This post is dedicated to all of you who are still going out to eat at the Olive Garden. ;D
This is a super simple, very flavorful pasta dish that will cost about the same for six servings as you’d pay for one at an “Italian Style Family Restaurant.” …Plus, you’ll be using fresh, delicious ingredients. No jelly-like cream sauces from a can here.
I used white wine in my recipe because I really like the flavor that it lends to sauces but if you don’t want to use it, just replace it with the same volume of chicken broth.
I also used pre-sliced mushrooms but only because the store was out of whole mushrooms. I would prefer to cut my own and slice them thinner than these were… but you can’t have everything in life, right?
If you’re not a fan of parsley, you could also stir in some fresh baby spinach because we all know that spinach, mushrooms, cream and chicken play well together. Parsley just happens to be far less expensive and I like it all the same.
Creamy Mushroom Pasta with Chicken
Creamy Mushroom Pasta w/ Chicken
Servings 6Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.22)
- 1/2 yellow onion ($0.16)
- 3 cloves garlic ($0.21)
- 1 lb. mushrooms ($3.38)
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.02)
- 1 cup chicken broth ($0.00)
- 1/2 cup white wine ($7.99 bottle)
- 1/2 cup half & half ($0.30)
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme ($0.05)
- salt and pepper to taste ($0.05)
- 1/4 bunch fresh parsley ($0.22)
- 2 oz. Parmesan ($1.00)
- 8 oz. pasta ($0.59)
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts ($2.49)
Instructions
- Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper (or any other seasoning you like). Cook on a George Foreman Grill about 8 minutes per breast. Alternatively, you can cook them in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes per side or until cooked through. Keep the chicken on a plate covered with foil until ready to eat.
- While the chicken is cooking, prepare the sauce. Cut the onion into a small dice and mince the garlic. Cook them in a large skillet over medium heat with olive oil. Cook about two minutes or until the onion is translucent. Add the sliced mushrooms and a dash of salt and cook until the mushrooms have completely softened and released all of their moisture (about 7 minutes).
- Add the 2 Tbsp of flour to the skillet. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes. It will coat the mushrooms and will begin to turn golden in color. Just make sure to keep stirring so that the flour does not burn.
- Add the chicken broth to the skillet along with the white wine and thyme. Whisk until no flour lumps remain. Let simmer until thickened (about 3-5 minutes).
- While the sauce is simmering, get a large pot of water boiling for the pasta. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box (boil for 5-7 minutes or until al dente then drain).
- Once the sauce has thickened, turn off the heat and stir in the cream. Continue to let simmer until reduced in volume and thickened. Give the sauce a taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Roughly chop the parsley and stir it in with the drained pasta. Grate about 2 ounces of parmesan over top (or top each serving individually). Slice the chicken and serve each bowl of pasta with a few slices of chicken.
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Nutrition
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Step By Step Photos
Begin by cooking your chicken on a George Foreman Grill – I find this to be the fastest, easiest way to cook chicken. I don’t have pictures of this because you literally put it on there, turn it on and then go do something else while it works it’s magic.
Dice the onion fairly small (or you can grate it on a cheese grater). Also, mince the garlic. I had some jarred garlic that I’ve been trying to use up so I used about 1 Tbsp of that.
Cook the onions and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until softened and transparent.
Add a pound of sliced mushrooms and a dash of salt to the skillet. The salt helps draw the moisture out of the mushrooms. Continue to stir and cook until the mushrooms have completely softened and all of the moisture has been cooked out (they’ll be soft, brown in color and no liquid should be in the bottom of the skillet).
Add the flour to the mushrooms and continue to cook for about 2 minutes. The flour will be the thickening agent for the sauce and letting it cook for a couple of minutes will toast the flour and get rid of any paste-like flavors. (this is actually a picture from another recipe because I forgot to take a photo of this step – oops!)
Add the chicken broth, wine and thyme. Whisk until no flour lumps remain. Allow to simmer over medium heat until thickened (3-5 minutes). While it is simmering, begin cooking the pasta in a separate pot (follow directions on the package).
Once the sauce has thickened, turn off the heat and add the half & half. Give the sauce a taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
Roughly chop the parsley and stir it into the sauce.
Stir in the drained pasta.
