Looking for a new family favorite that’s rich in flavor, and is ready in under 20 minutes? Then this One Pan Spicy Lemon Chicken Pasta with Tomatoes is perfect for you!
I love one pan dishes because everything cooks up in one pan, so there’s very little clean up required. Our family doesn’t spend enough time together as it is, so anything that helps me get out of the kitchen quicker after dinner, is a real plus in my book!
Like most of my one pan meals, this dish cooks up in under twenty minutes! Lemon chicken has such a fresh flavor, and there is a nice kick of spice from crushed red pepper flakes. If you are serving to young children, or just really don’t like spicy dishes, they can be left out.
Ready to get started?
First, you’ll saute some onion in olive oil until it’s nice and soft, and becoming translucent. Then add some garlic and cook for about 30 seconds before adding some diced chicken. You’re going to just brown the chicken, meaning you won’t be cooking it all the way through, but just until it is no longer pink on the outside. This helps the chicken to stay nice and juicy as it continues to cook.
Next you’ll add the remaining ingredients – rotini pasta (any small pasta will do), grape or cherry tomatoes, Italian seasonings, salt and pepper, lemon juice, chicken broth, and water.
Stir, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Continue stirring the mixture often as it boils, for about nine or ten minutes or until the pasta is tender. Most of the liquid should have evaporated at this point, but there will likely still be some in the pan.
Sprinkle with a cup of Mozzerella cheese, and cover for ten minutes to allow the cheese to melt. Any additional liquid in the pan should thicken or be absorbed.
One Pan Spicy Lemon Chicken Pasta with Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breasts
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 8 oz (about 2 1/2 cups) small, dry pasta
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
- 2 cups chicken broth
- Juice from one large or two small lemons
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 cup shredded Mozzerella
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add onion and stir, cooking until soft and nearly translucent.
- Stir in garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add chicken and cook until just browned.
- Stir in the pasta, tomatoes, chicken broth, lemon juice, water, basil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil and continue to stir often, uncovered, for about nine minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated.
- Remove from heat, sprinkle cheese on top, and cover for ten minutes or until cheese is melted and remaining liquid is absorbed.
Adapted from Martha Stewart.
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Delicious one pan dinners for the win! The fact that it’s gorgeous is just icing on the cake, um, skillet!
I would not be doing this any justice by giving 5 stars as it is That good . I doubled the list and will have some left for dinner tomorrow If I can stop eating it . Easy to make , Super taste and Very nice looking on the plate . Thanks for sharing
I love this recipe! I am also in love with your blog! New follower here.
Have a great week.
~Rina
I have just made this and ooooooooooo it is sooooo scrummy! TFS this wonderful recipe with us! I prefer not to “boil” the chicken so I sautéd that separately and then added it to the pasta. Two Thumbs UP for this dish!
Helen – Cape Town
Glad you enjoyed it!
I loved this dish . I added marinated artichoke hearts , and diced avocados. I put those in after cooking was done and tossed . I also used pecorino cheese grated instead of mozzarella . Delish , thank you so much
Oh what a great idea to add the artichokes! Thanks for sharing your idea!
Made this tonight and it was a big hit in my house. I didn’t have any shredded cheese, but I threw in about 2 ounces of lowfat cream cheese and it made it creamy and delicious. Thanks for the great recipe!
I make a lot of recipes from websites with rating systems so I can kind-of-guarantee their success. This one sounded good to me, though, and I’m so glad I tried it! The flavors in this are amazing! I cannot believe something so simple is so yummy. Also, I have a daughter with dairy sensitivity and it was easy to just leave the cheese off of her portion. Thank you, thank you for such a yummy recipe! Five stars! 😉
This looks amazing! I’m looking for easy meals to make for a big group of friends during an upcoming vacation…how many does this recipe typically serve? Thanks!
I’d say it serves 4-6. 🙂
I just made this tonight and it was great! I halved the recipe since it was just me and my husband, but I wish I hadn’t so we’d have leftovers! I didn’t have rotini or mozzarella on hand, so I substituted whole wheat penne and swiss cheese and it was still delicious! I will definitely be making it again. It’s an excellent summer dish! Thanks so much for sharing!
I made this last week and it was delicious! We’re going to be having it again tonight because I need something quick and easy! Thanks!
I made this tonight it was INCREDIBLE!!! I doubled the lemon because we love lemon and used sun dried tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes…. it was a huge hit! it’s so nice to have a light but filling pasta recipe that isn’t covered in a heavy fatty sauce. Thank you!!!!
Thanks so much for letting me know that you loved it!
We loved this! I didnt change a thing, and it turned out perfect. My husband and I both had a bunch and there were leftovers. We’ll be adding this to our regular meal rotation for sure!
Delicious! The 4 y.o. was not a fan but I think he’s in a mood tonight. The 12 y.o twins loved it!!
You are my new BFF in my mind! I have made this dish 3x now and my boys love it..and I love the easy clean-up. Thanks for a great recipe. Looking forward to making the one skillet dinner with the sausage and zucchini.
just what I was looking for!! thank!pinned it!
This was so yummy! My super picky husband LOVED it!
I’ve made this 4 or 5 times now and it is definitely a family favorite! I didn’t have any rotini this time so I used angel hair pasta instead and it was just as delicious!
Made this last night and it was DELICIOUS! Seriously, so easy and so good. I used meat from a store bought rotisserie chicken. This recipe is going into our regular rotation. Thanks for sharing!
I really wanted to try this however I couldn’t find the actual recipe!!! Feeling disappointed!
Thanks for your message. We are working on some technical issues, but I am seeing the recipe when I click on the post. Please clear your cache on your internet browser and try again. Thanks!
I’m sorry but where are the actual measurements?? I looked at it a few days ago and they were there but now all it says is amd-zlrecipe-recipe:83
Is that an error? Thanks!
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This is great but I don’t see any nutritional information. Could I get it please?
Unfortunately, as I am not a registered dietician, I am not comfortable sharing nutritional information for any of my recipes. I recommend utilizing online calorie counters at your discretion to obtain such information.
I really loved this recipe – great lemon and spice flavor! When I added the tomatoes per the recipe, though, they pretty much disintegrated during the boiling process, and we were left with skins, not the beautiful red halves I see in the images. Were those added with the pasta and broth, or later in the cooking process? It was still delicious, but curious for the next time I make this (which will be soon!).
Yes that can happen. Next time I’d try maybe adding the tomatoes halfway through.
This recipe is just plain amazing. I discovered it on Pinterest a couple months ago and I have made it at least once every other week since!
So glad to hear, thank you!
We give this recipe a 9-10.Its a cold febuary night and this was the perfect way to warm up.The reason it is a 9 is because one of our tasters said it was too sweet. Other than that it was amazing.Keep up the good recipes. We used tri colored pasta which made it beautiful and tasty.This was prepared by a 8, 10, and 75 year old trio.
How do you think this recipe would work out with whole canned tomatoes? Fresh tomatoes in Taipei are massively expensive and you usually can’t find small ones like this anyways.
I think you could swap them out. You would probably need to either drain them or reduce the other liquid.