Creamy Italian Chicken Pasta recipe, packed with flavor from spinach, garlic, and sun dried tomatoes, your family will gobble this easy dinner right up!
Top Tip: Marinating chicken enhances tenderness and flavor. Pounding ensures even cooking.
This Italian chicken recipe was originally published in April 2011. The photos were updated in February 2021 and the recipe notes improved in April 2025.
Aimee’s Recipe Notes
- Taste: Creamy sauce with savory chicken, tangy sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh spinach.
- Prep Notes: Marinate chicken in milk and lemon juice for 2-4 hours to tenderize. Pound chicken to uniform thickness for even cooking. Use sun-dried tomato oil for added flavor.
- Serving Suggestions: Pair with garlic bread or dinner rolls to soak up the sauce.
- Budget Tip: Use frozen spinach and store-brand pasta to reduce costs without sacrificing quality.
Prep the Chicken
Place raw chicken breast into a bowl and pour milk and lemon juice over the top. Cover and refrigerate for 2-4 hours. You can also do this in the morning, so that it’s ready at dinner time!
PRO TIP: Did you know that soaking the chicken in milk and lemon helps it become more tender for cooking?
How to Make Italian Chicken
The breading.
When ready to cook, create your Italian chicken crust. In a pie plate, or shallow dish, combine flour, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and powdered sugar.
Drain chicken from milk marinade and dip into the flour, coating evenly.
Heat a large skillet with olive oil over medium high heat. Place chicken strips in hot skillet for about 3 minutes on each side. Remove and place onto a foil lined baking sheet.
Bake the chicken.
Bake chicken in 350 degree oven for about 18-20 minutes.
PRO TIP: If you smash your chicken with a meat tenderizer before dipping in coating, this helps it become the same thickness throughout, resulting in more even cooking.
Make the pasta and sauce.
PRO TIP: Skip the additional olive oil and use the oil from the sun dried tomatoes instead. Adds a rich flavor to the sauce!
Sprinkle 1 Tablespoon cornstarch over the tomatoes, and mix thoroughly.
Add chicken broth, whisk until combined. Cook for about 5 minutes.
In a small bowl, mix remaining cornstarch with milk and whisk. Add to the broth and continue whisking while adding in the cream, spinach, salt, and pepper.
Turn heat to low and simmer until sauce thickens and spinach wilts. Add in parmesan cheese.
Stir and heat on low until chicken and noodles are done.
Serve in a large bowl and enjoy.
Serving Suggestions
This Garlic Bread is always a great side dish to pasta. Who doesn’t love a fluffy, flavorful bread? Dinner rolls are great for sopping up that extra sauce. And of course my easy, no knead artisan bread is always a good option.
This Olive Garden Salad is loaded with fresh flavor and the homemade Italian Dressing is zesty and flavorful! The perfect pairing to your weeknight meal.
Looking for a fresh bowl of homemade applesauce for dinner tonight? This Instant Pot Applesauce recipe is super quick and easy!
Don’t forget to finish the evening with a fresh batch of Rice Krispie Treats!
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Italian Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
- 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 3 Tablespoon olive oil
For the sauce:
- 2 Tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup sun dried tomatoes in oil drained and finely diced
- 3 Tablespoon cornstarch divided
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 3 cups fresh spinach roughly chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper don’t skimp on this
- 1 cup parmesan cheese grated
- 1 box linguine noodles 16oz
Instructions
- Place raw chicken breast into a bowl and pour milk and lemon juice over the top. Cover and refrigerate for 2-4 hours. You can also do this in the morning, so that it’s ready at dinner time!
- When ready to cook, create your chicken crust. In a pie plate, or shallow dish, combine flour, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and powdered sugar.
- Drain chicken from milk marinade and dip into the flour, coating evenly.
- Heat a large skillet with olive oil over medium high heat. Place chicken strips in hot skillet for about 3 minutes on each side. Remove and place onto a foil lined baking sheet.
- Bake chicken in 350 degree oven for about 18-20 minutes.
- While the chicken bakes, cook your linguine (or favorite pasta) according to package.
