Sensational Chicken Carbonara Recipe
Discover the Sensational Chicken Carbonara Recipe w/ bacon, chicken & cheesy pasta perfection! The EASY way to create a gourmet chicken dinner the entire family will enjoy!
This Sensational Chicken Carbonara recipe was originally published on Dec 5, 2014, Since then it has been updated to make it better than ever!
Craving more comforting chicken options? Dive into the freshness of our Chicken salad recipe with grapes for a light and refreshing sandwich. Or check out our Chicken Enchilada Casserole bake for a fiesta of flavors. Or opt for an easy budget-friendly Chicken noodle casserole for a busy weeknight. Your comfort food adventures are just beginning!
If you were to go through our kitchen or menu planners, you would see that chicken is the #1 ingredient to most of our meals. There is just something so amazing about chicken! It’s great when you are sick. It’s great when you are trying to lose weight. It’s amazing when you need a quality protein to add to your meals.
And there are so many creative ways you can cook it up. Some of our favorites include
- Italian Baked chicken made from frozen chicken and only 5 ingredients
- Homemade Chicken Nuggets
- Salsa slow cooker chicken
- Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
- Fancy Chicken
- Thai chicken,
- Green Curry Chicken
- Chicken Caesar Salad
- Chicken and Potato Stuffed Croissants
- Parmesan Chicken is great for those on Weight Watchers!
As I said we are crazy about our chicken in this house! Whenever possible I buy my chicken in bulk to save on cost.
When I get chicken in bulk I freeze chicken for easy meals down the road or I do canned chicken. This way I always have chicken in my freezer and on my shelf so we never run out!
Thanks to having some chicken on hand, it was time to make a tasty restaurant-quality dinner, but without a lot of extra work.
I have been craving yummy chicken pasta lately so I decided to look into fun chicken recipes. I found a delicious recipe from Pioneer Woman for Bowtie Chicken Alfredo that looked absolutely amazing. So I used that one to spark some ideas and then altered it to our family’s own personal tastes.
The result is a mouthwatering, sensational Chicken Carbonara Recipe that your whole family will love! My kids call it the Doctor Who Pasta, because of the “bow-tie” pasta! Because “Bowties are cool”! Haha! (OK, so only my fellow Whovians will get that joke.)
Tips for an easy Chicken Carbonara Recipe
One of the best tips for this Chicken Carbonara recipe is to cook multiple items at the same time. This will save you time and allow everything to be ready at the right time.
First I begin by cooking the bacon and chicken at the same time. I cook up 5 strips of bacon in a saute pan while I also cook 2 chicken breasts in 2 Tablespoons butter with Salt and Pepper to taste in another pan.
Once the bacon is done remove it from the pan and place it on a paper towel to soak up the grease and allow it to cool.
Usually, the chicken is just about done at the same time, so I transfer it to a cutting board and begin working on the sauce.
Here is another moment where you want to have two pans going. Start cooking the bowtie noodles and as they are cooking start working on the sauce.
For the sauce, I saute 3 cloves of garlic, freshly minced. And yes it makes a difference if you use fresh or garlic powder. Fresh is best. You can use a Garlic mincer so you don’t even have to touch the garlic. So no issue of it leaving the scent on your hands. I personally use a Pampered Chef Garlic Press (aff link). Mine is about 6 years old and still going strong. It presses the garlic perfectly for all our recipes.
Once the garlic is golden brown, I add Milk, heavy cream, chicken broth, and flour to the pan with the garlic and whisk until smooth. You will want to continue to cook it on low heat until it thickens.
While the sauce is thickening, cut up the chicken breasts and dice up the bacon on a good cutting board and mix them together and have them ready to be added to the sauce when the time comes.
Then add in the Parmesan shavings. If the sauce gets too thick, add in a little more chicken broth. It will thin it without making it taste watered down.
Add the drained bowtie pasta. Then toss to cover the noodles completely.
Once it is well mixed then dash in the parsley. Fresh is best, but I couldn’t find any in any of our grocery stores so I had to use parsley flakes.
Again add more salt and pepper to taste preference.
Lastly, I add in the chicken and bacon and toss until all is covered in the sauce.
