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My Creamy Tomato Penne recipe is so easy and so delicious. It is the type of meal that comes together quickly and feeds the entire family. Penne pasta is served with a creamy tomato sauce along with diced tomatoes, tender diced chicken breast, mushrooms and spinach. It is a 30 minute recipe that I make again and again.

This Creamy Tomato Penne with chicken and veggies is both creamy and fresh tasting. It’s a great balance of flavors, and it brings together many of my favorite foods. I really love this recipe because the chicken turns out perfectly tender. The trick is to quickly brown the chicken, and then to let it finish cooking right in the sauce.

You can keep this meal simple and just serve the chicken in the creamy tomato sauce, or you can turn it into a complete meal by adding mushrooms and spinach. Tearing up spinach and adding it to pasta dishes is one of my favorite dinner hacks. You don’t really taste it, but it does make the meal a little bit healthier.

And of course, you can use any pasta that you like. A tubular pasta like penne or rigatoni work especially well since they can hold more of the sauce. If you want an extra cheesy meal, use tortellini. If you want to add a kick of spicy, just add some red pepper flakes.

One of the tricks to making this, is to undercook the pasta a bit. You want it extra al dente because you are going to let the pasta finish cooking right in the sauce. This makes the pasta extra flavorful and it helps to thicken the creamy tomato sauce.

This recipe makes 4 servings, but you could double it to serve more people. Making a double batch of this recipe is easy, just use a dutch oven instead of a skillet, and cook the chicken in two batches

Click here if you want to try a similar recipe made with spicy Italian Sausage.

How to make Creamy Tomato Penne with Chicken:

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Creamy Tomato Penne

My Creamy Tomato Penne recipe is so easy and so delicious. It is the type of meal that comes together quickly and feeds the entire family. Penne pasta is served with a creamy tomato sauce along with diced tomatoes, tender diced chicken breast, mushrooms and spinach. It is a 30 minute recipe that I make again and again.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 pound Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
• 1 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup chopped White Onion
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 1/2 cups Sliced Mushrooms
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 14.5 oz can of Diced Tomatoes
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• 2 cups Farfalle
• 2 cups Baby Spinach
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan
• Optional: 1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
• Optional: 1/2 cup sliced Grape Tomatoes

Instructions

1. Finely chop the onion and garlic. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and let cook for 5-6 minutes. Pour into a bowl and set aside.
2. Dice the chicken into small 1 inch pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the same skillet you used to cook the mushrooms. Heat over medium-high heat, and add the chicken. Cook for 2 minutes, until lightly browned, and then flip and let cook for another 2 minutes. Then add the diced tomatoes, (and grape tomatoes if adding them) and cream. Stir, reduce the heat to low, and let slowly simmer while the pasta is cooking.
3. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Once the water has come to a boil, add the pasta. Cook for 7-8 minutes, until very al dente. You are going to finish cooking the pasta in the sauce so you want to undercook it. Then drain the pasta and set aside.
4. Add the drained pasta to the sauce, along with the mushrooms and spinach (I tear the spinach up as I add it in). Let the pasta simmer in the sauce for 2 minutes over medium heat. Serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan.

Recipe Notes

One of the tricks to making this, is to undercook the pasta a bit. You want it extra al dente because you are going to let the pasta finish cooking right in the sauce. This makes the pasta extra flavorful and it helps to thicken the creamy tomato sauce. This recipe makes 4 servings, but you could double it to serve more people. Making a double batch of this recipe is easy, just use a dutch oven instead of a skillet, and cook the chicken in two batches