This easy Chicken Bruschetta Pasta is made with chicken breasts, pasta and a delicious balsamic glaze. All the flavors of bruschetta in one easy recipe!
AN EASY PASTA DINNER IDEA
This is a story all about how I had two kids and… time ran out!
I think we can all agree that before the kiddos arrived, there was always enough time for every.thing. From getting your hair did, to your nightly margarita rituals, and all the in between things that came along. And you got to sleep-in on Sundays. Aaaand there was enough time to do all the cooking and baking in the world!
Since time really is of the essence, I have been meal-helpering for the past two weeks, while trying to adjust to this new back-to-school schedule. But it’s not just back-to-school; it’s back to gymnastics, it’s back to dance, it’s back to soccer… I swear I thought that she would quit at least two of those by now. Wishful thinking, I know.
I feel that dinner is that one meal of the day that we should all try to eat together as a family, and that it should almost never be delivery. Unless it’s Friday, then it’s okay. Or Monday. 😉
BUT our favorite so far is this Chicken Bruschetta Pasta. It is SO!GOOD! My husband wants to have it every night. The guy loves tomatoes and tomato sauce thus this is something that he could live on for the rest of his life.
This is perfect for those lazy days when you don’t have time to brush your hair let alone think about cooking. It also helps with not having to think about what should we have for dinner! That right there is my least favorite thing about cooking dinner.
HOW TO MAKE THIS QUICK PASTA DINNER
Once we got home, I unpacked the bags, threw the Farfalle Pasta in boiling water, chopped up my chicken and cooked it in this delicious Tomato Sauce… honestly, I could’ve spooned this sauce like a soup – it was amazing!
After draining the pasta, I added it to the cooked chicken and topped it with couple of tablespoons of grated parmesan – covered it, and a few minutes later, din din was ready!
Between you and I, hubs had the few bits of leftovers for breakfast.
Take it from someone who cooks almost all meals from scratch – this stuff is GOOD. Really, really good!
ENJOY!
WATCH HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN BRUSCHETTA PASTA
- 1 pound bow tie pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 (4- ounces each) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
- salt and fresh ground pepper , to taste
- 6 roma tomatoes
- 10 fresh basil leaves , cut into thin strips
- 4 tablespoons olive oil , divided
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 4 garlic cloves , minced, divided
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 tablespoon sugar
- Prepare pasta according to the directions on the package.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a nonstick skillet; add cubed chicken and cook for 8 minutes, or until chicken is browned and internal temperature reaches 165F degrees. Set aside.
- Dice tomatoes and save the juices in a small bowl.
- Combine tomatoes, tomato juices, basil, 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, pepper, & half of the minced garlic; set aside. You can also make this ahead of time and refrigerate for 2 hours, covered.
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy bottom saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Add remaining garlic and saute for about 20 seconds, or until soft and tender - do not burn the garlic.
- Increase heat to medium high and stir in previously prepared tomato salad.
- Add tomato sauce to pan and bring to a boil.
- Add prepared pasta to sauce pan and toss around until coated. Set aside.
- In a small pan, bring to a boil vinegar and sugar; reduce heat to a simmer and continue to cook until sauce turns to a thick syrup. Remove from heat and add to prepared pasta.
- Transfer pasta to a platter.
- Arrange prepared chicken breasts on top of pasta.
- Serve.
Recipe Video
WW SmartPoints: 10
Parmesan is a great cheese to top you pasta dishes but everyone uses it. Try experimenting with other Italian cheeses. One that I would suggest is Pecorino Toscano a great sheep’s milk cheese. It is great for grating.
I know this was posted years ago, but I’ve made this recipe several times since I found it, including tonight, and I just LOVE it! It’s so so good!!
Hi! I hope someone can help me, because I just went and bought all the ingredients but I bought balsamic vinaigrette dressing because I’m new to all this so don’t judge me lol. Can i use that to mix with sugar or is there any replacement? Thanks in advance!
This was a really good, fresh tasting dish!! I cooked some baby bella mushrooms with a little dried basil and pepper on the side then added to tomato mixture. I also used a little extra tomato sauce (depends on your preference of the sauce’s consistency) and only 1/3 cup of balsamic.