Now if your family aren’t fans of peas, you are done! But, if your kids will eat peas, then take this to the next level and add in some sweet petite baby peas! I add about 1-2 cups, depending on how strong a presence you want the peas to take.
This dish is best served hot. And then sit back and listen to the “Hmmms and Ahhh’s”. Or if your family is like mine, it will be dead silent as everyone digs in!
Mind you my kids refuse to eat any pasta that doesn’t use a red marinara sauce. But I made them take 1 bite. Just 1 bite of this sensational chicken carbonara recipe. And that was all it took. They went back for seconds. Both boys went for seconds! And they often ask me to make it again.
Whether it is summer, winter, spring, or autumn, this is a great way to curl up with the ultimate comfort of restaurant-quality chicken pasta!
Curl up with our fun Doctor Who Pasta and watch some Doctor Who on the Telly and join me in swooning over the British and Scottish accents. Why Yes! I think that sounds like a great idea!
Who is with me?
If you think this recipe sounds great, make sure to share it with your friends on Facebook using our easy share social media buttons or Pin it for later!
I will keep searching for a good quality meat service to take the place of the old company that broke our hearts. In the meantime, you can still enjoy this sensational Chicken Carbonara recipe with the best chicken you can find at your local grocery store.
Looking for more great chicken recipes? Check out our popular Italian Baked Chicken and Salsa Slow Cooker chicken. Both made from Frozen Chicken! We also have a great Weight Watchers Chicken Parmesan and Chicken and Potato Stuffed Croissants.
Sensational Chicken Carbonara Recipe
A mouthwatering combination of creamy alfredo, chicken, and bacon in a hearty pasta dish. Creamy Pasta made to perfection and leaves you wanting more!
Ingredients
- 5 strips bacon cooked and diced.
- 2 Chicken breasts -Grilled, Chicken striped up
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 2 T Butter
- 3 cloves Garlic Fresh minced
- 3/4 Cup milk
- 1/4 Cup Heavy cream
- 1 cup Chicken broth
- 3 T flour
- 3/4 c Parmesan Shavings
- 2 T parsley
- 1-2 Cups Petite Sweet Peas (optional)
- 1 small box bowtie pasta
Instructions
- Cook 5 strips of bacon and set aside
- Cook 2 chicken breasts in 2 Tablespoons butter with Salt and Pepper to taste.
- Set aside while you work on the sauce.
- Cook up your Bowtie noodles so they will be ready when the sauce is ready.
- Heat up the petite sweet peas
Sauce
- Saute 3 cloves Garlic Freshly minced.
- Add Milk, heavy cream, chicken broth and Flour to the pan with the garlic and whisk until smooth.
- Cook on low heat until it thickens.
- Add in Parmesan shavings. If the sauce gets too thick, add a little more chicken broth.
- Add the drained bowtie pasta.
- Toss to cover the noodles completely.
- Dash in the parsley.
- Add more salt and pepper to taste preference.
- Cut up the chicken breasts and dice up the bacon and mix them together
- Add in the chicken, bacon, and warmed petite sweet peas to the sauce.
- Toss until all is covered in the sauce.
- Serve hot
Notes
This recipe makes approximately 10-12 servings depending on how much you dish up in each bowl. We often have a little leftover after the adults and kids have had multiple servings - although their servings are smaller than a regular adult serving.
For Weight Watchers measuring, divide into 6 equal servings. Not including the noodles, each serving is equal to 6 points plus for Weight Watchers. Read the full Blog article to discover Weight Watchers meal ideas using the creamy Chicken Carbonara sauce.
The peas are completely optional. The original recipe didn't use peas. I've since added them to the recipe and it was a huge success in our home. If you have picky eaters that won't eat the peas, go ahead and leave them out. It still turns out fantastic.
If you want a thicker creamy sauce, you can use 1 cup heavy cream instead of part cream and part milk.
Update 1/7/2015: When I followed the Weight Watchers program, I wanted to know how my favorite dishes on our blog measured up in Weight Watchers.
Using their recipe builder; I calculated that if you leave out the pasta noodles, and divide the sauce (including the chicken and bacon) into 6 equal parts after cooking then each serving is only 6 Points Plus!
