Chicken Alfredo Pasta Recipe

Okay, so here’s the scoop on how to make a simply delicious One Pot Chicken Alfredo Pasta Recipe . We’re talking al dente pasta here, and it has this silky, dreamy sauce. The trick? It’s easy: save the cream and parmesan for last. That way, you dodge that gluggy mess and know that the pasta is cooking up just right. Check out the video and see just how simple it really is!

Chicken Alfredo Pasta Recipe Can I Swap Out the Heavy Cream?

Non-traditional Alfredo sauce does not contain heavy cream. The reason we use it in the States as a base is that with heavy cream, the Parmesan melts nicely into the sauce and does not clump together or stick to the side of the pan. Other dairy options or substitutes just have too much water content, and the cheese fails to merge well with the sauce. I would not substitute the heavy cream.

One Pot Chicken Alfredo Pasta

Okay, so let’s get straight to the point from jump street—it ain’t your grandmother’s Italian pasta. This’s a quick, midweek meal you can toss together in over 15 minutes, and trust me, the effort-to-reward ratio’s off the charts.

Now, I know I’m not here to please the pasta purists (or, like, all of Italy), but real talk: I never thought I’d share a one-pot pasta recipe, especially with long noodles. I used to be totally against it. Tried it once, and the pasta was half-cooked with a gluey sauce—like, I could’ve made fritters without an egg to hold them together. Yeah, it was that bad ????.

So I threw in the towel and returned to the way of the old-fashioned Alfredo. And then my friend, who is always yapping about one-pot dinners, said, “Have you tried fixing it?” And I’m thinking wait-a-minute-there really might be a way to do a creamy long pasta in one pot that doesn’t suck.

And then cue the experimenting. Spoiler alert: I cracked the code.

Here’s what goes down for the food nerds. The regular way of cooking pasta is to mix the sauce with pasta barely cooked, and throw in a little of that starch-heavy pasta water. Boom. Emulsification occurs and you get that sheen of sauce stuck to every noodle, no puddles at the bottom. All that flavor? In your mouth.

If you’re just plopping cream, broth, and pasta into one pot and starting cooking it, it’s emulsifying over the entire time the pasta’s being cooked, and that’s why it is such a sticky mess-plus, the cream is also thickening up the liquid that’s trying to cook the pasta unevenly.

Cook the pasta in milk and broth and then add the cream at the end.

Result: Almost perfect al dente pasta with silky sauce.

*And sure, I say “nearly” because, TBH, pasta cooks more evenly in a large boil-ing pot of water. Just keepin’ it real.

I was so dedicated to getting this one-pot chicken Alfredo pasta right that I made it four times last week to be sure it works like I’m telling you. Filmed it three times, too—once plain, once with cubed chicken, and once where I browned whole chicken before slicing it.

I almost liked the version that cooks chicken in the sauce, only to end up with overcooked chicken that loses all the golden brown goodness. So I stuck with the traditional approach: sear the chicken till it’s golden, let it rest for maximum juiciness, and then slice and toss it in.

I know what some of y’all are thinking: ‘How hard is it to cook pasta in a separate pot?’ Yeah, it’s not rocket science. But you know those days where everything’s just going haywire; you’ve had it with your boss, and you’re this close to ordering a greasy pizza?

That’s for those types of days. Okay, yeah, boiling pasta in the other pot is no big deal either. But if you can do it all in one pot, why wouldn’t you? Fewer pots, less fuss.
And yeah, seriously that’s how easy it is, see for yourself on the video. – Nagi xx

P.S. Just to clear the record, I had never been opposed to one-pot short pastas-macaroni, penne, risoni and all that. The long-strand stuff was what really used to give me the agita!

Fresh vs. Grated Parmesan

Freshly shredded Parmesan beats the canned stuff, no doubt about it. But since we’re keeping things budget-friendly, I made sure this recipe still tastes great with the cheaper Parmesan. If you can splurge on a wedge of fresh Parmesan, go for it! But rest assured, you can still whip up a delicious Alfredo without breaking the bank.

What to Serve with Chicken Alfredo

Really, for such an indulgent pasta dish, I love to balance it out with a bright side salad. I know the fresh flavors will cut through the creamy Alfredo sauce. Also awesome choices would be Lemon Garlic Roasted Asparagus or Lemon Pepper Zucchini. And honestly, what’s pasta night without some homemade garlic bread?

How Do the Leftovers Hold Up?

This sauce is pretty rich so it tends to thicken as it cools, and so it’s really at its best right from the skillet when it’s still very hot. But let’s be real-if I’m gonna put something this creamy in the skillet, leftovers are in my future. Just don’t forget that when you reheat it, the texture won’t be nearly as silky smooth.