Last week, I told you how I shred twenty-five pounds of cooked chicken breasts in minutes.
I promised I’d share some recipes I make with that shredded chicken. This one comes together in minutes.
Chicken Alfredo Spinach Pasta is one of my kids’ favorites. It’s so easy it’s embarrassing to post it as a “recipe.” Especially since I still haven’t attempted the from-scratch-alfredo-sauce that many of you claim is super quick and easy. If I do, I’ll share it in a new post.
Emphasis on the if.
For now, I’m getting the Alfredo sauce at Aldi for 1.69 a jar.
Please note that I am listing the ingredients for a recipe that serves our family of five with zero leftovers. The pictures, however, are for the doubled recipe, which I thought would be perfect since we depend on leftovers for Hubby’s lunches. It was too much, so next time, I plan to use a box and a half of pasta and a jar and a half of sauce. Adjust as needed for your family.
Ingredients:
1 box bowtie pasta
1 jar Alfredo sauce
Some frozen spinach
Some pre-cooked and shredded chicken, straight from the freezer
Instructions:
Boil the pasta.
When it’s almost done (about a minute left), throw in a hunk of frozen, pre-cooked chicken and a hunk of frozen spinach.
The boiling water will thaw and warm those things in that last minute of cooking. (It might take a minute-and-a-half to two minutes since the frozen stuff will cool the boiling water slightly.)
Dump it all in the colander to drain the water.
Dump it back into the pot and add the Alfredo sauce.
The hot pasta, chicken and spinach will warm up the sauce. You can warm it more on the stove if you want.
Serve.
For real, y’all. How easy is that? And my kids eat all the spinach in it even though they claim to dislike frozen spinach.
A one dish meal (veggies included) that the entire family loves done in the time it takes to boil pasta. Yay for that!
See how I fill my freezer with pre-cooked chicken here. (That link also includes LOTS of links to other recipes in which I use the frozen pre-cooked chicken.) See all my other easy recipes here. See how I make freezer cooking work for me since I don’t love casseroles!
FYI, this recipe is included in the two week plan that I teach you in Make Dinner Happen, the least fancy, most practical cooking course ever. You can learn more and see what recipes are included here.
--Nony
This looks great. I’m not a fan of frozen spinach…do you think it would be ok to make it with fresh spinach?
Definitely!
I pretty much do the same thing, but instead of the spinach I use a can of peas (drained). I add the peas after the sauce and gently fold into the mixture. So quick and easy.
The spinach has way more vitamins and minerals, though.
That looks delish!!
I like this idea a LOT! I’m going to try it with frozen chopped broccoli.
Never thought to add the frozen chicken (well, Last Minute Lucy here usually has to cook the chicken the same day) and spinach to the cooking water! Yay!
In return, I give you: 1c frozen peas instead of spinach, and add a splash of white wine and a small package of precooked bacon pieces to the alfredo sauce for Cheater Chicken Carbonara.
Also, if you have extra time: use rotini & add to your recipe: a can of diced tomatoes (drained or undrained, I’ve done both) and a big handful of mozz. to the sauce and treat it like a baked ziti. (Also, I’ve ditched the tomatoes in favor of onions & mushrooms with a healthy splash of white wine, but then it’s not nearly so quick AND it makes more cleanup. It’s my “in-law dinner” 😉 )
Tips for tips, my fellow slob in recovery!
Oh my gosh thank you so much for posting this! My family prob won’t eat it but I will prob make it for myself!
is there an alfredo sauce that’s better than another??
I use Aldi brand, and prefer the “alfredo” over “four cheese”
P.S. We are a family of 5 (kids ages 5-16) and this is now one of the few meals that keeps EVERYBODY happy! The kids even ask for more, and I have VERY picky little eaters. The first time I made it, I waited until they were finished eating to tell them the “green stuff ” was spinach;)
LOVE THIS!! SUPER YUMMY, FAST MEAL IN A RUSH!!!
OK. I can’t believe I have been following your blog for several months now and never checked out the meal planning/cooking stuff! I have just been busy enjoying all the cleaning and decluttering posts and podcast, that I didn’t pay attention to the cooking related posts. (probably because I dread cooking and meal planning most of the time) So this is right up my alley! The idea of precooking meats ahead of time and then freezing them is BRILLIANT, and really does help people like me!! If the meat is done ahead of time, I feel WAY less overwhelmed about deciding what to make…, and all the steps included…, and “do I have all the ingredients?…..”, and dreading the messy kitchen…., and yada, yada, yada…..This meal takes away all the excuses. And in my head, the spinach makes it totally healthy 😉
Thank you Nony!!
Homemade alfredo is so easy and tastes 100% better than jarred!
1/4 cup butter
a couple cloves garlic crushed (optional) 1/2 c Parmesan cheese ( green can stuff works too!)
1 cup heavy cream
Melt the butter in saucepan. Add the garlic when becomes fragrant add the cheese mix well. Add the cream. As the cheese melts it will thicken. Heat until it coats the back of your spoon
I tried this recipe today. I doubled the spinach and blended a couple heads of broccoli and added them in I also used a jar and a half of sauce and added some crushed red peppers and garlic for some more flava!!!! I didn’t add the chicken because I had cooked some drumsticks in the oven. Thank you for this tasty and quick dinner.