Either grate the parmesan over the entire skillet of pasta or add to each individual serving.
Add a few slices of the grilled chicken on top for a complete meal.
Got a date? Make this together, share the rest of the bottle of white wine and enjoy a great meal without having to tip the wait staff!
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Loved it!!! Made it for date night and it was one of our favorites so far!!
Nice recipe… thank you for sharing this recipe
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Nice dish was amazing, Easy to make, quick delishious
Omg this pasta was amazing! I used leftover rotisserie chicken but I bet it would be over the top with the smoky taste of grilled chicken! I almost didn’t make this recipe-I thought it sounded kind of plain but I’m so glad I did! A easy, quick, delishious dinner. Thanks for the recipe!
Made this for Sunday Supper tonight, very tasty! I did use the idea to add fresh spinach and it was wonderful!
Tastes like crap not a nice source tasted better out of a can
Maybe you just need to stick with Pasta Roni😂
Delicious dish with so many possibilities for tweaking; wines, herbs, dairy, style of meat, and all for a very reasonable price. Great advice!
Another winner! No surprise there. Mushrooms were expensive, so I bought 8 oz. I added a small can of mushrooms ( which I had) and a handful of dried (rehydrated) oyster mushrooms, which I also had. If I had thought of it soon enough, I would have used the mushroom liquid instead of water/chicken base and saved even more money.
My husband and I both really liked this recipe. Grilling the chicken (we used our outdoor grill) really gave the chicken that chargrilled flavor which complimented the cream sauce. I thought the parsley was a bit much (although my husband said he liked it), and will use a 1/4 of the amount next time and will use baby spinach for the majority of the ‘greens’ at the end. Thanks for the recipe, we enjoyed it.
My sister and I LOVE this pasta dish. Since I’m a HUGE fan of leftovers, I used four chicken breasts, chopped them up into bite sized pieces, and sauteed them in a skillet. Also, I used Moscato wine, since it’s sweet and refreshing (I did drink a glass while I was cooking the pasta).I will definitely make this recipe again, but next time, I would like to use Italian parsley instead. Thank you so much for the awesome recipe, Beth. :-)
This recipe was SO GOOD! I’m definitely going to make it again. I used Mosato D’asti White Wine (bc its my favorite white wine) My husband and I love it! Filled us up on our first bowl, but HAD to go back for seconds from how great it was!
I think for next time, the only thing I will do differently is make more “sauce” because I felt the noodle:sauce ration was a little off for my particular preference (although it was delicious the way it was!) :)
Also, I omitted the parsley because I’m not crazy about this herb/spice :)
It is a basic cream sauce made more complicated. Too much wine flavor for my taste buds, it left it very tart tasting. Cream sauces should be rich not tart.
Also, the sauce is very thin. If anyone is to try this and wants a decent sauce that will be less soupy, add an extra tablespoon of flour. Also, using the olive oil for the onions/mushrooms left out a lot of the richness of a cream sauce. Use butter instead.
That’s exactly what I did. I used Moscato wine to make the sauce, and was a little heavy handed with the half-and-half. :-)
What kind of pasta would you recommend, Beth, besides penne? Thanks!! :-)
I also like bow tie for creamy sauces. Not sure why, but I just do! :)
You could try either bow-tie (farfalle) or spirals (rotini)
Wondeeful the pictures of the step by step helped a lot and I loved it as did my date. (My 2yr old son) I did give him cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan. He can be picky :)
Awesome. I didn’t add enough flour so mine didn’t thicken enough but I ended up adding a ton of Parmesan in the end. The chicken stock and thyme give it great flavor. I also wilted in some fresh baby spinach. Spinach or parsley gives it a nice fresh color too!
This recipe is yummy! We actually used leftover marinated Greek chicken (another great BudgetBytes recipe) that we grilled the other day. That made this recipe a realy Budget Byte!! :-)
Great recipe! I made a mistake of adding two cups of half and half instead of 1/2 cup. Haha. If any else made that mistake it’s an easy fix. 1. Add an entire bag of fresh spinach 2. Double the pasta 3. Add a few handfuls of mozzarella. Let the sauce simmer for 5mins to thicken up…annnd you have some sort of adult macaroni and cheese. My husband loved it. :)
This was great! I cooked the chicken first then cooked everything else in the same pan to deepen the flavor a bit. It made the sauce darker. I’m liking those thighs though and might use them next time.
