With just a few quality ingredients and in 30 minutes or less, you can have a date-night quality meal! Penne with smoked chicken is always a big hit at our house, and it’s so easy. It could also qualify as boyfriend-bait (or girlfriend-bait); the flavors are so complementary and while it tastes rich, it’s really not that high in calories.
Make it the Provident Way
We have a smoker, and whenever we light it off we make room for a few chicken breasts to smoke just for this and other recipes. It holds up well in the freezer for at least four months. If you don’t have a smoker, you can use a gas or charcoal grill. One of my favorite food bloggers, Meatwave.com, has a good article on how to smoke foods on a charcoal kettle grill, for example.
In a pinch, you could simply grill the chicken; just be sure to get some nice char marks on it (but please don’t overcook it!). Or, I’ve found smoked chicken for this dish at my local grocery store. It’s a bit pricey, but you can usually find it either in the refrigerated section near the ham, or else in the frozen food section.
There’s no substitute for the sun-dried tomatoes, at least in my opinion. The drying process concentrates the tomatoes’ flavor and gives a nice, bright “pop” of flavor that balances nicely against the smoked chicken. Since we grow a garden every year, we set aside 20 or 30 pounds of our harvest and dry them in a dehydrator. I’ll show you how later this summer. Here, I’ve rehydrated them by adding just a couple of tablespoons of water, then microwaving, covered, for about 30 seconds. Purists may say that the sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil have a better flavor; I beg to differ, since nothing can compare to the flavor of home-grown, and home-dehydrated, tomatoes.
Quality Ingredients for Penne with Smoked Chicken
You can, of course, use other pasta shapes in place of the penne; I just find that penne soaks up the delicious, creamy sauce quite well. The shallots (not to be confused with green onions) can be a bit hard to find. I really prefer them, as their flavor is quite mild and subtle – just enough to be “there” without overpowering the dish. However, I have used an equal amount of yellow onion, minced very fine, in their place. You could probably use green onions or even chives if you prefer.
Please use a good-quality, natural cheese in this recipe. The powdery stuff like you get with your pizza just won’t cut it. I used real Parmesan grated off the block for years, however over the last five or 10 years I’ve gravitated more toward Asiago cheese and that’s what I’ve used here; I find it a little less in-your-face, while still complex and very smooth. For the fresh basil, I typically buy (or grow) a plant or two for my kitchen windowsill, and pinch off stems from the top down to use. Pinching them off will help keep the plants from blooming, which changes the flavor (and not in a good way).
Heavy cream vs. whipping cream vs. half-and-half? The main difference is in the fat content, which also contributes to the overall richness of the dish. Keep in mind it serves six; you’re really not getting that much cream per serving but if you need to watch calories or saturated fat, by all means give a lower-fat product a try.
This penne with smoked chicken recipe is so easy that I didn’t even take photos of the (very few) steps required to make this dish. If you think that would be helpful, let me know in the comments section. Enjoy!
PrintPenne with Smoked Chicken
Penne with smoked chicken is a great date-night or company recipe. Flavorful, slightly rich and very addictive! Adapted from the Mulholland Drive Cafe’s recipe.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: dinner
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
12 ounces penne pasta
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3 shallots, peeled and minced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 pound smoked chicken breast
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrated if not packed in oil, and roughly chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Asiago or Parmesan cheese, finely grated
3 tablespoons fresh basil, cut in a chiffonade
Instructions
Fill a Dutch oven or other large pot halfway with water and add a generous teaspoon of salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Once it’s at the boil, add the penne pasta and cook to al dente per the package directions.
While the pasta water is coming to the boil, in a 12-inch skillet or similar pan, heat the oil on medium then add the minced shallots and garlic. Stir occasionally until shallots are tender, about 3 minutes. Add the smoked chicken and sun-dried tomatoes and stir to combine. Cook on medium heat until chicken is warm.
Add the heavy cream and cook until warmed through, stirring occasionally. Add Asiago cheese and basil. Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet; stir and toss all the ingredients to combine. Serve with additional Asiago cheese to garnish.
Refrigerate leftovers (if you have any!). To reheat, add a splash of milk before microwaving on medium.
Notes
To chiffonade the basil: stack the basil leaves, then roll them up lengthwise in a tight roll. With a sharp knife slice crosswise into thin ribbons.
Keywords: penne pasta dish, smoked chicken recipe, date-night recipe