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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- 6 chicken breast tenders
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2-3 servings spaghetti
- ½ onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 6 apple wood bacon slices
- 5 strings thymes (fresh)
- 6 mushrooms
- 10 cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butterr
- ½ lemon (squeezed)
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
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.
Adapted from To Food With Love.
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Hi Nami, your photos and food styling has blown me away once again! Love the colour theme…bright and cheerful with the pretty chequered cloth! Thanks for such a beautiful post 🙂
kat
looks great!
Caroline
Hi Nami
This look great. I will cook this for this weekend lunch. I really love all the photos on your blog. Can you please let me know what camera do you use?
Thanks.
Caroline
Nami
Thank you Caroline! I use Canon T2i with 50mm f1.4 lens and Tamron 60mm f2.0 macro lens for most of the pictures featured on the website.
Alyssa
I usually thing of a scallopini being breaded and pan fried, but I like that yours is browned in a skillet, making it much healthier. I really like that the sauce looks like it lightly coats the noodles too. This really is a great weeknight meal that would leave everyone satisfied!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
Lemon butter pasta? Be still my heart! I just love the sound of that! 😀
Medeja
Great spaghetti recipe! Looks beautiful and sounds like a filling dinner dish!
Mr. Three-Cookies
Great flavours. I’ve eaten something similar but without chicken, didn’t realise it was called Chicken Scallopini. Thats a really nice name but I see no scallops!
Nami
I actually didn’t know why it’s called “scallopini” in the beginning too. For those of you who don’t know what it means…
Accoring to Wiki, Scaloppine (plural and diminutive of scaloppa – a small scallop, i.e., a thinly sliced cut of meat) (in English usage scaloppini; sometimes scallopini) is an Italian dish consisting of thinly sliced meat (most often veal, although chicken may also be used) that is dredged in wheat flour, sautéed, then heated and served with a tomato-, or wine-sauce; or piccata, which denotes a caper and lemon sauce.
PolaM
Perfect explanation, except as usual in translation scaloppine (the correct plural word for scaloppina – singular) became scaloppini. Sorry Nami but this is one of our Italian pet peeves, we just get crazy at all the Es turned into Is!
Nami
I’m glad you told us. We probably think if we end the word with “i”, it becomes Italian. lol. I rather want to know what’s right. Thanks! I totally understand as I see so many weird Japanese here…
Liz
Oh, my gosh, your photos are just stunning…love that last one especially! I haven’t mastered focusing and getting my hand in the photo yet…did your hubby help? If not, I’m truly impressed!!!! This looks like a fabulous dish…one my family would enjoy (as long as I ate every mushroom…yum!).
Nami
I always use a tripod and set a timer for the last shot. I hold the fork and focus first then set timer for 2 secs. 🙂 I can’t move so it’s a bit tricky.
Sonia
I like to pan fry chicken breast this way too, just season with pepper and salt, but for me I add to noodle soup instead, next time I will try to add on pasta .
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Hi Nami, I love these sorts of quick throw together dishes for busy weeknights and this lemony butter pasta sounds great!
Mandy - The Complete Cook Book
Such wonderful comforting lovely flavours Nami and so beautifully presented.
Have a great day.
🙂 Mandy
Shawn
Beautiful dish…I can’t wait to make it for my family 🙂
Sandra
Nami everything you touch is magic. Your recipes, photos, and food styling are off the charts! The Food Network should be knocking on your door anyday. Absolutely jaw-dropping.
Belinda @zomppa
What a great pasta – great weeknight meal!
Sandra's Easy Cooking
Lovely meal, Nami! You can’t go wrong with this combination and your photos are amazing!!! Nicely done my friend, I love this recipe!!!
Eri
Hello Nami! I love pasta but my husband is not exactly the pasta guy.. this recipe is great, but when I’ll make it I’ll skip on the butter. I’m really excited that my name is common on Japan haha, it’s not so common in Greece..! Thank you so much for visiting my blog, I really appreciate it!
Cassie l Bake Your Day
Beautiful flavors in this one, Nami! The sauce looks and sounds scrumptious!
Smoky Wok (Jen)
YUM – pasta with lemon butter sauce sounds divine! Totally delicious 😀
Melanie @ Melanie Cooks
I love the one-dish pasta meals! Your pasta looks great, and lemon-butter sauce sounds delicious!
