Description
date night pasta pomodoro with chicken & goat cheese is the perfect easy pasta dinner recipe! made with chicken, spinach, goat cheese, and a homemade roasted red pepper pomodoro sauce, this pasta pomodoro with chicken & goat cheese is on your table in 25 minutes or less, tastes totally fresh, & is perfect for date night!
Ingredients
Scale
- 8 ounces dry pasta (I love a short, spiraly noodle, such as trotolle!)
- 2 cups roasted red pepper pomodoro sauce (or other pasta sauce of choice)
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced into bite-sized pieces
- 8 ounces baby spinach
- 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
- Kosher salt & ground black pepper, to season
- optional, to garnish as desired: thinly sliced basil, crushed red chili flakes
Instructions
- Cook the pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add in the pasta & cook to al dente according to package directions. Carefully drain & set aside.
- Burst the tomatoes: Preheat the broiler in your oven to its highest setting and arrange an oven rack in the highest position, right under the broiler. Place the cherry tomatoes on a small sheet pan. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil and season with a few pinches of salt. Toss to combine. Broil the tomatoes for 5-7 minutes, carefully shaking the sheet pan every so often, until the tomatoes are charred and burst. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Make the roasted red pepper pomodoro sauce according to recipe directions. If you’re using a store-bought sauce you can skip this step, but making one from scratch literally takes 5 ingredients & 10 minutes. It’s so worth it!
- Cook the chicken: Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Season the chicken generously with 1 teaspoon each salt & ground black pepper. Add the chicken to the skillet, cooking it for 4-5 minutes per side, until the chicken is golden brown & cooked all the way through.
- Assemble the pasta! Add the spinach, pasta, & roasted red pepper pomodoro sauce to the skillet along with the chicken. Toss until everything is combined, the pasta is coated in the sauce & the spinach is wilted down. Once everything is combined, add in the burst tomatoes and crumbled goat cheese, gently stirring once more to combine.
- Serve the pasta pomodoro with chicken & goat cheese in individual bowls, topped with a sprinkling of thinly sliced basil & crushed red pepper flakes as desired. Enjoy!
Notes
- Homemade pomodoro vs. store-bought sauce. Honestly, either will work just fine in this recipe! It takes 5 ingredients & 10 minutes to whip up a batch of my roasted red pepper pomodoro sauce, which will be enough to make date night pasta pomodoro with chicken & goat cheese 2 times.
- Make it your own! I think the combination of the slightly sweet roasted red pepper pomodoro sauce, chicken, spinach, and tangy goat cheese is perfection, but feel free to add & swap things to make it your own! Chicken sausage would be fantastic, & so would some shredded kale. You could use mini mozzarella balls in place of goat cheese, too! This dish is so versatile, which makes it so fun to cook.
- Pair it with some great wine. A nice, medium-bodied red will pair perfectly. Find a good bottle of Chianti (yum!), or if you want to make date night extra special, go for a nice Super Tuscan (double yum!).
- Leftovers reheat well. This recipe serves 4, so invite some friends over or simply reheat the leftovers in the microwave for a few minutes.