Today’s Chicken Pasta Primavera takes creamy garlic pasta and veggies and tops it with browned garlic herbed chicken. It’s delish! Creamy pasta dinners are an indulgent treat, aren’t they? So would it surprise you if I told you that you could enjoy a creamy primavera dinner for just 7 Green, 5 Blue, or 5 Purple Points per serving? You can.
What makes this recipe better than what you get in the convenience food frozen section:
Have you ever gotten the bagged dinners from the frozen section? If you have, then you know what happens every time. The vegetables are fine, the pasta is fine, and the chicken…what happened to the chicken? First of all, there is never enough chicken, and the chicken that is there isn’t that good.
So, I asked myself, “What if I made something similar but focused on getting a perfect ratio of chicken, pasta, and veggies?” But I wanted to keep things simple, of course, and I wanted to keep the points per serving down. So let’s talk about what ingredients were used to do just that…
Knorr’s dry Garlic and Herb Sauce Mix
I wanted to keep this recipe super simple. After messing around with lots of different seasoning ideas and “creamy” ingredients, I decided to cut the sauce down to just three ingredients: Knorr’s dry Garlic & Herb Sauce mix, cream of chicken soup, and Parmesan cheese. When you use the garlic and herb seasoning, you really don’t need any other seasonings, and when you use the cream of chicken soup, you really don’t need anything else to make the primavera creamy. It’s super simple, and it tastes great! Let’s talk for a second about how cute the pasta is that this creamy sauce goes on…
Radiatore Pasta
This Chicken Pasta Primavera is a flavorful pasta dish that uses one of my new favorite kinds of pasta: Radiatore pasta. It’s the cutest pasta ever with ruffled edges that want to catch, and hang on to, the creamy sauce. Just looking at this pasta makes you feel all happy inside, doesn’t it?
Of course, it wouldn’t be a WW friendly recipe if all I used was pasta…
California Blend Vegetables
You can bulk up this meal with lots of veggies. Feel free to play around with different kinds of vegetables. I decided to use a California vegetable blend and then added in some corn. A “California vegetable blend” includes broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. Personally, I like to use Bird’s Eye brand because I like their crinkle cut carrots that go great with the radiatore pasta.
Deliciously seasoned and browned chicken
I wanted the chicken to be so flavorful that you could eat it all on its own and love it. To keep the recipe simple, though, I just used some of the ingredients that would be in the sauce and coated the chicken prior to cooking it. By using Parmesan cheese and a garlic and herb mix, the chicken in this recipe was perfectly seasoned and even slightly caramelized when it was cooked in melted butter. It was perfect! So you literally just need three ingredients and some chicken, to make this deliciousness:
Alrighty, so now you know what the key ingredients are to making this recipe work. Let’s get to the recipe:
Here is what you need:
4 ounces Radiatore pasta, uncooked
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 (1.6 ounce) packet dry Knorr’s Garlic & Herb Sauce Mix, divided
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon light butter
1 (10.5 ounce) can fat-free condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen California blend vegetables (a mix of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots)
1 cup frozen corn
Here is what you do:
Cook pasta in water, according to the directions on the package. Drain pasta.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese with 1 tablespoon of the garlic and herb seasoning from the seasoning packet. Coat damp chicken with with the garlic and herb Parmesan mixture.
In a large stir fry skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Carefully place the chicken in the skillet and cook 5-6 minutes on one side. Flip the chicken, cover, and cook for 5-7 more minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked and browned on both sides.
Transfer chicken to a cutting board and cut into bite-sized cubes.
In a medium bowl, combine the soup with the remaining 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and the remaining garlic and herb seasoning from the seasoning packet.
Using the same skillet that was used to cook the chicken, cook the California vegetables and corn for 4-5 minutes. Toss pasta in with the vegetables. Mix in the soup mixture, and toss until well combined.
Top the pasta primavera with the chicken.
Makes 6 servings.
One serving is 1-1/2 cups, or approximately 9 ounces.
One serving is 7 Green, 5 Blue, and 5 Purple Points.
Chicken Pasta Primavera
Ingredients
- 4 ounces Radiatore pasta, uncooked
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- 1 (1.6 ounce) packet dry Knorr's Garlic & Herb Sauce Mix, divided
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon light butter
- 1 (10.5 ounce) can fat-free condensed cream of chicken soup
- 1 (16 ounce) bag frozen California blend vegetables (a mix of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots
- 1 cup frozen corn
Instructions
- Cook pasta in water, according to the directions on the package. Drain pasta.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese with 1 tablespoon of the garlic and herb seasoning from the seasoning packet. Coat damp chicken with with the garlic and herb Parmesan mixture.
- In a large stir fry skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Carefully place the chicken in the skillet and cook 5-6 minutes on one side. Flip the chicken, cover, and cook for 5-7 more minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked and browned on both sides. Transfer chicken to a cutting board and cut into bite-sized cubes.
- In a medium bowl, combine the soup with the remaining 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and the remaining garlic and herb seasoning from the seasoning packet.
- Using the same skillet that was used to cook the chicken, cook the California vegetables and corn for 4-5 minutes. Toss pasta in with the vegetables. Mix in the soup mixture, and toss until well combined.
- Top the pasta primavera with the chicken.
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Andrea says
I can’t find the knorrs garlic and herb seasoning! Is there anything else I can substitute?
Alisha Hughes says
Andrea, I am so sorry it took me so long to get back to you on this. You could use a packet of the Good Season’s brand of garlic and herb seasoning, or you could make your own version using 3 teaspoons dried parsley, 1-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, 1-1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Hope this helps!
Christina Aguero says
How does 4 ounces of pasta make 6 servings at a cup and a half each?