Made a couple of substitutions and didn’t turn out as flavorful as I would have hoped; always that chance when you make changes. I subbed frozen spinach for the parsley and leftover chicken from the slow cooker chicken recipe on here. My sauce didn’t look quite as thick as in the pictures, and I think it would have benefited from more salt.
so why are you giving it 2 stars if you didn’t make it as the recipe indicated and not turning out well with your variations? It’s a misleading review since you didn’t follow the recipe yet gave it 2 stars due to your blunders.
Delicious, just make sure to cook the flower enough.
Holy moly, this came out perfectly and was delicious!!! This wasn’t the first Budget Bytes recipe I’ve tried but it’s easily the best so far and will become a regular dish of mine. Thank you Beth for this site! You put so much effort into these recipes and it shows.
Made this tonight and my boyfriend loved it! I only used 1/2 the amount of mushrooms, which would explain why my sauce wasn’t as think as I expected so don’t skimp on the veggies!
Ashlee – Yep! That’ll work.
Instead of the chicken base + water, could I use 1 cup of chicken broth I have left over from another recipe?
Monse – Yep, that should work just fine. :)
Can I use heavy cream insted of half and half??
I’m a beginner at cooking and made this tonight with great results!! Directions were easy to follow and pricing seemed on target. Cannot wait to make more of your stuff. Thank you!!
Half & half is like cream. In stores (American grocery stores) you generally find heavy cream, half & half, and then milk. So, it’s between milk and heavy cream.
What is half & half?
made this tonight and added some asparagus heads with the mushrooms. It is fabulous!
I make this recipe at least once a month and it always impresses me! I pretty much cook as you indicate but I find that there needs to be more sauce so I tend to add more of the liquids than the recipe calls for. I just had this tonight and on a whim I added some crumbled bacon on top…yum! Love it!
This definitely surpassed my expectations. We don’t each much meat, so left off the chicken and bullion. Portabellas were on “super-sale” this week(cheaper than white mushrooms!), so we just used those and left off the “topper.”
wow, this looks amazing! how did you get such nice grill marks with your foreman grill? I’ve tried but haven’t been able to accomplish it.
No, you don’t have to use wine but don’t use wine vinegar in its place… the flavors are just way too different. Instead, replace the wine with more of the chicken broth (chicken base + water). Vinegar will make the dish extremely sour.
Can I use white wine vinegar or do I have to buy the wine? I’m not a wine drinker so I don’t want it to go to waste.
What wine do you recommend?
just made this – very easy! i skipped the chicken, as i’m vegetarian… i tried some ‘vegetarian chicken’ i picked up at global foods… it doesn’t taste what i think i remember chicken tasting like – so i skipped it all together. also skipped the parsley- swapped it out for chopped spinach. oh and i used vegetarian chicken bullion to make the broth. the thyme was a bit overbearing in taste, but good overall. i may have to play with this to fit my tastes. thanks so much for sharing!
I just made this and it’s delicious!I’m a vegetarian so instead of chicken breast I used quorn fake chicken and instead of chicken base just vegetable bouillon. To cut the cost I used more broth instead of the wine and frozen spinach instead of the parsley. It turned out great and I’ll definitely make it again.
Just added this to my grocery list for next week – can’t wait to try it out!
This looks so delicious! I’ve always been fearful of making cream sauces but this one looks straightforward and delicious. It’s going on my recipe queue!
Made this last night with artichoke hearts instead of mushrooms – YUM! It also worked well over brown rice.
This looks delicious. I’m going to use bow tie pasta instead, still have a box left and I didn’t know what to do with them besides using tomato sauce. So happy I found your blog through foodgawker.com I love the step by step pics and price break down.
It’s amazing. Eating it w/some grilled asparagus. Delicious.
Nope, just try to add the same amount of broccoli as there were mushrooms so that you’ll have enough sauce. One head of broccoli should be about the same amount as the mushrooms that I used.
If I skip out on the mushrooms do I need to decrease the amounts for other ingredients? Say I add in broccoli or something else instead..
Oh, this looks really good! I think I might try it using some white grape juice–I like preserving the grape-y flavour without the alcohol-y one.