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Chicken Tomato Basil Rigatoni Recipe - super simple weeknight rigatoni pasta meal with chicken, smothered in delicious tomato basil sauce. Quick and easy, ready in 30 minutes.

Chicken Tomato Basil Rigatoni Recipe

Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Italian
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Servings: 4
Author: Edyta
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Ingredients

  • 5 small cloves of garlic , roughly chopped
  • 1 large or two small carrots , roughly chopped
  • 2 cans of Tomato Puree (28 oz each)
  • 1 cup of bail leaves
  • 1/3 cup and 2 tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese
  • 10 oz of Rigatoni Pasta
  • 3 tablespoon of butter (+ extra if you have fresh chicken)
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 cup of cubed cooked chicken or one fresh chicken breast , sliced into little pieces
  • 1 tsp of dried oregano

Instructions

  • Heat up olive in Dutch oven or other deep pot with a lid
  • Add garlic, carrot and oregano and cook for a couple of minutes until caramelized
  • Add 2 cans of tomato pure and cook for a minute
  • Add basil, salt, stir it and cover
  • Let it cook for about 15 minutes on a low heat
  • In the meantime, if you don't have leftover chicken, heat up butter in a skillet
  • Season the sliced chicken with salt and pepper and cook it on each side until golden brown
  • Boil large pot of salty water and cook pasta according to instructions
  • After the sauce was cooking for 15 minutes, add 1/3 cup of grated parmesan, mix it, cover and cook for another 15 minutes
  • Once sauce is cooked, blend it either by using handheld blender or in a standing blender in batches until smooth
  • If using standing blender, place the sauce back into your pot, add butter and let it dissolve
  • Then add cooked chicken
  • Add pasta (reserving one cup of pasta water) and and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoon of parmesan cheese
  • Mix everything well and and sprinkle with some more basil
  • If the sauce is too thick add some pasta water to thin it out

Notes

You can use penne instead of rigatoni
You can cook your pasta for a little less then instructed as it will continue cooking in the sauce
I used leftover chicken from my roasted chicken, but leftover turkey will do well as well.