You can substitute the noodles for other lower-point-value foods. The husband really loves to throw the sauce on top of a bed of vegetables. Or lightly cooked cauliflower would be delicious too! Or just eat it as it is.
If you add in the noodles you will want to add those to your points tracker separately to get an accurate calculation. Makes a great mouth-watering dinner and still stay on track with your Weight Watchers Goal! Just make sure you use 3/4 Cup Fat-Free Milk and only 1/3 cup heavy cream, but for all other ingredients you are good to go just as listed in the recipe above.
Keep an eye out for our old photos on social media! The same great recipe, just a brand-new look!
Make sure to pin our Chicken Carbonara Recipe for later!
And share it on Facebook while you are at it. 🙂
Yes, bowties are cool! I’m probably going to call it Doctor Who pasta from now on, lol! That recipe looks and sounds absolutely delish!
That sounds absolutely delicious. I definitley want to try this one and soon!
Wow, that would be so handy! We love chicken, and it more often than not. Great recipes!
I want to try the Italian baked!! And good packaging is so important- chicken juice in my fridge is gross!!!
This recipe looks and sounds so delicious. I’ve never tried Zaycon chicken, but I’ll have to see if they come to a location near me.
That looks delicious. It’s time for dinner and you’re making me hungry. I have heard of Zaycon but haven’t used it. I really should. I know how much better farm fresh food is and saving money is a big bonus.
YUM! I’m always looking for yummy new recipes! I’m going to have to make this next week!
This is one of my favorite dishes and yours looks so easy to make!
Nothing better than a chicken and pasta dish; I love it!
Oh I love Zaycon chicken. I swear you can taste a difference and they are HUGE… Thanks for the recipe. Sounds delicious.
I really like the idea of buying the chicken this way. I am going to have to check out Zaycon Foods. Thanks for the delicious sounding recipe!
I will definitely be trying this one out. We are also big chicken eaters in our house. We buy in bulk from our local meat market to save.
We eat a lot of chicken but always seems to be the same 3 meals. Will have to try this out.
Like you we use Chicken in our house all the time. I have some favorites, most from the South beach. What a unique way to buy chicken. 40 pounds of great meat at a time would be such a treat.
That is such a convenient way to get an order. Plus, you have the makings for this delicious recipe! YUM!
This looks like a delicious recipe. I will have to make this for the kids this weekend.
How the heck do they get breasts that big without steroids or hormones. That’s amazing!
Great food, great service, and painless delivery? Sounds pretty amazing to me!
Zaycon sounds amazing! I’m going to have to look into their service. I buy a lot of frozen meats anyway.
Oh, i am a sucker for anything pasta. But, yes, carbonara is one of my favorites. So flavorful & delicious. this recipe is a must!
The recipe looks great. I have heard good things about Zaycon’s chicken.
Chicken is my favorite meat to cook with. I will have to try this recipe. It looks so delicious.
I couldn’t believe how big the chicken was when I ordered from Zycon. It was a great price too
I made this tonight…and it was awesome!!
yeah! I’m craving some myself right about now. 🙂
Do you use the bacon grease to sauté the garlic or the pan from the chicken ? Recipe doesn’t say
I sauté the garlic in the pan from the chicken.
This looks amazing! I am going to try it tonight. Thank you for including the WW PP value. I had never heard of Zycon. I looked them up and they come to a town near me, but there is only beef and pork. Is chicken seasonal, or regional? I buy a half of cow directly from a farmer, so I would love to stock up on chicken as well.
i was confused because you said half and half and heavy cream and the recipe only calls for heavy cream. Also it doesnt say how much pasta for the 6 servings you would use. I did make it with only the heavy cream and it was amazing!
Ahh, the first time I made it I used half and half and the 2nd time i made it I used only the heavy cream. I liked it with the heavy cream only best, I just forgot to edit out the Half and half from the instructions. It’s updated now.
For the recipe if you aren’t worried about the Weight Watchers points, i cooked up a regular small box of bowtie pasta and added it all into the sauce.
