This creamy lemon chicken pasta is an incredible, restaurant-quality comfort dish your whole family will adore. Pasta and tender chunks of chicken are bathed in a rich, velvety, luscious lemony cream sauce.
When I crave comfort, I crave Italian food. This recipe is no exception to this food rule. I especially love this pasta during the spring and summer months when a bright, sunny flavor is what it’s all about!
The lemon adds a lovely lightness that makes this dish really shine.
Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta Recipe
Love & Pasta! We love food in our family. For a few years, my son lived (far away!) In Italy. He stayed with a family and the mother of the household spent her days making beautiful family-style meals. She taught him all of her tricks for his favorite dishes. This is one of them.
He was paying attention. When he came home from Italy, he passed her tips on to me. Now when he comes home to visit, we make pasta together. This is just one of the many reasons we love food in our family. It allows us to share experiences—even when we spend time apart.
There’s more comfort where that came from— try chicken bacon ranch pasta, chicken pasta salad, cheesy chicken spaghetti, and chicken fajita pasta—all sure to become new favorites. Gotta love a great pasta dish!
That’s comfort food at its finest. Let’s make some pasta!
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Ingredients You’ll Need
- Olive Oil
- Chicken Tenderloins
- Butter
- Shallots
- Garlic
- All-purpose Flour
- Heavy Cream
- Lemon Juice
- Lemon Zest
- Cream Cheese
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Ziti
- Pasta Water
- Fresh Basil
- Red Pepper Flakes
Tips + Tricks
- Pasta Water: Reserving the pasta cooking water, before draining the pasta, is an old restaurant trick. You can stir in the reserved pasta water to thin the sauce without it becoming too thin. It also helps the sauce cling to the pasta.
- Tossing The Pasta With Lemon Cream Sauce: If you make the sauce in a large enough skillet you can likely toss a pound of cooked pasta with the finished sauce. I use my old, high-sided 12-inch Farberware skillet I got before I was married (you don’t want to know how many decades ago that wazzz!).
- If you’re worried about it all fitting in the skillet, just toss it in the dried-out large pot the pasta was cooked in.
- Lemon Juice: Here’s a lemon juice trick I use. Buy lemons in bulk when they’re on sale, then juice them and freeze the juice in ice cube trays. That way you have fresh lemon juice on hand whenever you need it!
Reheat + Storing + Make-Ahead
- How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? Â Store your leftovers in an airtight container and store them in the fridge for up to four days.
- Can You Freeze This? Sadly, no. Cream sauces, containing as much dairy as they do, just don’t freeze well.
- Make-Ahead Tips: Cook the chicken and add the sauce ahead of time and store it separately in the refrigerator. Cook the pasta the day of serving. Heat the sauce with the chicken and add pasta.
Variations
- Add Tomatoes: I love fresh tomatoes. Try Romas as I used in my chicken alfredo recipe!
- Mushrooms: Sneak in more vegetable nutrition by sauteing mushrooms with garlic.
- Switch Up The Protein: Instead of the bite-sized pieces of chicken, switch it up with shrimp for a delicious change of pace!
What To Serve With Lemon Chicken Pasta
When I serve pasta, I’ve gotta have some soft breadsticks for dipping in the sauce. I know it’s a carbohydrate-heavy meal but sometimes you just have to go for it! Of course, my go-to homemade breadsticks are my copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks.
Then I like to add some fresh greens with a simple green salad dressed with my favorite balsamic vinaigrette or when it’s strawberry season, strawberry spinach salad. You’ll love all these recipes, I promise!!
How to Make Creamy Lemon Pasta
- Cook the chicken.
- Saute garlic and onions in butter.
- Add flour and whisk.
- Remove from heat and add the cream. Stir in lemon juice and lemon zest.
- Return the skillet to heat. Stir in cream cheese, salt, and pepper.
- Add cooked pasta to the sauce, garnish with fresh basil and red pepper flakes.
More Chicken Pasta Recipes
- Buffalo Chicken Lasagna
- Chicken Spaghetti
- Chicken Lasagna
- Chicken Spaghetti With Rotel
- Chicken Macaroni Salad
- Garlic Parmesan Chicken Pasta
Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2  pounds chicken tenderloins, cut into 1-inch chunks
Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup shallots, minced
- 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 4 ounces cream cheese cubed, and at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Pasta:
- 8 ounces ziti
- 1 cup reserved pasta water
Serving:
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, julienned
- crushed red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
Cook Chicken:
- Season chicken pieces (1 1/2Â pounds) generously with salt and black pepper. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat until it begins to shimmer. Add half the chicken in a single layer, and cook without stirring, until one side is browned about 2 minutes. Turn the chicken and brown the other side. Remove the chicken to a plate and set it aside. Repeat with remaining chicken, adding more oil as needed.
- Melt butter (2 tablespoons) in the same skillet then saute shallots (1/3Â cup) and garlic (2Â teaspoons) over medium-low heat until soft, about 5-7 minutes. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan as veggies cook to lift up the brown bits from cooking the chicken.
- Sprinkle flour (2 tablespoons) over vegetables and cook, whisking constantly for 1 minute.
- Remove the pan from heat and slowly whisk in cream (1 1/2Â cups) until smooth. Stir in lemon juice (1/4Â cup) and lemon zest (2Â teaspoons).
- Cook pasta (8 ounces) according to package instructions in well-salted water. Before draining, reserve 1 cup of pasta water. Drain.
- Return the skillet to medium and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and stir cream cheese (4Â ounces), salt (1/2 teaspoon), and pepper (1/4 teaspoon), and simmer gently until cheese is melted.
- Add the pasta to the sauce and toss until evenly coated. Thin out sauce, as needed, adding reserved pasta water a little at a time (you likely won't use the whole 1 cup).
- Garnish with fresh basil and red pepper flakes and serve.
Fans Also Made:
Notes
- Pasta Water: Reserving the pasta cooking water, before draining the pasta, is an old restaurant trick. You can stir in the reserved pasta water to thin the sauce without it becoming too thin. It also helps the sauce cling to the pasta.
- Tossing The Pasta With Lemon Cream Sauce: If you make the sauce in a large enough skillet you can likely toss a pound of cooked pasta with the finished sauce. If you’re worried about it all fitting in the skillet, just toss it in the dried-out large pot the pasta was cooked in.
- Lemon Juice: Here’s a lemon juice trick I use. Buy lemons in bulk when they’re on sale, then juice them and freeze the juice in ice cube trays. That way you have fresh lemon juice on hand whenever you need it!
I love this pasta, My husband requested that I’ll make this again next week!
Yaaay! Thank you, KC!