Eun Oh
Lemon butter sounds so scrumptious!
This is simple but perfect!
bakerbynature
Growing up in an Italian family I was spoiled with dishes like this almost every night of the week 🙂 You did a great job making this, and now I’m craving a big plate of scallopini!
Divya Yadava
Lovely pasta recipe and absolutely gorgeous pictures. Your food styling is really impressive!
Btw I’m a bit late…but loved the tandoori chicken puffs recipe too!
The Elegant Eggplant
Gorgeous!! The sauce sounds sooo delicious.
Sissi
Nami, your blog becomes so international I will not be surprise if one day you publish an Icelandic recipe 😉
This pasta looks gorgeous and your presentation is as always so perfect that I wish I saw a pasta dish as well presented at least once in a restaurant! You could give lessons to many chefs. I also see that your pasta is al dente (at least it looks like). This is also the way I prefer it.
Nami
Haha not so international… I wish though. I cook way too much Japanese food and my kids are not so used to other food. Yes, I’m very cautious that my pasta is always al dente!! MUST!
Tina (PinayInTexas)
Pasta with chicken is my family’s favorite! My girls just love this combo…how much more if there’s bacon and mushrooms! This sounds like heaven!
Stephanie @ Eat. Drink. Love.
I love chicken scallopini and yours looks wonderful, Nami! Especially with that bacon! I love that as bloggers, we are exposed and inspired to try new things!
Suzi
Love the lemon butter sauce with pasta, yes. Your photos always make me hungry. Thanks for the photo techniques I read on some of the comments. Very helpful.
Mikaela Cowles
Last night after basketball I tried to just go straight to bed. Around midnight I found myself in the kitchen craving pasta and waiting, not very patiently, for water to boil. I think perhaps this is a little to time intensive for a midnight snack, but if only I’d had this as leftovers in the fridge! It looks fantastic.
On a different note – I COMPLETELY agree about how blogging opens your world to food. I love the new things I discover and try through all of my fantastic blogging friends!
Juliana
Delicious pasta dish with chicken…love it! Lemon, butter, cream…so tasty and rich in flavor.
Hope you are having a great week Nami and thanks for this delicious and simple recipe 🙂
Reem | Simply Reem
Delicious!!!!
Lemon,cream, butter…. what else one can ask in pasta dish right…
Love the pictures.
Jihane @Sinful Sundays
I would pay good money for that deliciousness right there! Looks awesome! Really pretty pictures, too. 🙂
skip to malou
Chicken Scallopini? I love the way it rolls in your tongue haha. and btw, Nami, you’re so right, ever since I started blogging, new recipes exploded in my kitchen like never before. You inspired me to share the recipes I also tried and was inspired because of blogging.hmmm great idea!
have a great day!
malou
ChopinandMysaucepan
Nami, I’m sure your husband know that he is one very lucky man. Your recipes are simply amazing. Sometimes we do simple pasta dishes like this when we are short of time. My variation would be without the chicken, cream and butter in summer so that it’s light but winter is great with the additions. I love how the lemon juice and juices from the cherry tomatoes give this dish its natural tangy taste which complements so well with a good olive oil and bacon. Well done.
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com
Nami,
Another beautiful recipe with great food styling. So drool-worthy! I agree with you about learning from other foodies in the blogging world. There’s wealth of information out there 🙂
Rosa
That pasta dish looks marvelous! I love it.
Everything you create is beautiful.
Cheers,
Rosa
Cucina49
What a great, colorful dish!
kankana
You know Nami how much I love Pasta and something with that kind of light sauce is my fav 🙂
Hyosun Ro
Another great post! As everyone here is saying, your photos are just stunning!
Asianmommy
This looks really tasty! I’ve got to try it.
lena
you’re so right talking about food learning thru blogging. I’m learning a great deal from bloggers and thanks so much for sharing all the wonderful recipes here! Lemon and butter in pasta, that’s creamy and tangy!!
mjskit
It is so true – no matter how many years you’ve cooked, there is always something else to learn. I have learned so much since I started blog surfing and have been inspired by a lot of young chefs! One day soon, I will be making sushi! 🙂 This IS a great pasta recipe!
Erin @ Dinners, Dishes and Desserts
Chicken Scallopini is not something I have made that often. It is delicious, and easy so I need to remember to make it more often. I love the pasta you made with it!
