Chicken Feta Pasta
Chicken with a feta tomato sauce is TRUE perfection!
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into ¾ inch cubes
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 6 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 14.5-ounce can of diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano
- ½ cup pasta water
- 1 pound long pasta bucatini is my favorite
- 8 ounces feta cheese divided
- fresh basil finely chopped, optional
Instructions
- In a large pot or Dutch oven with a lid, heat the olive oil over high for 1 minute, then add the chicken. Season liberally with salt and black pepper. Cook the chicken, moving it around in the pan a little to prevent sticking, so that a nice crust will form, about 10 minutes. Flip, sprinkle with the garlic and stir to combine for 30 seconds until fragrant. After 30 seconds, add the diced tomatoes and 6 ounces of the crumbled feta and simmer.
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Once al dente, add ½ cup of the pasta water into the chicken mixture and continue to let it simmer. Drain the pasta and then add to the chicken tomato mixture.
- Serve warm, sprinkled with the remaining feta cheese and fresh basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
- Cube the chicken into uniform ¾-inch pieces. Inconsistent sizes mean some pieces overcook before others are done. A clean dice means every bite is juicy.
- Heat the oil before the chicken hits the pan. A full minute at high heat in the Dutch oven. Cold oil + cold chicken equals grey, watery, and no crust.
- Don't move the chicken for the first 5 minutes. Let it form a crust. If it's stuck, it's not ready to flip yet. Wait it out.
- Salt the pasta water aggressively. A heaping tablespoon for a big pot. The pasta seasons itself from the inside out, which thin sauce can never do later.
- Reserve more pasta water than you think you'll need. A full cup, not a half. The starchy water is what emulsifies the feta into a silky sauce instead of a broken mess.
- Crumble the feta in two stages. Six ounces stirred in for the sauce, two ounces crumbled on top right before serving. The first batch melts; the second stays texturally intact.
- Add the garlic only AFTER the chicken is seared. Garlic in cold or empty pans burns by minute two. Always go in last and stir for just 30 seconds.
- Drain the pasta one minute shy of al dente. It finishes cooking in the sauce, soaking up flavor. Fully cooked pasta added to sauce just sits there.
- Tear the basil, don't chop it. Knife oxidation turns basil brown and bitter within seconds. Hand-torn leaves keep the bright green color and oil intact.
- Finish with a glug of good olive oil and cracked pepper. A real finishing oil at the table, not the cheap stuff you cooked with. It pulls everything together.
Nutrition
Calories: 866kcal | Carbohydrates: 96g | Protein: 61g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Cholesterol: 159mg | Sodium: 989mg | Potassium: 1237mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 512IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 356mg | Iron: 4mg