alfredo sauce?
Basic alfredo sauce recipe generally requires only heavy cream, garlic, Parmesan cheese, a little bit of butter. Garlic is always welcome, too.
What cheese to use in Alfredo sauce?
This recipe works with Parmesan cheese, Mozzarella cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, all shredded. I use short pasta (penne) which I find is perfect for creamy sauces as it feels like you get more sauce with each bite.
How do you make Alfredo sauce without heavy cream?
You can make alfredo sauce with half-and-half or milk instead of heavy cream. If you do use half-and-half or milk, you will have to use more butter.
Other creamy chicken pasta recipes
If you liked this chicken broccoli alfredo pasta recipe, you will also enjoy these recipes:
- Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken, Broccoli, and Bacon - homemade alfredo sauce recipe with the addition of bacon!
- Chicken and Broccoli Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce - creamy pasta with the sun-dried tomato and basil cream sauce.
- Chicken and Bacon Pasta with Tomatoes and Spinach - in this recipe, sliced chicken breast and bacon are tossed with veggies and penne pasta in a delicious, creamy, homemade Alfredo sauce made with Parmesan cheese.
Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Pasta
Ingredients
- 10 ounces broccoli
- 8 ounces penne pasta (for gluten free, use gluten-free brown rice penne)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1.5 lb chicken breast (1 large chicken breast)
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup milk
- 1 ¼ cups Parmesan cheese, or Mozzarella cheese, or Monterey Jack cheese shredded
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook broccoli in boiling water for 5 minutes, drain well. Cut into small florets.
- Cook pasta al dente, drain.
- In a large skillet heat olive oil and butter on medium-high heat (until hot but not smoking) and saute chicken breast (seasoned generously with salt and pepper on both sides) for about 5 minutes on each side. Remove the skillet from heat, cover with the lid, and let the chicken rest, off heat, covered, until the chicken is no longer pink in the center and is completely cooked through. Remove chicken from the pan. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces.
- Add minced garlic to the same skillet and cook it in chicken juices and oil remaining in the pan, scraping up the chicken bits from the bottom of the pan, on medium heat for about 30 seconds until garlic is fragrant, making sure to avoid burning. Add cooked and sliced broccoli and mix in with garlic. Remove from the pan.
- To make the creamy sauce, in the same skillet heat up 1 cup of heavy cream until it boils. Immediately add the cheese and stir until melted and creamy. Reduce heat to medium-low, and slowly, in small portions, add milk, constantly stirring, simmering, until a creamy consistency is reached.
- Add cooked pasta to the creamy sauce, then add broccoli. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Top with sliced, cooked chicken.
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.
Hi!
I made this recipe for dinner tonight with slight modifications.
I used meat from a rotisserie chicken I got on sale for $2.50!
I used an entire 16 oz box of penne
I used 1.5 cups of heavy cream
I used 14 oz of frozen broccoli florets
I used mozzarella and Parmesan cheese
I used a ton of fresh cracked black pepper
(We like to make extra for leftovers and lunches)
I have tried many alfredo recipes and this one takes the cake! It's a WINNER!
Thank you so much for posting. This is going on the dinner rotation list.
I look forward to trying more of your recipes!!!!
Dana
Thank you, Dana, for taking your time to leave this thoughtful and detailed comments with lots of great tips! So glad you liked it!
Yes use a wisk!! Mine came out perfect no clumps and it was absolutely delicious. The only thing different I did was used on heavy cream and cheese I didn't bother adding extra milk.
Whisk is a great idea, too! Thank you for your tips! 🙂
I tried this last week and it was so easy and delicious!! My whole family loves it a lot! I highly recommend this recipe.
Thank you! I am very glad your whole family likes it! 🙂
Pinned it today. Made it today. Everything turned out perfect. Chicken took a little longer to cook than the 10 minutes suggested in the recipe, and I did add a little special seasoning of my own. All in all it was great! Trick with the sauce is adding cheese and milk slowly pause in between add ins. Thanks again! Going to make it again.
Thank you, Brittani, for a great feedback on how this recipe turned out for you! I am really happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
This was so delicious! I love recipes that take 30ish minutes of cooking time to make. Best of all, the boyfriend loved it! 😀
Thank you, Tabitha, I am glad you and your boyfriend liked it! 🙂
What a mess! It was a glob of melted cheese floating in soupy cream! I used fresh mozzarella and I feel like what a waste of time and money. I've made other alfredo sauces that turned out just fine.