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Oooh this looks so much better than the dinner I just had! I need to make this!
Ann
Nami – you did an incredible job! I love chicken scallopini and yours looks like it could be served in a restaurant! Delicious!
Charles
Beautiful – thanks for the lesson on the meaning of the word “scallopini”! I love the addition of whole cherry tomatoes. It’s so wonderful, the way they pop open when cooking!
Lisa H.
I love this creamy pasta … but have to indulge sparingly, otherwise I will not be able to fit into my summer clothing. So not pretty with extra ‘bulge’ around my waisline 😛
Christian Hollingsworth
If there was one thing I wished would warp itself through my computer screen, it would be this right now. Oh my gosh, that just looks downright delicious!
Katherine Martinelli
My dad used to make chicken scallopini growing up – but I must say yours looks even better!! (shhh don’t tell him 🙂 )
Nash at Plateful
That’s last shot is soooo tempting, I’m seriously salivating!! Love pasta any time of the day, and especially if it’s served with chicken and mushroom. Delicious.
Quay Po Cooks
Nami, I can eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Stunning photos.
Kate @Kate from Scratch
This is perfect for our family. I love the ingredients. Fresh, beautiful, colorful and of course, delicious. Wonderful recipe, Nami. Gorgeous photos too! 🙂
Lilly
I just love pasta but I always make it the same way (minced meat and lots of veggies). Time to change things up. Your pasta looks amazing! I love all the flavours you put in there. Although it’s only Thursday I hope you have some great plans for the weekend. I know I’m looking forward to it =)
Ana Helena Campbell
Gorgeous dish Nami and you have captured it so well in your photos. Thanks for sharing!
chinmayie @ love food eat
Pasta looks so tempting! I think I can make it without the chicken and it would still tastes great 🙂
Mika
Oh wow! My dream is to have this delicious pasta for lunch (not leftover, though. has to be cooked for lunch for me!). Looks soooo yummy…..
Dee at Deelicious Sweets
This is so beautiful!
Emily Lynne {The Best of this Life}
Oh I can taste this mouthwatering dish….yummy!! I have got to try this over gluten-free pasta – thanks for the recipe!
anh
Great recipe!! Thats all I can say 🙂
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Looks so delicious 🙂 you have definitely done it justice!
Elies_Lie
agree with u nami, blogging, and food-logging did makes us more knowledgeable more than before, this blogging things is a precious ones fr us a foodie don’t u agree? 🙂
even I found a sweet friend like u in this “hectic” and fun blogging world 🙂
tq fr sharing the recipe nami, as u know I LOVES pasta, crazy madly in love with it!
Now I have one more recipe to try!
the veggie and chicken breast make the dish more healtier, oh ya loves the salad on top!! 😉
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Really nice quick dinner dish! I agree I have learned so much since blogging. Yours is so informative too 🙂
Valerie Brunmeier
I am a huge fan of chicken scallopini and this may just be the most beau-tee-ful scallopini I’ve ever seen!
Sook
The pasta looks so good. I love sauceless pasta like that… just simple flavors with lemon and a few seasonings and of course a little bit of butter makes it even better! 🙂
Iva | in my kitchen
that looks amazing! love the photography and the simplicity of this dish
PolaM
In Italy we nerver put chicken in our pasta, but this pasta has me reconsidering… Looks great!
Nami
Hahaha! So interesting how Italian food turning into something else. For example, we don’t stir fry soba, but here I’ve seen stir fried soba many times… Thanks for letting me know. 😉
Raymund
For a first timer in preparing this, it looks good, in fact so good it can be served in a hotel. Love the play of flavours there
kita
And aren’t we glad you are exposed to new recipes because you make them all look so beautiful! I love a chicken scallopini from time to time. Relatively quick and hearty (plus the BF loves to carb load on pasta).
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I must say Nami, you are quite the versatile cook, other than Japanese cuisine. Such a fantastic Italian inspired scallopini dish with the pasta. So comforting and delicious. I can just taste the flavor combination, of all the amazing things you’ve added!
Kath (My Funny Little Life)
Looks beautiful and delicious!
Mary
How did I miss this one? The pasta looks fabulous!! Nice job. I love all of those flavors together.
Matt
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
Nami
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!