First, who else is watching The Voice right now? All of these guys are so amazing!
And second, a big Happy Birthday to my first born baby, who turns 8 today! I know, I know, shouldn’t I be posting a cupcake or something? Well, those babies were all finished up last night around…..11:30 PM. Every procrastinating parent has been there, right? Luckily my cupcake game is on point and his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cupcakes made it to school without anything tragic happening! 🙂
So after I completely turned my kitchen upside down last night and left the mess to deal with this morning I didn’t really feel like putting something super special together for dinner. You know, when you’ve spent your entire morning with a bottle of bleach in your hands, cleaning up your kitchen and, oh yeah….the pee around the toilet (that whole boy thing is no joke), and you have little energy left for dinner? Sure, it happens to the best of us. And then we make some super easy and delicious Blackened Chicken and Broccoli Pasta and all is well! Not bragging or anything but my husband totally tasted this and said “Chik-fil-a doesn’t have anything on Mommy.” Score!
Ok so yeah, that’s a flax seed in that picture. It has nothing to do with this recipe. Opppps!
This is a two step recipe that involves just one pan. I’m going to quickly sum this up to make this real simple and easy (full recipe below):
1) Coat your chix (restaurant lingo for chicken) in seasoning, dip in breadcrumbs, BAM!
2) Into EVOO drenched and heated pan for some sizzlin’ action. POW!
3) Remove the chix when it is nice and crispy. Deglaze pan with some chicken stock to get all the goodies off the bottom. WOW!
4) Add some butter lovin’ and some flour, then liquids (stock, milk), pasta, and cheese, and simmer that goodness until pasta is about half-way cooked. Add broccoli, allow to cook, and DONE!
Is it just me, or was that really exciting? 🙂 What I love most about this is the ease of cooking the chicken. No annoying waste of an egg to coat your chicken, no 3 step flour, egg, seasoning mess, just an easy cut, coat, and cook method that delivers the crispiest pan “fried” chicken ever!
*For this recipe, I used a store-bought organic breadcrumb. Although these are not 100% whole wheat, they are a great convenience product that doesn’t include any unnecessary ingredients like hydrogenated oils, HFCS, MSG, etc. Here’s a link if your interested!
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Crispy Blackened Chicken and Broccoli Pasta
By Published: December 15, 2014
- Yield: 3 Servings
First, who else is watching The Voice right now? All of these guys are so amazing! And second, a big Happy Birthday …
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 3-4 Tbsp cajun seasoning
- 3/4 cup organic bread crumbs
- 2 cups chicken stock (homemade preferred)
- 2 cups 100% whole wheat farfelle pasta
- 3 Tbsp salted butter
- 2 Tbsp whole wheat white flour
- 1 and 1/2 cups milk
- 3-4 ouces sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/4-1/2 tsp kosher or pink himalayan salt
- 1 head fresh broccoli
Instructions
- Cut chicken breast in half lengthwise, then cut into small chunks. For best results, use a meat tenderizer to flatten chicken chunks a bit. Dip chicken in Cajun seasoning, followed by breadcrumbs. Coat generously for a spicier chicken.
- Place chicken in pre-heated skillet. Cook until crispy on each side, about 3-4 minutes per side. If chicken is sticking to skillet, turn your heat down a bit. Remove chicken from skillet when cooked and set aside.
- Deglaze pan with 1/2 cup chicken stock. Add butter, allow to melt, and then add flour and stir until thick. Add the rest of your chicken stock slowly, followed by milk, pasta, salt, and cheese. Bring to a light boil, place lid on skillet, and allow to cook stirring frequently.
- When pasta is about half way cooked, add broccoli and stir. When pasta and broccoli are tender, top with cooked chicken and additional cheese to taste.
This looks great! I’m curious, are the first 2 steps reversed?
Yes Nicole, thanks for bringing that to my attention! Don’t know how those two got mixed up but thank you, thank you! 🙂 Updated and fixed!
I made this last night and it was delicious! My kids loved it, which is a score! Thanks for sharing:)
This looks SOOOOO good! Just stumbled across your blog. Totally digging it.
Trish
Thanks Trish! I can see a lovely cocktail of some sort when I hover over your blog link in my comments section. Will definitely be checking that out!
Oh this speaks right to me! Chicken and broccoli + blackened uhhh YUM!!!
Good thing I have all the ingredients on hand to make this delicious dish for dinner tonight.. it is ALL I am craving!
This looks sooo delish & can’t wait to try! Just one question: what do you do with the milk?
Hi Lisa! Can’t believe I didn’t notice this. Thanks for bringing to my attention! Can you tell technology was not my friend when I was inputting this recipe? Lol The milk should be added in slowly after the last of the chicken stock. Then you can add your pasta, cheese, seasonings and allow pasta to cook and sauce to thicken.
Making this recipe as we speak! Just wondering where you buy your whole wheat farfelle? Thanks so much for your awesome recipes! I am a mom to 3 boys as well and so far your recipes are a hit!
Erin I get my whole wheat farfelle at Wegmans. I know that store chain isn’t everywhere but it’s a huge grocery store in my area that carries products like that pasta, that I wouldn’t normally be able to find at other stores. They aren’t strictly organic/whole foods but they do cater to those types of products and have a huge whole foods/healthier section that is really helpful to me when shopping since my area doesn’t have a huge selection of whole food grocery stores that are reasonably priced, I know that probably doesn’t help much, I’m sorry! 🙂