The ideal pasta to serve with this creamy white sauce is spaghetti or cavatappi. The best bacon on earth is butcher bacon, so I prefer it! Before I could snap a picture, kids ate the bacon and sun-dried tomatoes as well as the leftover spaghetti!
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 40 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti
- 4 (5 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, pounded to an even thickness
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 slices bacon
- ½ (8 ounce) jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes, or more as needed
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 (8 ounce) package shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add spaghetti and a liberal amount of salt to the boiling water and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 10 minutes. Drain pasta and transfer to a large serving bowl. Reserve 1 cup pasta water.
- While pasta is cooking, coat chicken with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Remove chicken and chop into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.
- Add bacon to the same pan and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain bacon slices on paper towels and cut into small pieces.
- Add sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, basil, and red pepper flakes to the bacon fat and cook for 1 minute. Add chicken and bacon and reduce heat to just above a simmer. Stir in milk and cornstarch. Add chicken broth, mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese; stir and simmer until well mixed and cheeses have melted.
- Slowly add 1/2 cup pasta water to the sauce; stir and allow the sauce to thicken up to desired consistency, adding more pasta water as needed. Pour sauce over pasta to serve.
- You can shred the chicken in your food processor with a few quick pulses. It’s a perfect way to hide it in the sauce from your kids.
- Pecorino Romano cheese can be used instead of Parmesan.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 490 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 50 g |
| Cholesterol | 75 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 36 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 1075 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 16 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |