This Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta is SO easy to make – everything cooks together in one pot, even the pasta cooks right in the sauce! Juicy chicken, colorful bell peppers and perfectly cooked pasta come together in a creamy, Cajun-spiced sauce.
The Cajun Chicken Pasta of my dreams!
I’ve had Cajun Chicken Pasta on our dinner rotation for almost 8 years, but I never actually made it with anything remotely resembling Cajun seasoning – it was just too spicy. Now that roughly 75% of my family are fine with a little spice kick and I finally know what actual Cajun Chicken Pasta tastes like, it’s time to share it 😉
We start with sautéed onion and seared well-seasoned chicken thighs, then we add the dry pasta and peppers to the same pan and cook everything together in chicken broth until the pasta is about ¾ of the way done. Next, we nestle in some Boursin-type cheese, finish cooking the pasta and then stir everything into a creamy sauce. Add the parmesan and parsley, and dinner is done!
This is the kind of meal I make when I have very little time to get food on the table, so I usually serve the pasta without anything else added to the table. MAYBE some bread for the extra-hungries and salad greens dressed with a lemon vinaigrette. Because that’s the great thing about one pot pastas – they are an entire dinner made in a single pan!
Ingredients I like to use
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!
- Chicken: Feel free to use cut up chicken breast instead of the chicken thighs. Keep in mind that chicken breast tends to be more dry, chicken thighs do stay much juicier in this recipe.
- Bell peppers: Use any color you enjoy. You can add 3 peppers if you like a lot of vegetables in your pasta, it makes the sauce a tiny bit thinner though.
- Pasta: I like to use Linguine here, but truthfully, any pasta shape works. I use Barilla’s Al Bronzo line, which are quite thick and need a lot of broth and a little extra time to cook. If you use a different brand, your pasta may need a little less broth and cook faster.
- Herb cheese: Any Boursin-type cheese works, or even just regular cream cheese with extra dried herbs and garlic powder added to the dish if that’s what you have on hand. I have made this with garlic herb and with shallot chive cheese, and both taste very nice.
- Chicken broth: This is usually water + chicken bouillon for me, because I’m not good about using up opened broth containers. Use whatever you prefer.
Cajun seasoning too spicy?
If Cajun seasoning is too spicy to serve to all of your family members, try seasoning the chicken with ground paprika, smoked paprika, garlic powder and onion powder instead. And anyone who enjoys spicy food can add red pepper flakes to their plates after serving!
How to make Cajun Chicken Pasta in one pan:
Let’s walk through the steps it takes to get this creamy-dreamy pasta on the table, and I’ll share all of the tips and tricks I’ve know to make this the best meal of the week!
1 Sauté onion and sear chicken: Start by sautéing the onion, and once it’s softened add the chicken and sear it with all of the seasoning.
2 Simmer pasta and peppers: Once the chicken is ready, add the uncooked pasta and the sliced bell peppers to the pan, add the chicken broth and bring to a boil Then, simmer covered until the pasta is 75% done.
Add the Boursin-type cheese and finish simmering, again with the lid on.
3 Finish: Once the pasta is JUST al-dente, stir the cheese into the sauce and keep tossing the pasta in it over a gentle simmer until the sauce is thick and creamy and the pasta is fully cooked.
Add the parmesan and parsley, and serve immediately!
Cooking tips to get the recipe right the first time!
- Give the onion time: When you sauté the onion, it pays off to give it 4-5 minutes to fully soften. This is the base of the recipe, and adds incredible flavor!
- Sauté the chicken briefly: You don’t have to fully cook the chicken in the searing step. It’s fine to keep the searing time at 2-3 minutes here, it will finish cooking in the sauce. This is especially important if you choose to use chicken breast instead of chicken thighs, so they don’t dry out!
- Keep the pasta submerged: After you add the chicken broth, nestle the pasta down into the liquid. While it would still cook in the hot steam because we simmer the pasta with the lid on, it would not cook evenly. You can open the lid once or twice and wiggle the pasta a little to help it stay separated.
- Do keep the lid on: We keep the lid on so the liquids don’t evaporate and cook down too much. We want a lot of sauce on our pasta! I see a lot of Cajun Chicken Pasta recipes that look very dry, but this is my secret to the juiciest chicken and maximum sauce – keep that lid on!
- The sauce is thin at first: When you first start stirring the cheese into the pasta, the sauce will seem way too liquidy. But just keep stirring and tossing with the pasta over a simmer. The pasta will finish cooking and the starches will bind the sauce. Also, keep in mind that the sauce thickens a lot as the pasta sits.
- Serve it quickly: You can let the pasta sit for 5 minutes after cooking if you need the sauce to thicken up further, but serve it quickly or the pasta will end up soaking up too much of the sauce.
Need to thicken the sauce?
If you need to thicken the sauce because it’s too thin (this can happen if your pasta brand needed less liquid to fully cook), don’t worry. Just whisk 2-3 teaspoons of cornstarch into 3-4 tablespoons heavy cream or cold broth. Stir this into the pasta and the sauce will thicken right up!
Serving ideas
Like I said in the beginning, you really don’t need anything with this pasta – you have vegetables, you have your protein and you have the starchy pasta.
But if you like to round out your meal or have big eaters, here are some of the extras we enjoy with our Cajun Chicken Pasta:
- Salad greens with lemon vinaigrette
- Dinner rolls, easy homemade bread (or just some store-bought buttered bread or breadsticks!)
- Air fryer broccoli, sautéed green beans or sautéed zucchini, if we need more vegetables that day
Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 medium-large onion (finely diced (about 1 cup))
- 1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces)
- 2-3 tablespoons Cajun seasoning (add more or less to taste)
- garlic powder, onion powder, salt & pepper (to taste)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 12 oz dry linguine pasta
- 2 large bell peppers (any color, cut into thin slices (about 3-4 cups not packed))
- 3-4 cups chicken broth (see notes)
- 1 (5.3-oz) block garlic herb cream cheese (such as Boursin)
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Instructions
- Cook onion and chicken: In a braiser or large skillet (mine is ~3.5 quart), melt butter over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken and season to taste. Sear for 1-2 minutes over medium-high heat, then stir in the garlic.1 tablespoon butter, 1 medium-large onion, 1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, 2-3 tablespoons Cajun seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, salt & pepper, 3 cloves garlic
- Add pasta and broth: Add the dry pasta and the sliced bell peppers, and pour over the chicken broth. Nestle everything down so it's in the liquid. Bring to a boil.12 oz dry linguine pasta, 2 large bell peppers, 3-4 cups chicken broth
- Simmer: Reduce the heat to a vigorous simmer. Cover and cook for 7-10 minutes, until the pasta is about ¾ done. You can loosen the spaghetti 1-2 times for more even cooking.
- Add cheese: Uncover and wiggle the spaghetti to loosen them from each other. Nestle the garlic herb cheese into the middle of the pan, cover and finish cooking for another 3-5 minutes.1 (5.3-oz) block garlic herb cream cheese
- Finish: Uncover, stir the melted cheese into a creamy sauce over medium heat. Keep tossing the pasta in the sauce until it comes together and a creamy sauce forms. Stir in the parmesan and chopped parsley. Adjust broth and seasoning as needed, then serve immediately! See notes if needing to thicken the sauce.¼ cup grated parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Video
Notes
More easy dinner recipes to try
- Cherry Tomato Chicken Pasta
- One Pot Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta
- One Pot Cheesy Taco Pasta
- Cajun Chicken and Potato Skillet
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