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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!
Recipe Ingredient Notes
To make our Chili’s Cajun chicken pasta, you need the following 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:
For this recipe, you only need a few simple kitchen tools. We recommend using the following equipment:
- Stock Pot (10 qt)
- Strainer (Mesh)
- 2 Skillets
- Whisk
- Spoon (Slotted)
- Cutting Board
- Chef Knife
- Ziploc Bag (Gallon)
How to Make Our Copycat 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.
Recipe Notes
- 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. 😉
- Our recommended toppings include green onion, lemon zest, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and 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
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.
Enjoy More Delicious Pasta Recipes
We’ve rounded up some of our best pasta recipes, including creamy tomato rigatoni, puttanesca, macaroni and cheese, and more. Check out our comprehensive collection of pasta recipes here.
- 20-Minute Skillet Lasagna
- Tuscan Pasta
- 30-Minute Lemon Pasta
- Broccoli and Cheese Orzo
- Cheeseburger Macaroni
- Chili Mac Skillet
- Chili’s Copycat Cajun Chicken Pasta
- Classic Pasta Carbonara
- Copycat Bucca Di Beppo Spicy Chicken Rigatoni
Chili’s Cajun Chicken Pasta
Make this Chili's Cajun chicken pasta copycat for a creamy, spicy meal with blackened chicken and tender noodles.
Serving servings
Ingredients
- 16 ounces penne pasta
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 4 teaspoon 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 Parmesan cheese
Equipment
- 2 Skillet
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
Create a roux with the butter and flour before adding the other sauce ingredients to make the sauce a creamy consistency.
Nutrition
Calories: 599 kcal · Carbohydrates: 66 g · Protein: 25 g · Fat: 26 g · Saturated Fat: 15 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 2 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 7 g · Trans Fat: 1 g · Cholesterol: 92 mg · Sodium: 706 mg · Potassium: 615 mg · Fiber: 4 g · Sugar: 8 g · Vitamin A: 1739 IU · Vitamin C: 7 mg · Calcium: 258 mg · Iron: 2 mg
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
Love the look of this pasta, love the spice as well. Definitely giving this a try!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was a HIT!! so flavorful and delicious!! Thanks you for sharing.
Chrissy
I Love a good Copy Cat!!! Thanks for sharing on Show Me Your Plaid Monday’s!!!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious!!! Although, the sauce was more like soup than a pasta sauce. I will need to use something to thicken it up a bit.
I agree. It was tasty, but the sauce was literally like water. My boyfriend was excited for this and was quite disappointed in the sauce. I’d make it again, only if I could thicken it up…
I just made it too and the sauce was so runny. Would love to know how to thicken it!
My husband made this a couple weeks ago and it is by far my favorite meal ever. He is making it again tonight and I cannot wait. He had no problems with the sauce…it was perfect.
I made this tonight for dinner. The sauce was so runny that it was like eating soup. There was also far too much sauce for the amount of pasta. Perhaps you should make a roue first by mixing in a few tablespoons of flour? Other than that problem, the meal itself was DELICIOUS. I’m definitely going to be making this one again! I will just have to experiment with the sauce to see what I can do about making it thicker.
My sauce was runny like water too. If someone has figured out how to thicken it, PLEASE SHARE!!
Mine was always i very watery! I added some flour and i also added some shredded Parmesan cheese to the sauce and when it melted it helped thicken! Also very tasty!
I made this again, but I made a roux and it turned out much better.
absolutly delisious dish i would just recomend adding flour sauce is thin i added a little at a time till i got the consistance i liked 🙂
Just made this for dinner and it was amazinnng! I did make a small adjustment that may help those who are saything there is too much sauce or it wasnt thick enough… I used 16oz of heavy whipping cream inatead of half and half. And then after i mixed it with the pasta and chicken, I turned in the shredded parm. PERFECT. Thanks for sharing! Love the recipe!
The same thing happen to me.. I don’t know where I went wrong.
Made this tonight, and have to say pretty disappointed in how the sauce turned out :/ I wish I would have read the comments BEFORE I made it because it has great flavor, but I ended up straining out some of the sauce because it was more like noodles, chicken, and soup. Definitely going to give it a 2nd try sometime. Maybe using the whipping cream since I’m gluten free 🙂 I haven’t dabbled with flour thickening since I had to change my diet.
