Tuesday Dinners

Volcano Chicken Pasta

Named for the color and what it does to your nose.

⏲️ Prep Time
15 minutes

⏲️ Cook Time
30 Minutes

🍴 Serves
4

Ingredients

  • 16 ounces of dried pasta
  • 1 onion
  • 4-5 cloves ofgarlic
  • 2-3 Italian peppers
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne
  • 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
  • 10 – 14 ounces crushed tomatoes
  • 1 cup of cooked chicken/1 pound of raw chicken
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/3 cup parmesan cheese

Directions

  1. Cook your pasta in a pot of boiling water, reserving a half cup of the water in a separate container
  2. Drain pasta and set aside, chop an onion and your peppers and dice or grate your garlic
  3. In a pan add your olive oil, cayenne, crushed red pepper, Italian pepper, onion and garlic and cook until onions begin to be translucent
    • If using raw chicken add at this time and wait until chicken is cooked before moving on to next step
  4. Add your crushed tomatoes and let reduce for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally
  5. Add your chicken (if using precooked) and your leftover pasta water, let cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally
  6. Add in your heavy cream and parmesan, stirring until a uniform color and consistency
  7. Add in cooked pasta and stir until combined

Step by Step Directions

Bring a pot of water to a boil and add your pasta. I’m doing a double batch because this is technically meal prep for the week. Make sure you take out your pasta water before dumping it all in the sink, it’s a difficult step to recreate.

I also like to be chopping my other ingredients while the pasta is cooking, kill two birds with one stone.

Chop your onion, dice your garlic and cut up your Italian peppers. I’ve found Calabrian adds a nice color and heat that most people are new to, but your run of the mill spicy peppers work just as well.

In a pan add your olive oil, cayenne and crushed red pepper. If you want you can toast the spices before adding in the other ingredients, or you can throw in all the things you’ve already chopped.

If you’re cooking your chicken from raw feel free to add it now. You’ll want to cook until either your onions are translucent or the chicken is cooked.

Add in your crushed tomatoes. If you prefer diced those can work too, you might just have to cook them for longer. I let the sauce reduce so that the other ingredients are coated and the tomatoes aren’t too watery (about 5-8 minutes).

Now if you’re using cooked chicken add it to the tomatoes now, also you’ll want to add that reserved pasta water from earlier, this will make the dish more starchy and help the sauce to cling to the pasta.

Once everything is incorporated it’s time to add your heavy cream and your parmesan. This will be very reminiscent of a vodka sauce and will turn the sauce a vibrant orange.

Now it’s time to add your pasta back in. You’ll want to mix it all together so that the sauce is coating all the noodles.

At this time feel free to doctor the pasta up any way you would like. Does it need more cheese? More spice? It’s up to you.

I’ve found that this doesn’t taste spicy at all, but if you’re from the Midwest it will make your nose run… like a volcano.

Enjoy.

Variations

  • Use sausage or beef instead of chicken (or go vegetarian)
  • Change up the type of pepper according to your spice tolerance
  • Change up the type of pasta use. I used penne because I was thinking about penne alla vodka, but whatever you use I’m sure it will taste good

Unsolicited Feedback

  • MM: This is really spicy, why couldn’t you just use ketchup?
  • FS: I’ve felt a cold coming on for a week, but now I don’t think there’s anything left up there to sniffle.
  • IP: Why not just make a vodka sauce? It wouldn’t kill you not to make something spicier than it should be.