If you love the pasta at Chili’s then you will love this Chili’s copycat Cajun Chicken Pasta recipe. With the amazing creamy alfredo sauce over top of the pasta and perfectly seasoned chicken, you can’t go wrong.
It reminds me exactly of the dish you would get in the restaurant, but at a fraction of the price and can feed your whole family. If you’re been looking for great recipes, add this one to your rotation. This copycat chili’s cajun chicken pasta is one of our favorite pasta recipes!
Should you want to make more than one of our new recipes from Chili’s and make it feel even more like you’re in the restaurant and have some options, give our Chili’s copycat skillet queso recipe, slow cooker Chili’s steak fajitas recipe a try and end the night with some scrumptious copycat Chili’s molten lava cake.
Recipe Ingredients:
- Pasta: for this recipe use your favorite brand of penne pasta
- Chicken: use boneless, skinless chicken breasts for the protein of this meal
- Seasonings: you will need to have cajun seasoning, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and lemon pepper seasoning
- Flour: you will only need to have all-purpose flour on hand
- Butter: unsalted butter will work best, but you can use salted butter but then omit the salt elsewhere
- Cream: to make this a creamy sauce, use half and half
- Tomatoes: use fresh Roma tomatoes for amazing flavor
- Cheese: freshly shredded Parmesan cheese will work great but you can also use grated Parmesan cheese too
Equipment Needed:
- Large pot
- Skillet
- Whisk
- Slotted spoon
How To Make Chili’s Cajun Chicken Pasta:
- Cook pasta in the boiling water according to the directions on the box for al dente. Drain cooked pasta and set aside.
- Place chicken breasts in a resealable plastic bag and sprinkle in cajun seasoning. Reseal the bag and shake thoroughly until the chicken is evenly coated.
- In a large skillet, saute chicken breasts over medium heat in 2 Tablespoons butter, turning occasionally until cooked through.
- While the chicken is cooking, in another skillet whisk together 1 tablespoon of flour with 2 tablespoons of melted butter over medium heat to create a roux.
- After the butter and flour have mixed together, combine the half and half, lemon pepper, a little bit of salt, pepper, and garlic powder and continue cooking it over medium heat, stirring it occasionally.
- Remove from heat when the heavy cream mixture starts to bubble.
- Pour cream sauce over cooked noodles. Slice chicken breasts into strips.
- Serve pasta on serving plates.
- Top with sliced chicken breast strips, and sprinkle on diced tomatoes and Parmesan cheese.
Expert tips for making the best copycat Chili’s recipes:
Ways to add different flavors for this copycat recipe:
To add even more flavor to this chili’s cajun chicken pasta recipe, you could always add a little bit of cayenne pepper to the pasta sauce for a bit more spice.
Put a little bit of minced garlic into the creamy sauce to add even more flavor, especially if you are someone who cannot get enough garlic. 😉
Toppings for cajun pasta:
- green onion
- lemon zest
- freshly grated parmesan cheese
- Red pepper flakes
Half and half substitutes:
It happens to everyone, you think you have an ingredient, and you go to reach for it and it’s not there. I have done that more than once with half and half.
So, it is good to know what you might be able to use in place of half in half if you happen to be out of it, it is spoiled, or even if you don’t like to use half and half. Food 52 has a wonderful list of 4 easy substitutes for half and half that you can check out when you find yourself in a pinch!
Storage Instructions:
Fidge: If you have any leftover pasta, store it in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the fridge for when you need a quick dinner or lunch.
More Recipes Like this Cajun Chicken Pasta
- 20 Minute Tuscan Pasta (Freezer Meal)
- Southwest Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe
- One Pot Cheesy Chicken Alfredo Recipe
- Instant Pot Cream Cheese Chicken and Pasta Recipe
- Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo Penne Pasta Recipe
- Fresh Cajun Pasta Recipe
Chili’s Copycat Cajun Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
- 16 ounces penne pasta
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 4 teaspoons cajun seasoning
- 1 Tablespoon flour
- 4 Tablespoons butter divided
- 3 cups half and half
- ½ teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tomatoes diced
- ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook penne pasta according to directions on the box. Drain pasta and set aside.
- Place chicken breasts in a resealable plastic bag and sprinkle in cajun seasoning. Reseal bag and shake thoroughly until chicken is evenly coated.
- In a large skillet, saute chicken breasts over medium heat in 2 Tablespoons of butter, turning occasionally until cooked through.
- While the chicken is cooking, in another skillet whisk together 1 tablespoon of flour with 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat to create a roux.
- After the butter and flour have mixed together, combine the half and half, lemon pepper, salt, pepper, and garlic powder and continue cooking it over medium heat, stirring it occasionally.
- Remove from heat when cream mixture starts to bubble.
- Pour cream sauce over cooked noodles. Slice chicken breasts into strips.
- Serve pasta on serving plates.
- Top with chicken breast strips, and sprinkle on diced tomatoes and Parmesan cheese.
Notes
Nutrition
Equipment
- 2 Skillets
Recipe Details
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Happy Valley Chow
Chrissy