Spicy Chicken Rigatoni

Spicy Chicken Rigatoni is hands down one of my top 5 favorite pasta dishes! It has large pieces of tender chicken, perfectly cooked noodles, and a lot of heat (in a good way). Should I go on? There is as little or as much garlic as you would like, alfredo sauce, marinara sauce, and butter…. yes, butter…. for a wonderfully creamy sauce.

This dish is so simple to make and tastes amazing. You’ll think you’re eating at a fancy Italian restaurant. Perfetto!

The recipe can be found here.

In a large skillet or deep pot, heat oil over medium heat. You want the skillet or pot to be large enough to fit the sauce and noodles so you can toss everything together at the end.

Add the crushed red pepper, salt, black pepper, and garlic. Sauté just long enough for the garlic to caramelize and red pepper to release flavor into the oil. This is where I add additional garlic (because we love garlic in our household) and additional red pepper flakes (because we also love heat in our household).

Add the sliced thicken to the skillet and stir to coat, then cook to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

While the chicken is cooking, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain the pasta and set aside.

Add the marinara sauce and alfredo sauce to the skillet and stir to combine. Bring the sauce to a simmer and continue to simmer until slightly thickened.

Next, add the butter and stir to melt and incorporate in the sauce.

Add the cooked noodles to the skillet with the chicken and sauce. Stir to coat the noodles. Continue to heat for a few minutes and let the flavors blend together.

Serve warm with fresh parsley sprinkled on top. I also like to sprinkle grated parmesan cheese on top (if you add too many red pepper flakes at the beginning you might need the parmesan cheese to help cut the heat). Bon Appétit!