Chicken, Tomato and Basil Pasta
Chicken, Tomato and Basil Pasta is ready in 45 minutes using everyday ingredients. A favourite in our family, it is such a good meal to have in your pocket for those ‘what’s for dinner?!’ days. This is a basic tomato and chicken pasta which I eat like comfort food but can also dress up for Date Night or dinner guests.
We all need a few multi-tasking pasta dishes like this in our repertoire. Those dinners that come together quickly without too many ingredients and can be easily customised depending on what you have (and what everybody likes!)
| Keep reading for everything you need, plus a few swaps if you don’t have everything in or have fussy eaters at home. |
Quick Recipe Summary
🩷 Why You’ll Love this Recipe
Ingredient Notes
The full list is in the recipe card below, but here are a few helpful hints about key ingredients to help you make the best Tomato Basil and Chicken Pasta.
- Pasta – I love spaghetti for this tomato, basil and chicken sauce, but almost any pasta shape will work well.
- Tinned Chopped Tomatoes – Use the best quality you can reasonably afford, but I find most supermarket own brands are pretty good these days and budget friendly.
- Basil – I use dried basil during cooking and fresh (usually frozen) basil right at the end for extra flavour. You can get away with using just dried basil.
- Chicken Breast – I slice a whole breast into two thinner cutlets to speed up cooking time. You can also use chicken thighs but you may need to adjust the cooking time.
Swaps and Subs
This is such a great recipe for customising. Use the chicken and tomato sauce as a base and switch it up depending on what you have and what your family likes. Here are just a few ideas:
- Swap chicken breast for skinless, boneless thighs – add a little extra cook time.
- Add extra vegetables – sometimes I add chopped carrot, courgette or bell pepper with the onion, and my daughter loves this with added peas (I throw them in with the pasta for the last 2 minutes)
- Change up the herbs – parsley or oregano work well, or try some fresh tarragon at the end.
- Add olives or capers for extra zing – we love some sliced green olives scattered on to serve.
- Add chilli flakes or diced fresh chilli for some heat
Carrie’s Note
This is truly a beloved recipe in my house – my family calls it ‘Chicken Bolognese’ and I guess that’s a pretty good description! But we rarely eat it the exact same way twice. I love experimenting with a few extra veggies and when I added green olives it was a big hit. I always make a double batch to freeze some for last minute meals.
Everything We Ate
If you want to see some realistic dinner inspiration then I share a full recap of our family meals (what worked, what didn’t, and how I stretched the leftovers) every week for free over on Substack.
Tips for Success
Serving Suggestions
The recipe may be called Chicken, Tomato and Basil Pasta but you can serve it lots of different ways. My family love it best with spaghetti and (lots of) parmesan cheese, sometimes with a simple green salad or some garlic bread on the side. Here are a few more suggestions:
- Serve with rice, mashed potato or polenta
- Use as a filling for baked potatoes or baguettes
- Toss with gnocchi, top with mozzarella cheese and bake until bubbly and golden
- Swap pasta for a couple cans of drained white beans and serve with crusty bread
- this is a great way to use up leftover cooked chicken or turkey – follow the instructions as below to make the sauce, and add the cooked chicken in at the end for about 5 minutes to warm through.
Leftovers
| Fridge: | Up to 3 days in an airtight container. |
| Freezer: | Up to 3 months. Freezes very well, I like to portion it out and freeze in ziploc bags for an easy dinner option. |
| Reheat: | Add a splash of water then microwave or heat on the hob until piping hot. |
| Leftovers tip: | Toss with cooked pasta and plenty of cheese for an easy second dinner or use as a filling for jacket potatoes or baguettes. |
I hope you like this recipe as much as I do!
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Your feedback is really important and helps me keep making recipes you love!
More Chicken Pasta Dishes:
- Creamy Chicken & Broccoli Pasta with Garlic Bread Crumb
- Chicken & Sweetcorn Pasta Salad
- Chicken & Chorizo Pasta Bake
- Vodka Pasta with Chicken
Tomato, Basil and Chicken Pasta
Equipment
- Frying pan or skillet I use my Always Pan
- Spatula or wooden spoon
- large pot for cooking pasta
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- 2 400 gram (2 14.5 oz) tin chopped tomatoes 14.5oz can
- 1 onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves diced
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tsp dried basil
- small bunch fresh basil chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- grated parmesan to garnish
- 500 grams (1 lb) spaghetti or pasta of your choice
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a deep pan or skillet over a medium heat. Add the onions with a ¼ teaspoon of salt and cook for about 5 minutes until beginning to soften.
- Stir in the chopped garlic, dried basil, tomato puree and a pinch of black pepper (about 1/8 tsp – you can add more or less to taste). Cook for another 2-3 minutes until the garlic is fragrant.
- Meanwhile, slice the chicken breasts in half lengthways to create two thinner cutlets – this will help the chicken cook quickly and evenly. Season each cutlet lightly with salt and pepper.
- Add the tins of chopped tomatoes to the pan, then refill the tins halfway with water. Swirl around to pick up any tomato bits left in the tin, then pour the tomato water into the pan as well.
- Give everything a good stir, then bring to a slow bubbling boil.
- Add the chicken breast cutlets to the pan. They should hopefully be fully submerged in the tomato sauce mixture, but if you are using a wider pan and the chicken is slightly exposed spoon some of the sauce over the chicken pieces, and make sure to flip them over halfway through cooking.
- Turn the heat to low and let the sauce simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
- While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the pasta until al dente – usually about 1-2 minutes under the packet cooking times. Drain, making sure to reserve a cup of the pasta cooking water.
- When the chicken is cooked, remove from the pan and use two forks to shred. Stir the shredded chicken breast back into the tomato sauce, along with the chopped fresh basil.
- Stir in the pasta, along with about half a cup/4 tablespoons of pasta cooking water. Use tongs to stir everything well to combine, and add more pasta water if needed to get your desired consistency of sauce.
- Season with additional salt and pepper to taste, and serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan and additional fresh basil.
Notes
