SOUTHWEST CHIPOTLE PASTA SALAD RECIPES

Today's recipe is copycat of Cheesecake Factory's Spicy Chicken Chipotle Cream Sauce Pasta. I simply love their Chipotle Pasta... The hint of spice, creamy sauce, crunchy veggies, and succulent chicken.... oh, and crispy tortilla chips!!! yumm! There is nothing in this dish which I don't like. 

You know the best part? You can skip chicken and it still is flavorful Italian vegetarian dinner or lunch. 

With just 15 minutes of cooking time, Chipotle Sauce can be blended in advance and used multiple times for quick weekday dinner! Sounds even better! Isn't it? And it costs just fraction of what you will pay for dinner of four!

Original recipe calls for Honey Glazed Chicken. I shared a healthier version of Honey Glazed Chicken a few days ago. If you want to try that with Chipotle Pasta, follow the recipe link in notes.

I'm sure you know by now that I LOVE pasta! In India, few years back, there were not many restaurants offering pasta in menu. So obviously I have not grown up on it.

Close to my office in India, there was a Pasta House by name 'Noodle Company'. Once my colleagues took me for lunch there and I ordered Fettuccine Alfredo. Oh boy, did I enjoy it? loved it.. adored it... dreamed about it for days! Perfect sign of a foodie! Isn't it? Though I was not THAT foodie kind those days.... Or should I say, I thought I wasn't. :-)

So, I visited that restaurant a couple of times and every time felt like 'kid in a candy store'......... Never ever bothered to even think about the recipes. Just enjoyed eating good pasta varities. It's funny, my hometown was 3 hours drive from my office. One weekend, when I was visiting my parents, I even packed a few pastas to-go. I'm sure you can imagine, what they become by the time I reached home -pasta pancakes!!! And I felt chef not made them good. lol!!

These days, story is totally different. Everything I eat out, I wanna make at home!! Often I'm not enjoying food rather thinking about recipe and ingredients. Can you relate?

Not sure which days were better... though I enjoyed both! :-)

We both love eating at Cheesecake Factory once-in-a-while. They happen to make a lot of my favorite foods and I wanna try cooking all of them at home. This Chicken Chipotle Cream Sauce Pasta... I can eat by buckets! and Sauce!! I can drink with straw! Specially the copycat version I made at home is utterly delicious! Lacking words to describe the flavor! I guess my chipotle-love making me speechless.

This Creamy Chipotle Sauce Pasta has ton of flavor on it's own. That's why I decided to share this recipe without instructions to make chicken. You can use simply use rotisserie chicken, or sauteed mushrooms (vegetarian option) instead. Or if you wanna make exact copycat of Cheesecake Factory's 'Spicy Chicken Chipotle Pasta' then cook chicken following recipe here. (go for glazed version)

My version of Chipotle Pasta differs slightly from cheesecake factory's original. Here is what I did differently:

1. I have used broccolini instead of asparagus and zucchini instead of red bell peppers. (feel free to bring your own veggies.)
2. Used no-oil healthy Baked Honey-Lemon chicken instead of spiced honey-glazed chicken. Get the recipe. here.
3. Cheesecake Factory uses chipotle chili powder and no citrus in the sauce. I, however, have used Chipotle Adobo for pronounced chipotle flavor and lime juice to balance the richness of creamy sauce. You can skip both of these. Yet, I recommend trying it once! Chances are you will forget Cheesecake Factory's Chipotle Pasta. ;-)

That's it! I believe, the 'heart' of this dish is in creamy Pasta Cream Sauce and I'm telling you that it will not disappoint you! Make a big batch of sauce because you gonna want to repeat it the very next day! It's THAT scrumptious!

PS: I've been little absent from blog lately due to a sudden short trip to San Jose, California. It's mid of week and my routine is still not streamlined due to busy-busy weekend..... long nights and early mornings... and what not!! However, even though it was Vishal's work trip.... we had great time while driving back... kinda mini road trip :) I'll be sharing some delicious pictures in coming post.

Wish you great day ahead. - Savita