If you are portioning for weight watchers or any other food tracking, I would measure out an exact 1 portion according to the box and cook it up and then drizzle the single sauce portion on top so you know how much exactly to track. Or a healthier option would to be to drizzle the sauce/meat onto a bed of veggies. That is what the husband loves to do. I create the sauce, add in the meat and bacon and then potion him some out so he can have it on his bed of veggies while the kids and I enjoy it on the pasta.
It looks lime the chicken is seasoned with something? Did you use anything besides salt and pepper?
It looks like the chicken is seasoned with something? Did you use anything besides salt and pepper?
Just Salt and pepper. No other seasonings. 🙂
Recipe looks delicious, however this is NOT a carbonara, this is alfredo. A carbonara needs three things: eggs, bacon/prosciutto, and cheese. An alfredo sauce on the other hand consists of butter, cream, garlic, and parmesan.
Thank you for saying this! I hate when people think that just because they add bacon to a pasta dish, it makes it carbonara! But the recipe does look like a delish alfredo!
The recipe sounds delicious! What kind of garlic mincer do you use and recommend?
Thank you! I think it has been one of our most successful recipes so far in terms of the family loving it.
I personally have a pampered Chef Garlic press found here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1EnU4S6
I really love it. Mine is about 6 years old and still going strong.
I would like to try this recipe and add in some sun-dried tomatoes and either broccoli florets or peas. How do you think those additions would do to the taste of the recipe? I like to “sneak” in veggies and they always seem to taste great in cheesy pasta dishes.
I think any of those would be awesome in this recipe! Especially the sun dried tomatoes! I think it would really add to the flavor!
My husband said the same thing about sundried tomatoes!! Might try it next time!!
Delicious recipe!! Super easy! A HUGE hit with the whole family! The inly change I made was to add fresh mushrooms which I cooked in the fat that was leftover from cooking the chicken! Perfection!!
Oh my husband would love me if I threw in mushrooms! But seeing as the kids won’t eat it if it has mushrooms I left them out. But that is definitely an awesome addition!!
I was looking for a new recipe to try and I always have these ingredients on hand. I am excited to try it. If you use fresh parsley, how much should I add?
I’m not sure of the conversion from dried to fresh. If it was me making it, I would just throw in enough to make it look nice, and then usually ends up tasting great too. It’s a terrible trait my Mom passed to me, the cook that doesn’t measure, just dumps in ingredients.
Sautée the garlic in what???
Sautee it in the leftover butter from cooking the chicken in the same pan I used to cook the chicken.
Bacon and chicken – shut up and take my money, LOL.
Amazing recipe!
To save time I made this with the meat from a rotisserie chicken. Delicious! 5 out of 5. The second time I made it I added red bell pepper. Also fabulous! Hubby loves it too and he’s picky.
I’m making this recipe for 8 people tonight. Is it possible to double the recipe?
yes, you should be able to double the recipe. But you will probably need a bigger pan than mine. 🙂
Just tried this last night! Absolutely delicious!!! Also really loved how much lighter it felt than doing a cream cheese based alfredo sauce. Definitely, my go to for when I am looking for a white sauce pasta recipe. Some changes I made, didn’t use bacon (forgot it at the store), and added about double the amount of parmesan cheese. Also, did end up having to use extra broth as the recipe suggests to dilute a little further. Thank you for the recipe! 🙂
Making this again! It is Delicious. My Husband said ‘will you make this for my Birthday?’ Ha ha. Terrific Recipe.
Thankyou! I’m so glad that he loves it! I can definitely see it being an awesome Birthday Dinner!
Sounds delicious! Would this be good with tortellini do you think?
I think it would be. I like Tortellini.
Amber, this is hands down the best recipe I have ever made! I fatten it up a bit and add more cream to the sauce but otherwise, follow the recipe and it’s perfect! Thank you so much for posting this! Do not hesitate to try this recipe!
Thank you so much!
Sometimes if I overcook my chicken, I also add more cream to help compensate for the dry chicken, it’s a great trick. 😉
My daughter and I tried this recipe out on the family today. It came out amazing!!! Thank you for sharing.
You are very welcome!
