Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta - cajun-style blackened chicken and penne pasta, and a creamy cajun, tomato pasta sauce! A delicious dinner ready in 30 minutes.
3 ½tbsphomemade cajun seasoningyou may need more if you're using a store-bought cajun spice mix that's less spicy
2clovesgarlicfinely chopped (double the amount if you like garlic flavor)
½cupcrushed tomatoes
½cuphalf and halfor ¼ cup milk and ¼ cup single cream
OR
¼cupGreek yogurt + ¼ cup water/milk
2tspbrown sugar
Salt and pepperto taste
Parmesan cheese to serve
2tbspoil
8ozuncooked penne pasta(or 4 servings)
Instructions
Prep the vegetables and meat. Cut the green peppers and onions into slices, and slice the sausage (if using). Cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks (on a separate cutting board to avoid cross contamination). Set aside.
Place a large pot of water with salt, over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. When the water comes to a boil, add the pasta and set the timer for 10 minutes. Drain the pasta, but reserve 1 - 2 cups of the pasta water.
While, the pasta is cooking, place another large non-stick pan or pot over medium-high heat and drizzle some oil.
When the pan is hot, add the chicken, generous ¼ tsp salt, 1 tbsp cajun seasoning and mix well. Increase heat to high, and cook the chicken for 5 minutes, until it shows good caramelization (about 5 - 6 minutes, depends on the heat of your pan). Place the chicken in a separate bowl and set aside until needed.
Optional step - add more oil, and then add the sliced andouille sausages and fry until they start to show some good caramelization as well (about 5 minutes). Set aside.
Add the onion, garlic, green pepper, rest of the cajun seasoning, generous pinch of salt, and 1 tsp brown sugar to the same pan. Saute until the onion softens.
Add the crushed tomatoes, blackened chicken and sausages, milk/cream mix, and stir to combine. Taste and season with more salt if needed. Add some of the pasta water if the mix is too thick, and stir to combine. Bring the pasta sauce to a simmer.
Mix in the cooked pasta and toss to combine. If you'd like more pasta sauce, you can add up to another cup of milk or pasta water. Let the pasta simmer in the sauce for about a minute or two. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with extra black pepper on top (optional), and freshly grated parmesan. Enjoy!
Notes
If you'd like to, you can use chicken thighs instead of breast meat for this recipe as well.
Feel free to leave out the sausages, OR you can use chorizo for this recipe too.
You can also use beef or pork instead, to make cajun beef pasta or cajun pork pasta.
Or use shrimp to make creamy cajun shrimp pasta.
To make this pasta more nutritious, add other vegetables like zucchini, broccoli, corn etc. as well.
How to make dairy free cajun chicken pasta
Substitute the milk/cream with coconut milk or almond milk.
And instead of parmesan cheese, you can add a little nutritional yeast.
How to make gluten free cajun chicken pasta
Substitute regular penne pasta with your favorite gluten free penne pasta.
How to make creamy vegetarian or vegan cajun pasta
Mushrooms! I love making cajun mushroom pasta when making this dish vegetarian.
Use a plant based milk instead of cream (coconut or almond milk).
Use vegan cheese or nutritional yeast instead of parmesan cheese.