One Pan Chicken BBQ Pasta

A One Pan Chicken BBQ Pasta dinner loaded with bacon, chicken, cheese and a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce all cooked in one pan for easy clean up! Plus it’s ready to eat in less than 30 minutes!

These one-pan meals really do save my life sometimes.  I get so busy with a million things that I often forget to take something out for dinner or even plan to have dinner.  I know, menu-planning is what I need to be doing and I’ve tried that before.  It doesn’t usually work past meal number one!  There are times in our schedule that we just go out to dinner on the spur of the moment (read: I didn’t really want to cook that night).

This Chicken BBQ Pasta dish is perfect for two reasons – the obvious reason, you cook it all in One Pan which saves on time and clean up.  The second reason is that if you forget to thaw the chicken (as I do sometimes), you can easily substitute rotisserie chicken from the deli or pull out some already cooked chicken from your freezer.  We love using the sauces from Sweet Baby Ray’s.  The Sweet and Spicy was delicious in this recipe (you can use any flavor of BBQ sauce you wish) and worked out well since I was in a hurry to get dinner on the table.  Often times I will use leftover chicken and this Sweet Heat BBQ Sauce that I make from scratch.

One Pan Chicken BBQ Pasta

A One Pan Chicken BBQ Pasta dinner loaded with bacon, chicken, cheese and a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce all cooked in one pan for easy clean up! Plus it's ready to eat in less than 30 minutes!

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Author: Lisa Kerhin

Ingredients

• 6 slices bacon reserved 2 slices for garnish if desired
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 cups unsalted chicken stock or chicken broth
• 1 14 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes with garlic
• ½ cup milk
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 12 oz box rotini pasta (I use Ronzoni® Smart Taste® pasta)
• ⅓ - ½ cup Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet and Spicy barbecue sauce use your favorite BBQ sauce
• 1½ cups shredded Cheddar Jack cheese
• chopped green onion and extra bacon crumbles for garnish optional

Instructions

• In a large skillet, cook bacon until it's crisp. Remove from pan and drain all of the grease except for about 1 tablespoon. Chop bacon into large crumbles and set aside.
• Add onion and cook until soft, about 3 - 4 minutes then add the garlic and cook 1 minute.
• Add chicken breast and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper to taste. You just want to brown the chicken, it will continue to cook once you add the other ingredients.
• Add the bacon crumbles, chicken broth, fire-roasted tomatoes, milk, BBQ sauce, red pepper flakes, and pasta and bring back to a boil. Season with additional salt and pepper, if it needs it. Give it all a good stir so that the pasta doesn't stick to the bottom of the skillet.
• Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook for about 15 minutes or until pasta is cooked. Stir every 5 minutes to prevent pasta from burning and sticking to pan.
• Add in cheese and stir to combine, let cook 1 -2 minutes more or until the cheese is melted.
• Top with chopped green onion and the extra bacon crumbles, if desired.

Notes

You can also skip the browning of the chicken step and use already cooked chicken from the grocery store or from your freezer. Just add the already cooked chicken in step four of the instructions.

Additional Resources you may enjoy:

Cheesy Hamburger Pasta (One Pan)
One Skillet Chicken Fajita Pasta
One Skillet Chicken and Broccoli

Enjoy!