Hi!! I looove that you used mushrooms! Thanks for the tip – I’ll definitely add those next time I make it. My husband will love it even more! 😀
Katerina –
Is it 4 or 5 tbsp of olive oil? Directions equal out to 5 (1 for chicken, 2 for bruchetta and 2 more cooking the sauce) but ingredient list says 4.
Also, can I use balsamic glaze instead or will it not be the same? I have the one from Trader Joe’s. Says Trader Giotto’s Balsamic Glaze . thank you!!!
Janelle: did you use TJ’s balsamic vinegar glaze? I’m wondering the same thing. THANKS…Shelly
For some reason mine had wayyyyyy too much balsamic, it ruined the dish. Did I read 1/2 cup correctly?
You have to reduce it in a separate sauce pan you should have no more then 1/4cup less is great or you can use some balsamique glaze (that you can purchase at the grocery store)
Hey. I made this tonight. I was feeling sketchy about it because I’m the past, anything I put balsamic vinegar on didn’t turn out good. But this! Delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
Awesome! SO happy you liked it! 😀 Thank you!
Made this last night ; my family loved it
Do people not usually use the juices from the tomatoes in recipes? I can’t even imagine trying to separate them?! LOL Also it bothered me so much that the pasta in the video looks SO much different then the one in the photos! but anywhoo I made this last night and it was so delicious. I definitely changed it up a bit tho. And mine actually did look like the one in the photos! I think I ended up using a cup and half of the pasta sauce (I like my pastas saucy) and I only used half of the balsamic vinegar/sugar and just threw it in the sauce as I cooked the noodles. I also used dried basil because that’s all I had on hand. But otherwise a good recipe that I’ll probably make again!
This will be my second time making this dish. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
How can a recipe with just a few basic ingredients and requiring very little preparation be, in your words, a waste of time and money? In my opinion you are being impolite and disrespectful. Maybe, dare I suggest, you should look at your own possible culinary failings. Just a thought.
My comment was a response to a comment from Amanda. Seems it may have been indicated differently
HI! Thank you for saying what I was thinking! 😉 XO
My mom found this recipe on Pinterest and shared it with me, and I’m so glad she did. Made this dish for dinner this evening and it was delicious! My fiancé, who isn’t a big fan of pasta, went back for a second helping (as did I)!
Some things I did different though:
1. Cooked chicken in the crock pot with chicken broth, salt, pepper, garlic, and basil.
2. I didn’t realize you could make the tomato salad bit ahead of time, so mine was fresh (and it still tasted amazing, FYI).
3. I used a full tablespoon of sugar in my balsamic reduction, but this is just personal preference.
4. I used garlic paste instead of fresh minced garlic. It’s just what I had on hand.
This recipe is fabulous, thank you so much for sharing it!
Very confusing recipe. Need to revise it!
Especially when it comes to the tomatoes, juice, sauce, and all these pans. Took longer then stated. Waste of money and time and it is not the best.
I’m so sorry you didn’t enjoy it, Amanda. 🙁
How can a recipe with just a few basic ingredients and requiring very little preparation be, in your words, a waste of time and money? In my opinion you are being impolite and disrespectful. Maybe, dare I suggest, you should look at your own possible culinary failings. Just a thought.
Did you use tomato sauce or a pasta sauce? From the description above, you mentioned a basic garlic tomato sauce and a finishing sauce. Were these purchased separately? This looks so delicious! Thank you for sharing and I will definitely make this soon!
Hi Heidi! Yes, that would be pasta sauce. I should fix that. 😀
Also, I updated this recipe recently and did not use the sauces mentioned in the post. The original post was written 3 years ago.
I have the most random question – what is the seasoning that’s covering your entire pasta dish? I don’t see any ingredients like that in the recipe??
Hi Katie! That’s dried basil – I didn’t include it in the recipe because basil is already listed, but I only used the dried basil so others can see it more in the photos. I hope that helps. 😀
What if you don’t like tomatoes
I know this is a dumb question, but how much bruschetta are you suppose to use in this recipe, thanks!
