You know how they say it gets easier after 3 months? No, not with Chicken and Asparagus Pasta. With babies I mean.
Well, they (whoever “they” may be) are so. terribly. wrong. Once babies turn 3 months old, they realize there’s a world out there the need to see, now, in its entirety, within 5 minutes.
Or maybe that’s just my kids? Ha!
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE seeing them grow up. It’s amazing to me that I get to stay home with them to watch how every day brings something new. But. Lately every day has also been bringing increasing stubbornness, silliness, boundary-testing.
Like mother, like daughter.
During meals, one of them will try to get away with only eating plain pasta. And refuse to eat cooked vegetables. The other one will try to use the sauce as shampoo. And so on and so forth.
But this meal? I don’t know. It’s a miracle; send cake to celebrate (and make it a Summer Stone Fruit Streusel Coffee Cake, while you’re at it). They ate it, nobody complained about the sauce on their pasta, nobody tried smearing said sauce onto their head, the asparagus was gone within seconds.
It’s not that either of my girls is a particularly picky eater, but there’s a lot of unnecessary whining and mess-making and just… Ugh. It gets to me. So having a nice and quiet meal is awesome, and it’s also super easy to make!
How to make this one skillet chicken and asparagus pasta:
There are two (super simple!) steps to this meal:
- Cooking the chicken
- Cooking the pasta and asparagus right in the sauce
I mean, you cannot beat the simplicity of that.
A few tips to make this recipe absolutely foolproof:
Make sure the chicken is all the way done before removing it from the skillet.
The first time I made this dish, I didn’t cook the chicken long enough. In the end, everything was ready but the chicken needed some more time to cook, which was super frustrating.
Yes, all the remaining ingredients really can all go into one skillet.
That’s the beauty of one pot pasta dishes – you just have one pot (or in this case skillet) to wash.
I prefer adding the asparagus once the pasta has had some time to cook already, because that way it still has some bite.
If you think the sauce is still too liquid-y once the pasta is done, turn up the heat and boil it for another 30 seconds.
If it’s still not thick enough (it totally depends on your pasta!), set it aside and let it rest for 5 minutes. It should have thickened nicely by then.
If you prefer your asparagus very soft, you can boil it separately in a large pot filled with water and just add it in the end.
The way it is cooked in the recipe does cook it through, but it still has some bite, which we love.
Make it even more creamy, if you like.
This is my secret. I just stir a little cream cheese (or in this case soft goat’s cheese because it’s the actual best) in with the parmesan at the end.
It’s not in the recipe card because in some of my recipes (uhm like my one pot garlic butter parmesan mushroom pasta) some people go crazy on Pinterest how it tastes only of cream cheese and it’s awful. Tired of the crankiness, so you only get this tip if you’re reading the actual post.
Look. If you add the amount I add, which is one or two heaping tablespoons, it’s pretty much impossible to make this dish taste of cream cheese ONLY. Or you have the shittiest cream cheese in the world, in which case I really can’t help you.
If you think your pasta sauce is not creamy enough, and you trust me to not mess up your dinner, try it. I live for this.
I know you know I love a good one-pot pasta, and this one is no exception.
It’s creamy, it feels special, yet it is so simple to make.
I’ve been feeling that my go-to one-pot pea and corn pasta needs an upgrade, and I’m pretty confident I’ve achieved it with this recipe.
I like how this meal keeps prep time and dishes minimal, which means I also have time/headspace to make a side salad (strawberry spinach salad, anyone??) and yell at my husband to set the table with the kids.
Wait, did I say yell? Oh, I definitely meant lovingly ask.
Get the recipe here:
I first shared this recipe on Food Fanatic as Chicken Asparagus Pasta Recipe.
Leigh says
When you say 4 cups of pasta, I’m assuming you mean dry pasta, since you cook it in the sauce. How many ounces of pasta do you use?
Nora says
Yes you’re correct, Leigh – it’s dry pasta. I recommend using about 12oz of pasta if you want to go by weight.
Sonja says
I love this one pot meal! Simple & quick, the only thing I didn’t expect was the strong lemon flavor. I am a lemon fan, but for this one it over powered the dish. I just told my husband to pretend it was like we were back in Positano. Next time I will do less lemon & actually maybe more cream cheese. 2 tablespoons wasn’t enough. Great tips, will be recreating this one!
Nora Rusev says
Sonja, thank you so much for sharing your very helpful thoughts about the recipe. My best guess would be that different lemons will produce different results – or maybe I’m just REALLY into lemons 😉 either way, I’m glad you liked it, and I’d love to hear your thoughts when you make it with your own modifications next time!
Andra says
What kind of grated parmesan do you use?
Nora says
Real, actual, fancy, expensive parmesan from Italy. Because I live with three cheese snobs 😉
Abby says
Hello! I made this for dinner tonight and my family loved it 🙂 I cooked the pasta and water and then added it and the sauce did not thicken. When I re-read the recipe it sounded like I should have cooked the pasta in the milk and chicken broth. Is that how you did it? I ended up dumping a lot of milk/broth off to achieve the consistancy.
Nora says
Hi Abby, yes the pasta is cooked right in the milk and chicken broth – no need to pre-cook! Sorry if that wasn’t clear in the recipe, but I’, glad you managed to salvage your dinner!