Can I use bottled lemon juice for this recipe?

Yes, you can use bottled lemon juice, but we recommend using fresh lemon juice for the best flavor.

What pasta is best for this recipe?

I suggest a pasta shape with curves, hollows, and scoopable shapes to fully hold all of the delicious creamy sauce. Farfalle, rigatoni, penne, elbows, fettuccini, or gemelli all work great.

Can I substitute heavy cream with milk?

Technically, you could, but you would need to add cornstarch to thicken the sauce and more parmesan for flavor. (And all that parmesan defeats the point of using a lower-fat milk product.) I have used half and half in the past with good results.

What Does The Pasta Water Do in this dish?

Pasta water adds flavor and helps “glue” the pasta and sauce together; it will also help thicken the sauce and emulsify it into a silky, creamy sauce. Make sure to keep a cup or so when you drain the pasta.

Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta

Description

This Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta is a quick and delicious meal for busy weeknights. Creamy and delicious with a hint of lemon. Yum!

Ingredients

Scale

12 oz dried pasta
2 chicken breasts, sliced into small strips (uncooked or precooked)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tsp dried Basil
1 lemon, juiced (or if you use bottled lemon juice, use whatever is equivalent to 1 lemon. )
1 cup of reserved pasta cooking liquid
1 cup of half n half or heavy cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus a bit more to top the dish after cooking
1 tsp of cornstarch (if needed)
salt and pepper to taste

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Instructions

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water. When draining the pasta, reserve about a cup of the pasta cooking liquid. Keep pasta warm. (To keep the pasta from sticking together after cooking, you can mix in about 1 tsp of olive oil.)
While the pasta is cooking, season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet over medium-high and add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, chicken, garlic, and red pepper flakes to a saute pan.
Cook until the chicken is golden and completely cooked. (If using precooked chicken, saute the garlic and red pepper about 3 minutes before adding the chicken, then cook a minute or two longer until the chicken is thoroughly coated and hot.)
Add about 1/2 cup of pasta cooking liquid, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese and cream to the chicken mixture.
Cook over medium heat until the sauce has thickened. If you want a little more cream sauce, add the rest of the reserved pasta cooking liquid. (If you want your cream sauce thicker, add a tsp of corn starch to 2 tablespoons of water and mix into the sauce. Continue cooking until desired thickness is achieved.)
Add the cooked pasta to the skillet and turn the heat off.
Mix everything together until the pasta is thoroughly coated.
Top with dried basil, cracked fresh pepper and additional Parmesan cheese.

Serve and enjoy!