This Chicken Pasta is quick, creamy, and best of all utilizes leftovers from two of my other recipes. You’ll definitely maximize time and minimize waste. Always a win in my book!
A staple in my recipe rotation is Creamy Chicken Grilled Cheese on Sourdough paired with Tomato Soup. The sandwich dunked into the tomato soup is the most perfect flavor combination. I thought if it tastes this good in soup and sandwich form, I bet it would make a delicious pasta! I almost always have a little bit leftover from each recipe and I hate to waste food, so this pasta makes perfect sense as a meal the next day.
Jump to:
Ingredients
- Tomato Soup
- Creamy Chicken Grilled Cheese filling
- pasta shells (or other favorite pasta)
- cooked chicken
- broccoli (or other vegetable)
- good quality parmesan
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
- Step One: Salt boiling water and cook 8 ounces of pasta 1 minute LESS than package directions. You’ll continue cooking the pasta in the sauce. Reserve ½ cup of pasta water before draining. Return the pasta to the pot after draining.
- Step Two: Add 1 cup of Creamy Chicken Grilled Cheese filling and ½ cup of Tomato Soup to the cooked pasta.
- Step Three: Over medium heat, stir the pasta, soup and filling until the filling has melted and everything is combined. Add ¼ cup of pasta water to thin out the sauce.
- Step Four: Add cooked chicken and broccoli to the pasta and cook for another minute until warmed through. Add more pasta water as needed to keep the sauce from thickening too much. Taste and add a pinch of salt if needed.
- Step Five: Plate and top with a generous amount of freshly grated parmesan. Enjoy!
Hint: Don’t forget to reserve some pasta water, but if you do forget, use chicken broth to thin the sauce! It’ll add some great flavor.
Give yourself the gift of prep!
In this section I will give you ways to freeze, re-purpose and/or use some of your ingredients for another meal. Save yourself some time and effort next time you’re in the kitchen!
I am using all of my pre-prepped ingredients to create this recipe, so here is everything I had prepped:
Utilize leftovers: Like I stated above I am clearing the fridge and using leftovers from a soup and sandwich combo I had for dinner the night before.
Use frozen veggies: I love frozen vegetables. It ensures I have something fresh on my plate without worrying about using all of the veggies before they go bad in my fridge. I defrosted my broccoli while the pasta was cooking.
Roast and freeze a chicken: I roast a whole chicken pretty regularly. I’ll break it down, portion it into vacuum seal bags, then freeze it. For this recipe I wanted to add additional chicken to up the protein (there is already some in the filling). I defrosted one of the cooked chicken breast I had, then chopped it and added it to the pasta. No extra cooking required. I’ll use the broken down chicken for recipes like:
Top Tip
Don’t over cook the pasta. The pasta will continue to cook as you build the sauce, so intentionally undercook it when boiling. Boil it for one minute less than the minimum time recommended on the package.
Related
Looking for other pasta recipes like this? Try these:
Pairing
Want some salad to go with your pasta? Try these:
Recipe
Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta
Course: Dinner, Main4
servings5
minutes15
minutes20
minutesMaximize time and minimize waste by utilizing leftovers to get dinner on the table in 20 minutes. Quick and creamy, this pasta is always a hit.
Ingredients
½ cup Tomato Soup
1 cup Creamy Chicken Grilled Cheese filling
8 ounces pasta shells (or other favorite pasta)
1 cup cooked chicken
1 cup broccoli (or other vegetable)
Good quality parmesan, freshly grated, for topping
Salt
Directions
- Salt boiling water and cook 8 ounces of pasta 1 minute LESS than package directions. You'll continue cooking the pasta in the sauce. Reserve ½ cup of pasta water before draining. Return the pasta to the pot after draining.
- Add 1 cup of Creamy Chicken Grilled Cheese filling and ½ cup of Tomato Soup to the cooked pasta.
- Over medium heat, stir the pasta, soup and filling until the filling has melted and everything is combined. Add ¼ cup of pasta water to thin out the sauce.
- Add cooked chicken and broccoli to the pasta and cook for another minute until warmed through. Add more pasta water as needed to keep the sauce from thickening too much. Taste and add a pinch of salt if needed.
- Plate and top with a generous amount of freshly grated parmesan. Enjoy!