We are hosting a party next week. Main dishes are pasta. Could you make this ahead of time (in the morning) store in refrigerator and then heat it up for dinner? Looking for recipes that we could prepare in the morning so we aren’t in the kitchen as long with guests here. thank you!
yes, you can make this ahead of time. It will thicken up though after sitting in the fridge, so as you reheat it, you will need to thin out the sauce again with more milk or cream to make it creamy again. When we have leftovers I store them in the fridge and reheat them in a skillet with added milk to make it creamy again. Of Course, I’m a little picky and I don’t think leftovers are as awesome as it is FRESH, but it still is good the 2nd time around.
How do you think this would turn out if I didn’t ad the parmesan to the sauce but only on top? Can’t wait to try!
The parmesan helps to really thicken the sauce and gives much of the flavor. It would have a very different texture and flavor and possibly would not set up correctly.
I planning to make this in the next few days, but when I went to pick up ingredients they only had one size box of bowtie pasta and I think it’s kinda big. Would you happen to know how many dry oz or cups of pasta would work?
Hi Michelle! You are in luck! I literally just made this recipe tonight for dinner, and I made sure to pay special attention to the oz of the pasta!
I use 16oz or 1 lb pasta for this recipe.
This turned out amazing! My 4 and 6 year old girls cleaned their plates!
Win for Mommy!
This recipe is restaurant quality! Made it tonight and both my husband and son claimed the leftovers for lunch tomorrow and that rarely happens!
Thank you so much! I’m so glad your family loved it! We don’t often have any leftovers when I make it. And on the rare occasions, I do have leftovers, my boys usually gobble them up the next day. 🙂
I made this tonight for dinner and it was excellent. My kids even asked for more peas next time in it. 🙂 Thank you for sharing.
I’m so glad they loved it! It’s one of the few pasta recipes I can get my kids to eat. 🙂
Delicious! It was a hit with my entire family. My only complaint is that it ended up involving a lot of pots and pans to make the recipe work. Other than the cleanup, this was a great meal!
Great recipe! My whole family loved it! My only complaint is that it required quite a few pots and pans in order to make the meal, but other than the cleanup it was a real hit.
I made this for dinner and it was awesome! Easy and delicious!
Hi Amber,
Thanks for this geat recipe! My whole family loved it. However, my 18 yr old daughter (who always finds and cooks great recipes for our family!) couldn’t find where the 2 T butter came in, so I checked too and noticed it didn’t say. She had fried the bacon, removed, then added the chicken, removed, then the garlic, then sauce in the same pan. However, the flour did not incorporate well into the sauce, so I helped her strain all the lumps and just added one T of butter back into the pan. We lost most of the garlic straining the sauce, but the flavor was still very good. I would change the recipe by adding flour to the butter or bacon grease (leftover) and garlic, then add the other ingredients for the sauce. Since we had drained lots of the bacon grease, the 2 T butter would have worked well to incorporate the flour. She only added 1/2 of a 16 oz bag of bow tie pasta, since it said a small bag, and it actually seemed just right for the four in our family. It’s similar to daughter’s Alfredo sauce, but that uses 16 oz. of heavy cream! We didn’t have but 1/4 cup of fresh Parmesan, so we added grated Edam cheese to mix in and no one noticed. We served with steamed edamame in the pod and it was delicious! My 20 year old added some Tony Chachere’s to his portion!
Thanks!
Just made this for dinner…super yummy and very easy! Everyone loved it!!
I made it, it is very delicious and suitable for chidren. Thanks for your sharing!
Absolutely delicious! It’s one of our favorite dinners now.
This came out really good! I added some Cajun seasoning to the chicken (it’s my favorite flavor). And cooked the chicken in some of the leftover bacon grease (I think that’s a Southern thing).
Bacon grease makes everything better. 🙂 I’m going to have to try adding cajun seasoning to the chicken. That sounds absolutely fantastic!!
Thank you for this delicious comforting recipe. My husband and I both loved it. It was excellent! I like that it was a carbonara without the eggs. I will add this recipe to my once or twice monthly rotation and pass it on to my daughters as well.
This is delicious and we make it all the time. No tweaks to this recipe! I am making it for a “meal train” meal for a friend going through chemo for tonight..
Soo good! My fiancé and our kiddos said it’s one of their new favorite dinners!