This may be dumb, but am I missing something? It looks like there’s a whole bunch of seasoning on this dish, yet only pepper is listed. And what is the tomato sauce that could be eaten with a spoon? Just the tomatoes, garlic, basil and pepper? This looks amazing, so I don’t want to screw it up. 🙂
So making this for dinner and as I was making this I realized I have no balsamic vinagar Can the dish go without it or do you think it will be to watery?! If so what can I use to substitute? I have no vinagar at all
Hi Tyisha! No, it won’t be too watery, but it will definitely have a different taste. The balsamic adds a bit of tang and sweetness to the whole dish, but it should still be really good even with just the tomato sauce.
Made this last night. It was easy and so delicious. My husband isn’t a big pasta fan but he enjoyed this so much he wanted to take the leftovers to work for lunch. He never wants pasta leftovers. Was disappointed because the leftovers are usually mine.
Hi Amelia!! SO happy to hear that you liked the Bruschetta Pasta! Thank YOU!! 😀
Okay so I love finding new recipes, and I always make them as instructed the first time, then make some minor adjustments. However, this one. This one I changed the order of things because it made no sense and there are a lot of adjustments needed. One, you definitely took the pictures BEFORE adding the balsamic glaze, because the finished product was a poopy brown not a nice red. This is definitely not a pretty dish. Secondly, this is not a fast dish! There’s a two hour set time. Third, there’s way too much balsamic vinegar; it made it way to sweet and overpowered the tomato. Fourth , the final product is pictured with parmesan but not is listed. And, bruschetta is with mozzarella. So for next time and for others wanting to make this:
Start the tomato salad first, then once the hour to two hours is up, start on the pasta and chicken
The sauce really needs a whole cup of tomato sauce
Only make half of the balsamic glaze unless you want to be bombarded with sweetness and hate tomatoes
Start the balsamic glaze early if you don’t want to be waiting for it to finish while the rest gets cold.
Add mozzarella to the finished product
Don’t expect it to be pretty like pictured (though halving the glaze may help a little)
Kori, thanks for the additional info. I was just reading this recipe to make for dinner tomorrow night and was surprised to see that she instructs to cook the pasta and chicken before the 2-hour tomato marinade. I will modify this recipe with your suggestions.
Upthread she mentions that this recipe is updated; it seems as though the whole post ought to be rewritten or at least have an edit note put in? I think she used store bought bruschetta and store bought sauce in the original post-which makes sense, because if you pull it from a jar there is no waiting time. Also she marvels at how good it turns out despite her usually cooking everything from scratch. This seems to explain the confusion-at least, I hope it does! I’m in a hurry, so I’m going to have a shot at the original recipe even though the instructions no longer exist!
This looks delish! May be a dumb question, but what do I do with the tomato juice I set aside. Does the go in w the bruschetta mix, or in with the tomato sauce, or do I discard? Can’t wait to make this tonight!
Thanks so much for catching that! I left that little part out of the recipe…ooops! 😀
SO, you’re supposed to combine the juices together with the tomatoes and basil.
I like ur reciepe it look delicious
That looks amazing! I love easy meals!
Thanks!! 😀
Kate, out of all the food bloggers working this project for Kraft, you ROCKED IT best! Fabulous photography and a good representation of the product. The completed dish looks scrumptious!
This is comfort in a plate!!!! If I had not made lamb chops, I’d make this pasta for tonight’s dinner.
I think I just found tonight’s dinner, I love bruschetta!
Hmmm but would this pass the test to an Italian! I will have to try it on the hubby and see what he says!
I’m usually not a fan of these kinds of kits, but this looks so good! So perfect for a busy night!
When you have the kind of demands on your time that you do (it’s great that your daughter is still interested in sports… hopefully it continues even after she discovers BOYS) a little help is nothing to be ashamed of. And it sounds so tasty too. 🙂
I just bought a whole bunch of pasta that was on sale so this recipe is perfect timing!! I hear ya on not having time-the hubs has to babysit so I can get my hair did this week or otherwise forget it!