SUBSTITUTE FOR BOW TIE PASTA RECIPES

Easy Chicken Piccata Pasta recipe with delicious creamy lemon and caper Piccata Sauce and bow-tie pasta. A restaurant quality chicken and pasta dinner ready at home in 30 minutes. 

This Chicken Piccata Sauce is lite creamy and bursting with flavor of lemon and capers. Piccata Sauce comes together very quickly; next I toss in pasta coated in parmesan cheese. That's it! An amazing chicken and pasta dinner ready to devour.

Let’s make Chicken Piccata Pasta today!

CHICKEN PICCATA

Chicken Piccata is an Italian chicken dish. In traditional version,  chicken breast pieces are breaded and pan fried; then served with lemon caper pan sauce; famous as Piccata Sauce.

Various version of Chicken Piccata are made and devoured all over the world. In some lite variations, chicken is not breaded or fried but pan seared until it develops natural color.

No matter how chicken is prepared, one thing always remains same in many recipes i.e Lemon Caper Piccata Sauce. The piccata sauce is my inspiration for today’s Chicken Piccata Pasta recipe. 

CHICKEN PICCATA PASTA

In this chicken piccata pasta recipe, I kept chicken lite and simple; seasoned with pepper and pan seared until it developed natural color. (sharing tips on how to make evenly cooked moist chicken breast every time)

I enhanced piccata sauce by adding heavy cream, parmigiana and chicken bouillon (for instant flavor boost). Resulting sauce is creamy yet lite and bursting with flavor of refreshing lemon and capers.

However, the real secret to best piccata sauce is: little bit of olive oil. If you have never tried this. I recommend try adding some olive oil to sauce, specifically while cooking the cream. The fresh extra virgin olive oil makes piccata sauce silky and velvety. By far the best cream lemon sauce ever!

Even though I always ask you to make a recipe your own. For Piccata Sauce, I highly recommend following the recipe as-is. Specially do add the olive oil. You will love the difference it makes in flavor and texture of the sauce.

CREAMY PICCATA SAUCE

In short, this piccata pasta is all about Creamy Lemon Caper Chicken Sauce. Making Piccata Sauce is quick and easy. 

Here's all you need to make the sauce:

1. Olive Oil  
2. White Wine  
3. Garlic (cloves, thin sliced)  
4. Unsalted Butter  
5. Capers (drained) 
6. Thyme  
7. Lemons 
8. Heavy Cream  
9. Chicken Bouillon
10. Salt and Black Pepper  
11. Chili Flakes 

PASTA FOR CHICKEN PICCATA

Honestly, any pasta works with lemon-cream sauce. I like to use farfalle for personal preference. Small pastas such as bow-tie hold piccata sauce, capers, garlic and cheese in all nooks and corners. This makes every bite loaded with flavor and delicious. 

You can also use following pastas for chicken piccata:

1. Spaghetti
2. Angel Hair
3. Linguine
4. Penne
5. Orzo
6. Fresh Egg Pasta/Noodles - You can cook fresh pasta right into the sauce. Add it while simmering the cream.

I sprinkle grated parmesan cheese over fresh hot cooked pasta before mixing it into the sauce. This way, cheese melts on hot cooked pasta which holds sauce better.

Try Something Different for Pasta Night: Try this instead of regular meat and spaghetti; Make Piccata Sauce. Cook fresh spaghetti pasta.  Serve Chicken Piccata over spaghetti for Pasta Night.

HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN PICCATA PASTA

Chicken Piccata Pasta comes together in 30 minutes (only 10 minutes to prep.). I start boiling the water for pasta after I prep the ingredients. Start cooking sauce and pasta at the same time. Sauce comes together the same time pasta is ready.

Here's how I make the Chicken Piccata Pasta;  

1. Season diced chicken (or chicken tenders) with salt and pepper. Sauté chicken with olive oil until it starts to develop some color. 
2. Once chicken is no longer pink, add sliced garlic, white wine, chili flakes (if using), thyme, and capers to pan; cook 2 minutes to cook off wine. 
3. Add water with bouillon/stock and simmer until chicken is cooked through.
4. Add cream and olive oil; simmer until sauce starts to thicken. Take off heat then add remaining ingredients.
5. Mix in cooked pasta. Garnish and serve.

QUICK AND EVEN COOKED CHICKEN

For quick and even cooking, place chicken breast in a large parchment sheet. Season with salt and black pepper. Place chicken on half of parchment so that other half can be folded over the chicken. Next, pound chicken with skillet moving away from chicken until breast flattens and almost doubles in dimension. Slice pounded chicken against the grain to bite size pieces. This helps in even cooking because chicken breast is even in thickness. 

MAKE IT YOUR OWN

You can also easily fix this Pasta Recipe as per your family's preference. I love to:

1. Sauté thin sliced mushrooms and spinach while cooking chicken. Mushrooms give sauce earthy flavor. Both benefit from company of creamy sauce. Also this makes portion-size more substantial.
2. Add artichoke hearts while simmering cream sauce. Combination of Lemon Cream Sauce and Artichokes is a tasty surprise.
3. Substitute bow-tie pasta with pasta of choice (as mentioned above). And/or instead of mixing pasta in the sauce. Serve Piccata Sauce over the pasta.

So many options with home cooked meal! Isn't it?

The delicious Chicken Piccata sauce is bursting with flavors of Lemon Caper sauce. Addition of pasta makes it a perfect weeknight-approved Pasta Dinner. Ready in just 30 minutes.

Try something different for Pasta Night this week. Bring home flavors of Creamy Lemon Chicken Piccata.

Happy Cooking!