High-Protein Marry Me Chicken Pasta (58g of protein)
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This creamy sun-dried tomato chicken pasta has juicy chicken, a decadent cream sauce (without any cream) and pasta shells stuffed with flavor in every bite. Worthy of a marriage proposal? Who knows. With food this good, who cares?
To make this flavorful sauce we ditch the cream and use cottage cheese, making it rich and silky but not overloaded with calories and fat. The sun-dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese are the chefs kiss, adding a ton of extra flavor.👩🍳
Need more romantic dinner options? Try sesame crusted tuna, nectarine and ricotta bruchetta and German apple cake to finish it off.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- 58 grams of protein per serving.
- Simple ingredients.
- Perfect for date night or simple weeknight dinner.
Ingredients and Substitutes:
These are the main ingredients and substitutions. See the recipe card below for the full ingredients list and instructions for this creamy chicken pasta.
- Chickpea Noodles: I used chickpea shells to make this gluten-free. I prefer a shell or short pasta, like rotini or penne pasta.
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast: this could be swapped for ground chicken or for a richer flavor, use boneless skinless chicken thighs.
- Sun-Dried Tomatoes and the Oil: there’s no olive oil in this recipe. Instead, we are using the flavorful oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes that usually gets discarded.
- Low-Fat Cottage Cheese: puts the creamy to our creamy sauce. Cottage cheese gives the sauce a beautiful texture and adds protein and richness. You can use full-fat to make this an even more creamy pasta dish, but it really doesn’t need it.
- Chicken Broth: I always use low sodium so I can decide the amount of salt. You can use chicken stock or bone broth instead.
- Parmesan Cheese
- Fresh Spinach
Variations
- For a richer meal, make this with tortellini or gnocchi.
- Add your favorite fresh herbs.
- Spice up the night by adding red pepper flakes.
- Toss in some cherry tomatoes and fresh basil for an extra pop of color.
Dietary Modifications
- This delicious pasta is gluten-free.
- To make this dairy-free you can use 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup full fat canned coconut milk and arrowroot or cornstarch to thicken it as needed. It won’t be the same but it’ll still get some creaminess.
Let’s make marry me chicken pasta (a step-by-step guide):
Step 1: cook the pasta and chicken
Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. If using chickpea pasta, I like to undercook it by a minute so it doesn’t get mushy.
Add the chicken, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to a large mixing bowl (image 1). Mix to evenly coat the chicken (image 2). In a large skillet over medium heat, add the oil from the sundried tomatoes. Once hot, add the seasoned chicken and cook on each side (image 3), untouched, for 3-4 minutes or until cooked through and no longer pink (image 4).
Step 2: blend your creamy sun-dried tomato sauce
While the chicken cooks, add the cottage cheese, chicken broth, garlic powder and oil from the sundried tomatoes in a high speed blender (image 5) and blend until smooth and the cottage cheese is no longer chunky or chalky, approximately 4-5 minutes (image 6).
Step 3: add pasta and sauce to cooked chicken
Turn heat to low. Add the cooked and drained pasta to the pan with the cooked chicken along with the blended cottage cheese sauce (image 7). Add the parmesan cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper (image 8). Stir to melt the cheese and heat the sauce. This will only take a couple of minutes. Add the spinach (image 9) and stir to wilt (image 10).
Expert Tips!
Turn heat to low when adding sauce ingredients to the pan. This prevents the sauce from watering down and will keep it nice and creamy.
Al dente pasta is slightly undercooked pasta. It’s recommended for this recipe because the pasta will continue to cook once added to your cream sauce.
Recipe FAQs
There’s no right answer to this. Use whatever pasta noodle you love. I like short pasta noodles for this, but you can use the longer varieties too. I used chickpea noodles to keep this gluten-free and I promise you can’t tell they’re make with chickpeas.
I chose not to make this a one pot dish (I know, I know, one-pot meals are the best) because I want you to be able to use your favorite pasta noodle. I used chickpea noodles to keep this gluten-free and that doesn’t cook the same as a regular noodle.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days. You can reheat in the microwave or stove top. Add a splash of broth or water if needed to loosen it up.
Use half the noodles and use zoodles or a low-carb noodle option for the other half. Or skip the noodles altogether (although this add 55g of protein to the full dish) and serve the chicken and sauce over zoodles, cauliflower rice or mash or your favorite low carb option.
This can happen if you have the heat on too high when adding your sauce ingredients to the chicken pan. You want the heat to be on low and mix it just long enough to heat the sauce but not cook it.
Check out our other easy chicken recipes!
If you make this recipe, please leave a rating and/or comment! Tag me on Instagram @ohsnapmacros, I love hearing from you!
Marry Me Chicken Pasta
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Ingredients
- 10 oz. Banza chickpea pasta shells
- 1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
- 1/2 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp. salt
- fresh cracked pepper
- 1 Tbsp. oil from sun-dried tomatoes
- 2 cups low-fat cottage cheese
- 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp. oil from sun-dried tomatoes
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded 56g
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes 85g
- 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- fresh cracked pepper
- 1 1/2 cups spinach, packed
- basil for garnish
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the pasta shells, cook according to the package instructions. If using chickpea pasta, I like to undercook it by a minute so it doesn’t get mushy.
- Add the chicken, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to a large mixing bowl. Mix to evenly coat the chicken.
- In a large pan over medium heat, add the oil from the sundried tomatoes. Once hot, add the chicken and cook on each side untouched for 3-4 minutes or until cooked through and no longer pink.
- While the chicken cooks, add the cottage cheese, broth, garlic powder and oil from the sundried tomatoes in a high speed blender and blend until smooth and the cottage cheese is no longer chunky or chalky, approximately 4-5 minutes.
- Add the cooked and drained pasta to the pan with the chicken. Lower the heat to low and add the blended cottage cheese sauce, parmesan cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Stir to melt the cheese and heat the sauce over low heat to avoid clumping. You can also remove from the heat prior to adding the sauce to be sure you do not cause any clumping!
- Add the spinach and stir to wilt. Serve topped with freshly chopped basil, parmesan cheese and adjust with salt and pepper, as needed.
Notes
- Cook your pasta (especially if using chickpea pasta) until al dente to ensure the noodles don’t get mushy.
- Be sure heat is on LOW before adding your sauce ingredients. This prevents it from watering down.
- Use your favorite type of noodles in place of chickpea shells.
- Nutritional information is an estimate and will vary with substitutions.
I made this on Sunday night and it was delicious! I’ve been eating leftovers for lunch, and I think the leftovers are even better! I made sure to take my skillet off heat and let cool a little before I added the sauce.
The leftovers are the best! So glad you agree!