This quick tossed chicken broccoli pasta dinner is an easy meal made with just a few simple ingredients. It’s a great recipe to help get that weeknight dinner on the table pronto! Bookmark it and save it for those busy nights where you don’t wanna sacrifice on flavor or color! Short orecchiette pasta is tossed up in the pan with chicken, a little love from smoky diced bacon, and vibrant green baby broccolini. That’s all the magic you’ll need to craft up a simple and satisfying weeknight Italian inspired pasta dinner.
Orecchiette is one of my favorite short pastas to use for a dish like this, but, you can use your favorite short kind of pasta, if desired. Rigatoni pasta, penne pasta, rotini pasta, or even bowties workout nicely with this simple pasta dish.
I just love the round shape of the orecchiette and the way this pasta looks nestled in between the pieces of baby broccoli on the plate. If you’re looking for happy, healthy pasta recipes, keep this easy dinner recipe on your list of simple dishes to whip up quick. It’s simple but complete with chunks of juicy chicken and bright greens tossed up into a big one pot meal to serve up and devour.
Some Things that Help the chicken Broccoli Pasta Recipe Along…
There are a few quick things that make the pasta delicious while keeping its preparation quite simple. A little crispy diced bacon lends a hint of smoky flavor and richness to the pasta. Splashes of pasta water at the end help bring everything together when tossing this up before serving.
Lots of freshly grated parmesan will add delicious nuttiness and richness to the rest of the dish along with pinches of salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
You can brighten everything up at the end with a little grated lemon zest and poof! The simplest broccoli chicken pasta is tossed up and ready to serve with a short list of ingredients and just a few minutes of cooking time.
What You’ll Want To Have Ready For a Healthy Broccoli Pasta
- Fresh baby broccoli or the regular variety of fresh broccoli florets, if not available
- Sliced bacon cut into diced pieces
- Seasoned chicken cut into pieces
- Short pasta cooked al dente with a little of the pasta water reserved.
- Parmesan Cheese and fresh lemon plus coarse salt and black pepper
- Diced onion and minced garlic
Make A easy Chicken Pasta with fresh broccoli
To make the chicken and baby broccoli pasta, you’ll want to prepare the broccoli. You can certainly use regular broccoli cut up into florets and add that.
I love using the baby broccoli in this dish because the flowery tops in the broccolini are made up of bigger and fuller buds. They look beautiful served up with a nice al dente pasta. If you can find the broccolini, grab it because even the stalks are edible and you can slice it from top to bottom and toss in!
Prepare the Baby Broccoli (or Broccolini) and Pasta
Prepare the baby broccoli by dropping the stalks into a pot of boiling water. Cook until they turn bright green, about 2 to 3 minutes. Immediately after, shock them by dropping in an ice water bath to lock in bright green color. This is the same thing I did for this ground turkey broccoli and rice recipe where it comes out nice and green every time!
Give the broccoli a shake in the colander to drain out any excess water. Slice the broccoli on a diagonal into about 1-inch pieces, leaving the tops whole.
Set aside in medium bowl. If you don’t already have leftover/prepared pasta available, now is a good time to put on a large pot of water to cook your orecchiette (or favorite short pasta). Cook pasta according to package instructions (preferably on the al dente side). Drain, reserving about a cup of the pasta water.
Brown and Crisp The Bacon
In a wide large skillet over medium-high heat, brown and render the diced bacon pieces. Toss them with a wooden spoon until darkened in color and crispy. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside on a small flat plate to drain on a paper towel.
Cook The Seasoned Cubed Chicken
In the same pan with the juices left over from the bacon, toss in the seasoned pieces of chicken, working in batches, if necessary, to avoid overcrowding the pan. Cook pieces until golden, browned on all sides and cooked through inside. Remove chicken from the pan and add to a separate bowl. Set aside.
I used chicken tenderloin pieces which are thinner and easy to slice/cook up into small pieces. If this isn’t available, boneless chicken breast or boneless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces works too.