It’s important that the pan is really hot before you add the heavy cream. That's why everything is cooked in the same pan in this recipe. After you cook the chicken, then you cook the garlic in the same pan, and then you mix the garlic with broccoli and remove it from the pan. Immediately after that, add the heavy cream and bring it to boil. Don't let the pan cool down before adding the heavy cream. Once the heavy cream is added, bring it to boil, add the shredded cheese, start stirring. Once you see the cheese melting, reduce the heat to medium or low and keep stirring until all the cheese melts nicely, stirring constantly. The globs of melted cheese can easily be avoided if 3 rules are followed:
1) the pan is hot
2) the liquids (heavy cream) in the pan are hot (boiling) BEFORE adding the shredded cheese
3) there is some fat content in the liquid (that's why we're using heavy cream).
I hope this helps.
I really enjoyed this dish Julia thumbs up from someone who hates cooking. I always look for fast recipes and this one caught my eye my daughters enjoyed this also. I cut up some Birdseye chillies and sprinkled them over my serving. Goes well with Garlic Bread
Thank you, Simone! So glad to hear you and your daughters enjoyed the recipe! Garlic bread is delicious with this pasta!
I had high expectations for this meal! Super easy to prepare and love the one dish idea. HOWEVER- do not use mozzarella or Monterey Jack. With those cheeses it becomes one giant glob of cheese- and I followed the specific directions. A harder cheese is needed for this meal.
Add Mozzarella cheese gradually, to make sure it melts, stirring constantly. Almost immediately, keep adding milk to thin it out, on low-medium simmer. Make sure your pan and the liquids are heated enough to keep the cheese melting.
I read comments before cooking and 5th original recipe can out perfect. I didn't have any issues with the cheese clumping or anything. So I encourage whom ever is reading to stick to the recipe. Just make sure you keep stirring the cream and cheese, make sure cream is boiling first. It came out delicious!!!!!!!
Thank you, Ashley, for your comment! That's exactly how I make the creamy cheese sauce - I bring the cream to boil first, add the cheese, and keep stirring, then reduce the heat to low or medium simmer, while constantly stirring the cream and the cheese into a creamy sauce. The key is to make sure both your pan and the sauce are hot enough before the cheese is added.
I had no problems with the sauce at all. Generally, I'm dairy-free, but I just couldn't pass this up! I did use Everyday Essentials heavy cream and a blend of six cheeses (I don't remember the brand) -- some kind of Italian blend since I didn't have time to stop by Trader Joes or anything to look for lactose-free cheese. For the milk, I used Market Pantry lactose-free skim milk. The cheese was the stuff from the grocery store that's pre-shredded in a bag. We added it little by little and sprinkled it around the pan. We added a bit more at the end (after the milk) because the cream wasn't as thick as we would have liked. We also just dumped the chicken and broccoli back in the pan and let it cook some more. Then we took our noodles and tossed them in to really soak up the flavor.
Anyone have any good substitutions for the heavy cream that would be lactose-free? 😉
My boyfriend and I loved it so much, we'll be making it again for dinner next week! This is going to become a staple in my household! THANK YOU!!!
What is the nutritional breakdown for this recipe? My family is trying to lose weight & this sounds delicious but I'm concerned with the calories due to the heavy cream.
This was perfect to help teach and cook with my daughter. The steps were easy to follow and had no problems. This recipe is amazing, felt like I was eating at an Olive Garden restaurant.
I didn't have any issues getting the cheese to incorporate in the sauce. I used pre-grated monterey jack and mozzarella but did mix them in after the cream boiled so that may be the difference. Next time I will reduce the cooking time on the broccoli to 4 minutes. I cooked it for 5 minutes and it was way too soft, actually mushy. It was a good very mild cream sauce but didn't taste anything like an alfredo sauce since it didn't have any parmesan and almost no butter.
Loved it, the family loved it, and it was fun to make! I will follow, interested in seeing what I can make next.
Loved it, the family loved it, and it was fun to make! I will fallow, interested in seeing what I can make next.