- To make the sauce, using the same skillet as the chicken, add additional olive oil, scraping the bits from the pan. Over medium heat, add garlic and sun dried tomatoes to the pan, heat for several minutes.
- Sprinkle 1 Tbsp cornstarch over the tomatoes, and mix thoroughly.
- Add chicken broth, whisk until combined. Cook for about 5 minutes.
- In a small bowl, mix remaining cornstarch with milk and whisk. Add to the broth and continue whisking while adding in the cream, spinach, salt, and pepper.
- Turn heat to low and simmer until sauce thickens and spinach wilts. Add in parmesan cheese.
- Stir and heat on low until chicken and noodles are done.
- Serve in a large bowl and enjoy.
Notes
- If you smash your chicken with a meat tenderizer before dipping in coating, this helps it become the same thickness throughout, resulting in more even cooking.
- Skip the additional olive oil and use the oil from the sun dried tomatoes instead. Adds a rich flavor to the sauce!
Video
Nutrition
More Pasta Recipes
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- Cajun Sausage Pasta is a delicious 30 minute dinner recipe! Colorful, spicy, and easy to make, you’ll want to put this dish on your menu!
- Try this easy Jalapeno Chicken Casserole for a zippy dinner idea.
- Whether you’re looking for an easy weeknight meal or a dish to share at a potluck, this Chicken Pesto Pasta is your delicious answer! Packed with flavor from the homemade walnut pesto, you’ll love how tasty this easy dish is to eat!
- Whip up this easy Instant Pot Spaghetti recipe packed with flavor and meatballs. Ready in minutes!
- Love easy chicken dinners? This Buffalo Chicken Pasta ranks as one of our reader’s favorite recipes! And who can resist a plate of cheesy Chicken Tetrazzini??
Creamy Italian Chicken Pasta recipe, packed with flavor from spinach, garlic, and sun dried tomatoes, your family will gobble this easy dinner right up!
My picky family asked for this to be made again!! This was delicious. Thanks for sharing.
I made this tonight at my daughter’s house. It was fabulous. Everybody loved it. I will make it at home for the rest of the crew when they come for dinner some day.
This was Sooo good The breading, The sauce mixture both were excellent! This is definitely a keeper So happy I found it Thank You!
Italian Chicken: Making this delicious recipe for the second time so I thought I should give a review. The recipe is easy to follow and not time-consuming. We love Italian food and this recipe is a hit with me and my partner. I usually follow recipes to the letter, but I made one adjustment because I love cooking with wine. I substitute the chicken broth with 1 cup of white wine and the dish is perfect! I now soak my chicken in milk and lemon juice all of the time, this is a great tip. Thanks for sharing.
Is there a way to print this recipe?
Request: Add an app that I can change the amount of serving. This is for 6 and I only want to cook for 2. No idea what ratio each would be. Please. All recipes should allow changing amounts of servings.
Unfortunately, I find in most of my recipes which are desserts, this option doesn’t equate well.
Just eat it 2 more times as left-overs…Lol !
I also skipped the powder sugar and tomatoes. I added extra spinach. So much flavor you will not regret making this
I made this with almond milk instead of all the dairy, used rice based noodles and used arrow root instead of corn starch. I used extra almond milk since rice noodles absorb more liquid than wheat. I will make this again. The chicken was very flavorful. My kids loved it. Definitely a winner in our family.
Sounds great. Anything I can use in place of tomatoes?
So in the recipe it calls for Grated Parm but in the pictures its showing shredded Parm…which one do I use??
Great dinner I didn’t add the sugar cause I don’t cook sweet meat but everything was perfect I was a little.confused tho cause she said use a pie dish to bread your chicken ? When you can use litteraly anything else and you’re not making a crust of any kind according to the video and Instructions. Other wise this recipe is amazing ! !!! Must try
Why powdered sugar?? I would think that would make the sauce a tad sweet.
You have the BEST recipes! We absolutely loved this chicken. I made a double serving of the sauce so that we could add it over rice. YUMMY!
Always a hit with the family. Love how dreamy it is and your meat tenderizer tip really made a difference!
We could not get enough of this chicken! So flavorful and delicious!