We love an easy pasta dinner! This is a great recipe to keep in your back pocket for when you’re not sure what to make for dinner and you don’t want to fall back on just chicken and veggies again. With only a few simple ingredients, you can make a restaurant-worthy pasta dish at home that’s ready in just over 30 minutes!
Why Our Recipe
- Easy to throw together and ready in only 35 minutes.
- Flavorful, juicy chicken and a tasty tomato basil pasta that’s simple but delicious.
- Serve it hot or cold, you don’t even have to heat up the leftovers!
This is one of those recipes that’s perfect for when you need a quick dinner, but don’t want to order takeout or make a trip to a restaurant. Chicken tenders are a great option if you’re pressed for time because they cook quickly while remaining tender and juicy. Simply cook your chicken in the skillet while your spaghetti boils, and then toss with fresh tomatoes and herbs.
Ingredient Notes
- Spaghetti: Just use from the box and cook to al dente.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Use a good quality, cold-pressed olive oil. You won’t be cooking this oil. You’ll want to taste the bright, sometimes peppery, olive flavor.
- Garlic: Freshly minced garlic provides the best flavor, but jarred minced garlic does work too. Jarred just has a less sweet, slightly more bitter flavor.
- Tomatoes: Use any tomato you like, enough for about 2 cups. Dice into small, bite-sized pieces.
- Fresh Basil: Freshly chop your basil leaves or slice into ribbons. Stack several fresh basil leaves on top of each other, then roll the bunch lengthwise and cut it into slices and voilà—perfect basil strips.
- Chicken Tenders: Perfect for quick cooking. You could also use chicken breasts or thighs—they’ll just require a longer cooking time.
- Olive Oil: Used to cook the chicken. You can use any neutral cooking oil like vegetable, canola, or avocado oil.
- Lemon Juice: Fresh lemon juice is always going to have the best flavor. Bottled juice can also be used.
Chicken Options
We use chicken tenders in this recipe for how quick and easy they are to cook. However, you could easily use boneless skinless chicken breasts. If you prefer dark meat, we recommend you cook up boneless skinless chicken thighs, which are always juicier than breasts or tenders.
Time & Money Saver
You can easily use leftover chicken or shredded rotisserie chicken in this recipe. You’ll need about 2 cups or you can really load it up with a cup or two more. Rotisserie chicken is often sold as something called a “loss leader” for grocery stores where they sell the chicken at or below cost to get you into the store and hopefully buy other things. This means that rotisserie chicken is often the best price per pound for chicken you can get. Save a little time, save a little money.
Pasta Options
Spaghetti is used for this easy pasta dish, but feel free to use what you want! You can use any long, skinny pasta shape, like linguine, fettuccine, and bucatini. Or switch it up and use penne, bowtie, or rotini.
Storage & Reheating
Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
This dish is delicious served cold. The pasta doesn’t clump up so it’s easy to enjoy the leftovers.
Microwave portions on high in 30-second increments or until warmed through.
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