Just finished making this for my boyfriend and I. We were so excited to finally make it but unfortunately the “sauce”, like others said, was far too runny. What I did to fix this since I didn’t have flour for a roux was put the sauce in the cooked noodles and heat until the sauce was bubbling in the bottom, stirring constantly. The noodles will absorb some of the sauce and help thicken it. I also used the entire box of penne however it’s not necessary if you follow my instructions for thickening. After this the sauce was perfect! Hope this helps!!!! 🙂
This pasta was awesome! I accidentally used Mrs Dash instead of lemon pepper (both yellow tops, similar color – oops) but flavor turned out perfect, I think I will make it that way again. My only complaint is the consistency of the sauce was literally like water. Next time I will add some flour or cheese to thicken up but definitely will make again. Thank you.
This dish was great, although I had a problem with thin sauce, too. I dissolved about two teaspoons of corn starch in 1/4 cup of water and added to the sauce. Also added about 1/8 cup of parmesan. It took a lot of patience and stirring, but it was worth the effort.
I make this a lot but just use a jar of alfredo sauce. Much easier.
Just mix in a tbsp of flour thats been stirred into a couple tbsp of water, add more parmesan and its perfect sauce
I had the same problem. You need to melt the butter first, then sprinkle in a few tablespoons of flour and whisk it till it’s bubbly. Then slowly add the milk, about a half a cup at a time, and keep whisking until it turns into a thick creamy sauce.
Love this dish and so does the picky husband. A little hint about the sauce: The first time I made it I accidentally picked up the 16 oz half and half and it turned out perfect (though I did add a little splash of extra milk when I realized was short of 3 cups). I’m going to start getting the smaller half and half from now on. And like some if the other ladies said I also add some parmesean to the sauce.
To thicken the sauce use heavy cream instead of half&half and simmer it over roughly medium heat for a while while stirring. That seems to work for me.
I made this last night and noticed that the sauce wasn’t getting thick (didn’t see the other comments until this morning). I kept reading the recipe over and over thinking I missed something :). I finally added some of the shredded parmesan to the sauce (just eyeballed the amount) and then it thickened up! It came out DELICIOUS!!!!
The sauce is great used the butter and made a rue before adding the half and half. So yummy! I also didn’t have cajun seasoning so I made one. It came out so yummy! Me and my bf loved it!!
This recipe is very similar to TGIFRIDAYS blackened chicken Alfredo. (I worked there MANY years ago) . I noticed some comments were concers about the thickness of the sauce. One trick would be to allow the sauce to reduce a little, allowing the water in the cream to evaporate; usually ends up being reduced by 1/3. Then remove the pan from the heat and add the Parmesan directly into the sauce, stirring until melted and semi-smooth. Pour over pasta and add additional Parmesan to taste. Add tomatoes and chicken and fresh ground pepper, (optional to taste) Sometimes I even add some sliced green onions to the dish. Yummy! Fresh Grated Parmesan is best for this dish because it hasn’t been sprinkled with some type of preservative powder.
I just made this and it is delicious. I did notice that the sauce was very liquid-like instead of a traditional sauce, so I added some corn starch to it and it thickened perfectly
Made this for dinner. I tweaked it a little bit , I added a package of cream cheese to the sauce and 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese for extra thickness. This was a great hit, I always make fettuccine Alfredo so I figured I would tweak it with some of those steps after reading about other’s having the meal come out to runny. Hope this helps. Will add this to my recipes!
The sauce did turn out like water so I put some parmasean cheese in it and cooked it a bit longer to thicken it up. Worked great.
WHAT A WASTE!! I wasted two chicken breasts, almost a whole thing of half & half, tons of seasonings…. this was literally white water with noodles and chicken. So disappointed!
you should reaally include a way in this recipe to thicken the sauce. weve all made it and its as runny as soup.
I used a jar of Alfredo sauce in place of the cream. It worked great and the sauce had the right consistency.
look so yummy
i’m hungry
My wife made this and it was great but the sauce was incredibly watery. So we found a good fix was to add about one and a half tbsp of flour to the drippings in the pan we cooked the chicken, and then we added the thin sauce to our makeshift roux. It thickened it up nicely and added all the flavor from the cajun chicken to the sauce itself.
Look delicious!
i am going to make this chicken pasta for my mom 🙂
Just add flour to the butter after it melts then add half n half. That’s what I did.
what does the hal and half consit of
I added flour after it started boiling because it was so thin, still turned out ok. Next time I’ll add flour to butter before adding rest of ingredients. But it is delicious.
It had absolutely no flavor, had no spicy to it and I just ended up having to mess with it until it tasted alright.
What size giants are you feeding? This serves way more than any 4 people I know. Was there a typo?
This is one of THE best recipes I have ever made. Wow! I loved it so much!
So runny I just now read all the comments on how runny this is and somehow it says 5stars take this down I threw it in the trash this was awful