One of the great things about being a food blogger is that I am constantly exposed to all kinds of recipes. I read a lot of food blogs daily and I have learned so much about food preparation this year since I started blogging. I always enjoy eating good food but I wasn’t as knowledgeable last year about all kinds of recipes, cooking techniques and how to present food deliciously.
As I pick up cooking tips and adore food photos, I also learn a lot of quick meal recipes from others. One of my go to recipes when my life gets too hectic is pasta dish. The other day when I was checking my foodie friend Fern’s blog To Food with Love, I learned about this Chicken Scallopini. I have never prepared chicken this way and I was intrigued to try. I used chicken tenders because kids can easily break apart the meat and eat on their own. This is a perfect weeknight meal if you are running out time to prepare dinner and it’s delicious! Enjoy!
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Chicken Scallopini with Lemon Butter Pasta
Ingredients
- 6 chicken tenders
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 8 oz spaghetti
- ½ onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 6 slices applewood smoked bacon
- 5 sprigs thymes (fresh)
- 6 mushrooms
- 10 cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- ½ lemon (squeezed)
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Pound the chicken tenders with meat pounder to flatten them. Season them with salt and pepper. Diced onion and bacon into small pieces and slice garlic.
- Start boiling water to cook pasta in a large pot. When the pasta is cooked, drain water but please remember to keep ½ cup of the water that was used to cook the pasta. Set aside if the pasta sauce is not cooked yet.
- Meanwhile in a large frying pan, heat olive oil on medium heat. Fry the chicken on both sides until slightly browned. Transfer onto a plate and set aside.
- In the same frying pan, sauté the onions and garlic for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the bacon and cook until onions become translucent.
- Add the thyme and mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms become soft.
- Add the tomatoes, cream, butter, and lemon juice. Bring it to a simmer and season with salt and pepper to taste. If you add bacon, it’s already salty so be careful not to make it too salty (keep in mind the pasta will make the sauce more bland). Remove from heat.
- By this time pasta is cooked already, so add the pasta in the pan and toss it in the creamy sauce. Slowly stir in the pasta water to loosen up and thin out the sauce.
- Add the chicken to the pan and toss lightly so that chicken will warm up. Serve the pasta on the serving plates, top with the chicken and sauce. Garnish with arugula and sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for a month.
I veganized this recipe and besides it being super healthy, was also so gourmet! I made my own heavy cream by blending raw cashews and coconut milk. I used Gardein’s Chick’n Scallopini, Miyoko’s Cultured European Butter, and LightLife Smokey Bacon Tempeh as substitutes. I also added a dash of white wine and some capers at the end. Violife brand has really tasty vegan parmesan that probably would have made this dish even more phenomenal, but it’s the only ingredient I didn’t have when I found this recipe. But I certainly didn’t feel like I missed out on anything, and look forward to trying it out next time with that, except next time, I’ll be sharing this dish with someone, because this is too good not to! Thank you for sharing, Nami!
Hello, Susie! Wow! Amazing!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read Nami’s post and share your cooking experience and tips with us.🙂
This is the most amazing recipe we’ve ever had. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes. They have brought our family back to the dinner table.
Hi Rachel! I’m so happy to hear your family enjoyed this dish. Thank you for your kind feedback, Rachel! xo
Hi,
I was hoping to replicate the Chicken Scallopini dish from Johnny Carnino’s and this recipe is very close… probably better. Tried it tonight and absolutely loved it. Did a slight variation and breaded the chicken. This is an outstanding dish! (and pretty rich…)
Thanks for sharing,
Matt
HI Matt! Thank you so much for trying my recipe and I’m so happy to hear you liked it. 🙂 Thanks for the kind feedback!