Chicken, Broccoli & Penne in Garlic Cream Sauce is the perfect, quick weeknight meal. It’s ready in 30 minutes.
This quick meal can be made even easier and faster with a few shortcuts. Buy the broccoli in ready to use packages. I find that a 12 ounce bag of prewashed florets is about 4 cups. Instead of buying boneless, skinless chicken breasts, you can buy 2 pounds of chicken tenderloins which will be faster to cut into 1″ pieces.
And as far as preparation goes, use the same pan to cook the chicken and make the sauce. I find a 10-12″ cast iron or non stick skillet works well. But even better is a 4-5 quart Dutch oven. It has the surface area needed to brown the chicken and the depth to hold the volume of sauce.
Chicken, broccoli & penne in garlic cream sauce will become a family favorite that you add to the regular rotation. Plan to make it this week and let me know what you think in the comments below. Enjoy!
Chicken, Broccoli & Penne in Garlic Cream Sauce
Ingredients
Pasta & Broccoli
- 1 pound box penne pasta
- 2 cups reserved pasta cooking liquid, divided
- 4 cups fresh broccoli florets
Chicken
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon avocado or olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Garlic Cream Sauce
- ¼ cup butter (half a stick or 4 tablespoons)
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup milk (2% or whole)
- 1 cup parmesan cheese, shredded or grated
Instructions
Pasta & Broccoli
- Heat 6 quarts of water to boiling to cook penne.
- While waiting for water to boil, add broccoli florets to large colander, set aside.
- Once water is boiling for pasta, add penne to water and cook according to package directions. Reserve 2 cups of pasta cooking liquid to thin sauce. Begin cooking chicken while waiting for pasta water to boil.
- Drain penne by pouring over the broccoli in the colander that you prepared earlier. This cooks the broccoli minimally, keeping it tender, crisp, and bright green.
- Add drained penne and broccoli to glass or ceramic 9x13 casserole dish. Set aside.
Chicken
- Meanwhile, cut chicken breast into 1" pieces. In large skillet or Dutch oven, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with the avocado or olive oil over medium/high heat.
- Add chicken to pan and season with the ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and ¼ teaspoon garlic powder.
- Cook over medium/high heat until golden brown around the edges and cooked through, about 8-10 minutes, stirring often to brown all sides.
- Put cooked chicken in a bowl and set aside while you prepare sauce in the same pan. No need to wipe out pan.
- Add chicken to penne and broccoli.
Garlic Cream Sauce
- Add ¼ cup butter to pan that chicken was cooked in and heat over medium until melted. Add flour and whisk to cook for about 1 minute.
- Add minced garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, and ½ teaspoon garlic powder. Whisk to blend. Add heavy cream and milk.
- Bring mixture to a simmer around the edges of the pan. Gently simmer until mixture thickens, about 3 minutes.
- Add 1 cup of pasta cooking liquid to sauce. Whisk.
- Add parmesan cheese to sauce and whisk to blend thoroughly.
- Pour sauce over chicken, broccoli and penne in casserole dish. Stir to blend thoroughly. Add more pasta cooking liquid, if needed, to moisten and thin sauce.
- Serve by adding additional parmesan cheese on top, if desired. Makes 4-6 servings. If you have leftovers, add the remaining reserved pasta cooking liquid to make reheating easier.
I finally made this today for dinner and it was so delicious😋 I will definitely make it again Laura! Thanks for sharing it & your directions were real simple to follow too!
Thank you, Marla! I’m so glad you like it!