Add Diced Onion and Minced Garlic
Now bring the pan to medium heat and add a tablespoon of butter to the same pan. Toss in the diced onion. Toss and cook diced onion in the butter until softened through and lightly caramelized, about 3 or 4 minutes. Now add in the minced garlic cloves.
Toss these together and cook through a few more minutes until garlic is fragrant and combined with the onion (but not burned). It will quickly add good flavor to the chicken and baby broccoli pasta.
Toss Chicken, Broccoli, and Pasta In The Pot
Add the cooked chicken and broccoli back to the same pot with onion and garlic. Now add the cooked orecchiette (or favorite short pasta) and browned bacon pieces back to the pan. Add a splash of the pasta water reserved from earlier to this bacon and broccoli pasta mixture.
Drizzle in some nice full-flavored fruity olive oil. Toss everything together, seasoning along the way with salt and pepper to taste. If you are using leftover pasta and do not have pasta water, use chicken broth or vegetable broth.
Finish and serve
At this point, I like to shave in lots of fresh grated parmesan cheese. I’ll also add a little bit of lemon zest (plus a little squeeze of lemon juice, if desired) to stir into the pasta. The lemon will brighten everything up and the parmesan will work its delicious magic with the pasta, chicken, and broccoli. The bacon will add a flavorful and slight smoky richness to the background of the pasta dish. Serve nice and hot with a dusting of red chili flakes on top (if desired). It gives a punch of spice and color right at the end!
Easy Smoky Chicken Broccoli Pasta with Crispy Bacon
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb Chicken Tenderloins - seasoned w/ salt + pepper and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 5 slices Applewood Smoked Bacon - cut into small pieces
- 1/2 White Onion - diced
- 2 to 3 cloves Fresh Garlic - minced
- 1 lb Baby Broccoli or Broccolini
- 1 box Orecchiette or Short Pasta - prepared according to package directions
- 1 cup Reserved Pasta Water
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 tbsp Fruity Olive Oil
- 1/2 tsp Coarse Salt and Ground Pepper
- Fresh Lemon or Lemon Juice - for topping at end
- Parmesan Cheese - for topping at the end
- Red Pepper Flakes - optional for topping at end
Instructions
- Prepare the baby broccoli by dropping into a pot of boiling water. Cook until they turn bright green, about 2 to 3 minutes. Immediately after, shock them by dropping in an ice water bath. Drain out any excess water and slice the broccoli on a diagonal into about 1-inch pieces, leaving the tops whole. Set aside in a large bowl.Â
- If you don’t already have leftover/prepared pasta available, put on a large pot of water to cook your orecchiette (or favorite short pasta). Cook pasta according to package instructions (preferably on the al dente side). Drain, reserving about a cup of the pasta water. Set aside.
- In a wide large skillet over medium-high heat, brown and render the diced bacon pieces. Toss them with a wooden spoon until darkened in color and crispy. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside on a small flat plate to drain on a paper towel.
- In the same pan with the juices left over from the bacon, toss in the seasoned pieces of chicken, working in batches, if necessary. Cook pieces until golden, lightly browned on all sides, and cooked through inside, 6-8 minutes. Remove chicken from the pan and add to a medium or large bowl and set aside.
- Now bring the pan to medium heat and add a tablespoon of butter to the same pan. Toss in the diced onion. Toss and cook diced onion in the butter until softened through and lightly caramelized, about 3 or 4 minutes. Now add in the minced garlic cloves. Toss these together and cook through another minute until garlic is fragrant and combined with the onion (but not burned).
- Add the cooked chicken and broccoli back to the same pot with onion and garlic. Add the cooked orecchiette (or favorite short pasta) and bacon pieces back to the pan. Add a splash of the reserved pasta water (or vegetable/chicken broth if using instead) and drizzle in some nice full-flavored fruity olive oil.Â
- Toss everything together, seasoning along the way with salt and pepper to taste. Top off with lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese and a little lemon zest. If desired, squeeze in a dash of lemon juice for brightness at the end. Garnish with red pepper flakes and serve hot.
