Chicken and Bacon Pasta with Spinach and Tomatoes in Garlic Cream Sauce -  an Italian-inspired dish with lots of vegetables!  Sliced chicken breast and bacon are tossed with veggies and penne pasta in a delicious, creamy, homemade Alfredo sauce made with Parmesan cheese.

Craving an easy-to-make comfort food that a whole family will love?  Then, make this chicken and bacon pasta! Cream sauce absorbs the wonderful flavors from the ingredients in the recipe, and with every single bite, you get all the goodness and all the flavors!  This is one of the best chicken pasta recipes you'll ever try!

Cooking Tips:

• Use thinly-sliced skinless, boneless chicken breasts or chicken tenderloin meat.  Either cut of meat will work.
• Use shredded Parmesan cheese. Do not use grated Parmesan cheese, use the shredded kind. What I usually do is buy a block of Parmesan cheese and shred it myself.  Freshly shredding the cheese results in the best sauce texture. You can, however, use store-bought pre-shredded Parmesan cheese.  Just do not use the grated kind.
• You can use cooked spinach, frozen spinach, or fresh spinach. All will work.
• Make this chicken pasta gluten-free. All you need to do is use gluten-free brown-rice penne pasta instead of regular penne. You can also use gluten-free quinoa pasta or lentil pasta.

What is half-and-half?

• You can use either heavy cream or half-and-half in this recipe.
• Half-and-half is the US milk product that combines ½ whole milk + ½ heavy cream or whipping cream to form a lighter cream (unlike heavy cream).
• Substitute ½ cup of milk + ½ cup of heavy cream for 1 cup of half-and-half.
• If you live in the UK, half and half would be the equivalent of single cream. Alternatively, you can mix half double cream and half regular milk (if you live in the UK).

How to cook pasta al dente

• To cook pasta al dente (which literally means "to the tooth" or firm to bite), cook pasta about 2 minutes less than indicated on the package instructions.

Do you rinse pasta?

• If using gluten-free pasta, rinse it with cold water after cooking to prevent it from getting mushy.
• If using regular, wheat pasta, do not rinse it with cold water. Rinsing pasta with cold water removes the starch which helps absorb the sauce.

How to store and reheat leftover chicken pasta:

• You can store this chicken pasta refrigerated in an air-tight container for up to 4 days.
• Reheat the pasta gently on the stovetop on medium-low heat, without simmering.
• Or microwave for 1 minute, checking for doneness every 30 seconds. Make sure the sauce does not overheat and separate.
• Keep in mind that reheating the cream sauce on high heat will cause the cream to separate.
• I do not recommend freezing this dish. If you freeze it, the creamy sauce might not have the same texture when you reheat it. It might separate.

Let's be honest.  Chicken pasta recipes can get boring and repetitive.   Not in this recipe! Here, you sear the chicken (with spices), then mix it with vegetables, bacon, and coat it in garlic cream sauce. So good!   This chicken and bacon pasta recipe is so easy to make and uses such basic ingredients, that you can easily make it on a regular busy weeknight!

Deliciously creamy homemade alfredo sauce perfectly combines all the flavors in this chicken and bacon pasta: garlic, spinach, tomatoes, and lots of spices!  So tasty, you might want to double the recipe!

How to make chicken pasta

1) In a large skillet, on high heat, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil until hot. Add skinless, boneless chicken breasts (or tenderloins) and cook on one side on medium-high heat for about 4 minutes.

2) While the chicken cooks sprinkle the uncooked sides of the chicken with paprika and Italian seasoning.

3) Flip the chicken over, and cook on the other side for 3 minutes on medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low-medium, flip the chicken over again and cook, covered, for several more minutes until no longer pink in the center. Remove the chicken from the pan and keep the chicken warm.

4) To the same pan (but without chicken), add heavy cream and bring to boil. Add shredded Parmesan cheese. Reduce to simmer (low-medium heat) and stir, while simmering, until the cheese melts and the sauce is creamy, for about 1 or 3 minutes.

5) To the same pan with the creamy sauce, add chopped tomatoes, spinach, garlic, crushed red pepper. Stir in the sauce on medium heat just until the spinach starts to wilt and sinks into the sauce. Add ⅓ of the cooked chicken (sliced into small strips) and half the bacon (already cooked and drained of fat). Mix everything.

6) In the meantime, bring a large pan of water to boil. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain.

7)  Add cooked pasta to the skillet with the sauce.

8) When ready to serve, top the pasta with the remaining half of bacon (already cooked and drained of fat) and the remaining ⅔ of the cooked chicken (sliced into thin strips).

9) Sprinkle the pasta with finely shredded Parmesan cheese.