Pasta. There’s never enough days for all the pasta dishes I imagine to eat in my lifetime! My husband recently made a ravioli bake which was great, but it had me thinking about other possibilities. My first thought was to turn this dish into Tuscan flavored bake. However, as my culinary creative juices were flowing, I thought a skillet dish would be more appropriate. So, Tuscan Chicken Tortellini Skillet was developed and subsequently consumed. Oh, the flavor!
One pound of portioned-sized chicken breasts work well for this meal. Salt and pepper the breasts and cook about 2-3 minutes per side,or until golden brown, in 2 tablespoons of melted butter in your skillet over medium-low heat. Add the remainder of the butter, red pepper flakes and pressed garlic until aromatic, whisking frequently.
Add about 1/2 cup of chardonnay to help deglaze the pan of any browned bits, scrapping pan with wooden spatula, if necessary. Pour in the chicken broth and heavy cream along with sun-dried tomatoes(yum), cheese and dried herbs. Whisk and bring to a low boil.
Reduce the heat and add in the dried tortellini, stirring frequently so pasta doesn’t stick, about 10 minutes.
Gently stir in the shredded cooked chicken with chopped spinach.
In about 4 minutes, the spinach should be wilted and chicken warmed. Can’t you just taste its luscious, creamy Tuscan flavor?
You will devour every bite of this Tuscan Chicken Tortellini Skillet ! The flavor is rich, but it will leave your taste buds speechless! Serve a crusty bread and a salad on the side! Perfect! If you have any leftover, take it to work for lunch. Your coworkers will be so jealous when they smell this warming up in the microwave! If you like this flavor, and why wouldn’t you, try out my Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce and Artichokes or Baked Rockfish with Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce .
Prep time:
Cook time:
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Serves: 4-6 servings
- 1.5 pounds of boneless chicken breasts
- 3 T. butter
- 1½ t. minced garlic
- ¼ t. red pepper flakes
- 2 c. chicken broth( I use Better than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base.)
- 1 c. heavy cream
- ½ c. sun-dried tomatoes, julienned, in olive oil w/herbs~chopped
- ½ c. Parmigianno-Reggiano Cheese, grated
- ¼ t. dried thyme
- ¼ t. dried basil
- ¼ t. dried oregano
- 2 c. fresh baby spinach or kale, stems removed, roughly chopped
- 8 oz. dried tortellini
- Salt and pepper chicken breasts after patting them dry.
- Prep other ingredients so they will be ready to add without hesitation once the process is started.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in skillet and cook chicken on medium-low heat until golden brown, 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and shred when cooled.
- Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in the skillet; whisk in the red pepper flakes and pressed garlic until aromatic, 30 seconds.
- Add chardonnay to deglaze the pan, scrapping the bottom of any brown bits of flavor.
- Add in the chicken broth, cream, tomatoes, cheese and herbs. Stir until it starts a low boil. Reduce the heat and add in the dried tortellini; stir frequently so the pasta doesn't stick to the pan for about 10 minutes.
- Add the shredded chicken and chopped spinach. Stir gently as spinach begins to wilt, about 4 minutes.
- Serve it up!
- Refrigerate any leftovers.
