Ground Chicken Pasta Skillet
There’s nothing better than a meal that comes together in less than 20 min. It’s a quick weeknight godsend.
Also, if you have kids and you’re like me, your’e always looking for meals that the little monkeys will eat (i dont know about your kids but mine is a monkey and i have no regrets saying it). I dont know the number of times i’ve cooked a meal and told myself “MALIK WILL EAT THIS BECAUSE I AM THE MOM AND HE IS THE KID”…. yeah, RIGHT. On most days, Mr. Malik runs the show and you know what Mr. Malik likes to eat? Pasta. Yep, like any kid out there, this little monkey likes pasta. So if i want to get him to eat a bowl of food without a fight, my best bet is to incorporate pasta in some capacity. This dish was literally created for Malik. I wanted him to eat dinner one day when he had very little to eat throughout the day so i went on a mission to make him a pasta dish that was healthy, quick and easy. This ground chicken skillet pasta was born from the desire to not have a fight with my son about his food on that very night.
Here’s why i love this dish.
1) It takes 20 minutes to come together. No joke, I’m serious. 20 min.
2) I ate half of the skillet of pasta before my son could eat it, it was that good
3) You can really add any veggies you like to this dish. I add peas because they’re easy to eat and not too obvious but load it up!
4) The protein is versatile! if you want to use ground turkey, go for it! If you’ve got ground beef on hand, that’ll work as well!
5) The mini pasta shapes make the dish super cute everyone loves mini anything!
Give this recipe a try! Share your comments and some love. If you make this recipe and share it on social media, tag it with the hashtag #hungrilyhomemaderecipe
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 2-3 adult servings
Ingredients:
1. 2 tbsp olive oil
2. 1 small onion, diced
3. 1/2 lb ground chicken
4. 1 tbsp onion powder
5. 1 tbsp garlic powder
6. 1 tbsp paprika
7. 1 tsp curry powder
8. 1 tsp ground black pepper
9. 1 tsp herb de provence or italian seasoning
10. salt to taste
11. 3 heaping tbsp tomato paste
12. 1 1/2 cups mini shell pasta
13. 3/4 cup frozen peas
Method:
1. Place a skillet over the stove and add the oil to heat. Once heated, add the diced onion and saute until transluscent for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add the ground chicken to the skillet and break the ground chicken apart using a wooden spoon. Break apart until the chicken appears to be well minced. Allow to cook through.
3. To the chicken and onion mixture, add all of the spices (onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, curry powder, ground black pepper, herb de Provence or Italian seasoning and the salt to taste). Saute the chicken and onion mixture with the spices and taste for salt. Adjust per your taste.
4. In a separate container, dissolve 3 heaping tbsp tomato paste in 2 cups of warm water and add to the chicken mixture. Mix and allow to simmer for 5 min.
5. While the sauce simmers, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add your 1.5 cups of mini shell pasta. Cook for 5-6 minutes or until al dente. Remove 1 cup of the pasta water and set aside. Strain the rest of the pasta and add it to the skillet with the simmering sauce.
6. Lower the temperature and add the frozen green peas. allow to simmer for an additional 5 min with the pasta and sauce mixture. If the pasta sauce appears too thick and needs to be thinned out, add the remaining pasta sauce you reserved, simmer for a few more minutes and serve once the sauce is at the thickness and consistency you like!
