Creamy Chicken Broccoli Pasta

This easy Chicken and Broccoli Pasta is a healthier version of your favorite restaurant dish, with the most delicious creamy Parmesan sauce, fresh broccoli, chicken, and a squeeze of lemon.

It’s comforting, filling, and about half the calories of the restaurant version. We also love this Creamy Mushroom and Chicken Pasta.

This recipe is inspired by one of my favorite East Coast pasta dishes – Chicken, Macaroni, Broccoli. I rarely see this on menus since moving out west, but back home almost every menu has some version of this delicious creamy and lemony dish.

It’s usually a ridiculously large plate of pasta (enough to feed at least three people), a generous amount of chicken and fresh broccoli, and a light lemon cream sauce. Then there’s a mountain of Parmesan cheese. This version takes all those classic flavors but is even more relaxed.

It still tastes delicious, but you don’t have to worry about your dinner containing more calories than you should eat throughout the day.

The key to this dish is a light cream sauce made from a combination of 2% milk and chicken stock. No cream required!

The pasta cooks in the liquid, allowing the pasta starch to mix with the broth and milk to create a delicious, creamy sauce. This is a great technique for making any light sauce. Then stir in the Parmesan cheese and you have an amazing sauce.

Tips for Making Chicken and Broccoli Pasta

Follow these tips when making this recipe.

• chicken: While I usually use chicken breasts, you can also use chicken thighs or shrimp in the recipe. If you decide to make this with shrimp, be careful not to overcook the shrimp as they cook too quickly.
• vegetarian diet: For a vegetarian version, simply omit the chicken and use vegetable broth. You can add some chickpeas or white beans for extra protein and fiber.
• Different vegetables: If broccoli isn’t your favorite vegetable, you can substitute asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, or a combination of your favorite vegetables.
• Different cheeses: To change the flavor, consider switching to a different cheese. Creamy goat cheese or feta cheese tastes amazing and completely changes the flavor of a dish.
• Less spicy: If you don’t like spicy food, leave out the red pepper flakes.

Chicken Broccoli Pasta Recipe Ideas

Follow these ideas to customize this recipe to your liking.

• Add pesto: For extra flavor, consider adding some store-bought or homemade pesto. This really made things worse, the creamy pesto flavor was insane.
• Different pastas: You can use almost any kind of pasta for this recipe. Many people like to serve it with penne, rigatoni or shells because the sauce really clings to the tubular pasta shape.
• Cream sauce: If you want a thicker, creamier sauce, you can substitute skim half-and-half for the milk. You can also use canned nonfat evaporated milk, which is thicker and creamier. This will create more of an Alfredo style sauce.
• Extra cheesy: If you want extra cheesy pasta, add some extra Parmesan cheese or melt some mozzarella cheese on top before serving.
• More lemon flavor: For extra lemony flavor, add lemon zest as well.
• Add tomatoes: If you like tomatoes, consider adding a can of drained diced tomatoes to the dish. The halved cherry tomatoes in this dish are also delicious.
• Creamy Red Sauce: To make the creamy red sauce, add about 1 cup of tomato paste to the final dish.

What type of pasta is best for this recipe?

You can use almost any type of pasta for this chicken and broccoli pasta recipe. Regular pasta, whole wheat pasta, and high-fiber pasta will all work.

You can also use any pasta shape you like – spaghetti, shells, rigatoni, rigatoni or any other pasta shape.

Some people have asked if this applies to other pastas, such as those made with chickpeas and lentils. To be honest, I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, so I’m not sure. If you give it a try – please let us know!

Looking for healthier pasta recipes?

Here are some of the tools and products I used when cooking this recipe:

• High Fiber Pasta: For a healthier pasta option, I usually try to use a high fiber pasta like this one. They typically contain 2-3 times the fiber and more protein. You can also use whole wheat pasta.
• Since chicken stock adds so much flavor to the sauce in this recipe, I like to use a really delicious, high-quality chicken stock like this one, or if I have some homemade chicken stock in the freezer.