This Chicken Spinach and Bacon Alfredo Pasta uses half the butter and half the Parmesan of a classic recipe, and the sauce still comes out glossy and clings to every piece of penne. Crispy bacon, golden chicken, and wilted spinach round it out in one skillet, ready in about 30 minutes.
🍝 Chicken Spinach and Bacon Alfredo Pasta
⏱️ Prep Time: 10 minutes
🔥 Cook Time: 20 minutes
🍽️ Serves: 4-6
💰 Cost: about $14 total (roughly $2.50 per serving)
👩🍳 Skill Level: Easy - one skillet, no special equipment
📦 Equipment: Large deep skillet, baking sheet, large pot for pasta
Love creamy chicken pasta and bacon combo? This Creamy Chicken Penne with Bacon & Spinach (30-Min Dinner) is another fabulous choice that is creamier and more indulgent.
Why you'll love this recipe
Alfredo sauce is typically loaded with butter, heavy cream and more butter. But not this recipe. I found that using the entire stick of butter in one recipe is not always the best way to make it taste good.
Alfredo can be successfully made using only fraction of butter and we don't have to go overboard on Parmesan either! Basically, moderation is the key. But you know what? You can have something as indulgent as Alfredo sauce without all the extra calories and fat! I will show you how to do it.
🥘 What's Actually in It
- Chicken: Boneless, skinless breasts - go for the thicker ones. Thin breasts dry out fast in a hot skillet; thick ones stay juicy through the sear.
- Bacon: Baked, not fried on the stovetop. Fifteen minutes at 400°F on a foil-lined sheet gets every strip evenly crisp without you standing over a spitting pan.
- Penne: Holds sauce in its ridges better than a smooth noodle. Salt the pasta water generously - a couple of tablespoons, not a pinch - and stir it a few times so nothing clumps.
- Butter and Parmesan: Used in smaller amounts than a classic Alfredo calls for. The sauce still turns creamy and coats every piece of pasta; it's just not doing it with excess.
👩🍳 How I Put It Together
Bacon first. Bake it while everything else comes together - crumble once it's cool enough to handle.
Sear the chicken. Pat it dry, then brown in olive oil over medium-high heat, 3-4 minutes per side. Slice into strips once it's cooked through.
Wilt the spinach. Garlic goes in until fragrant, then spinach - about 2 minutes and it's done.
Build the sauce. Heavy cream to a boil, paprika stirred in, then Parmesan added slowly over a simmer until it melts smooth.
Bring it together. Chicken and bacon go into the sauce, then the drained pasta. Toss until every strand is coated, and it's ready.
Chicken Spinach and Bacon Alfredo Pasta
Ingredients
Main Ingredients:
- 6 bacon strips
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 pound chicken (boneless and skinless)
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning more, if desired
- salt
Alfredo Sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 garlic cloves (chopped)
- 10 oz. package of fresh spinach
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- salt and pepper
- 1.5 cup Parmesan cheese (grated) (more for garnish)
Pasta:
- 8 oz. penne pasta
Instructions
Cook bacon
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Arrange bacon strips and bake for 15 minutes.
- Transfer cooked bacon to a paper towel-lined platter that will absorb extra grease. Crumble the bacon once it's cool enough.
Cook chicken
- Paper towel dry chicken breasts, season with Italian seasoning and salt and set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of butter to a preheated large deep 12 inch skillet.
- Add chicken breasts and cook on each side on medium high heat 3-4 minutes until nicely browned (for a total of 6-8 minutes).
- If chicken is still pink in the center, reduce heat to medium and cook covered for several minutes until no longer pink in the center.
- Remove chicken from the pan and cut it into strips.
Cook garlic and spinach
- Add 2 more tablespoons of butter to the skillet, add chopped garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes until browned and fragrant.
- Next add fresh spinach and cook until it wilts, about 2 more minutes.
Make Alfredo sauce
- Add heavy cream and bring the mixture to a boil. Add paprika, salt and pepper; and reduce to simmer.
- Slowly add Parmesan cheese - until the cheese melts and makes the sauce thicker. Add more cheese to reach desired thickness.
Cook pasta
- Bbring a large pot of water to boil, add pasta and cook it according to instructions. Drain the pasta, but do not rinse.
Combine everything
- Add chicken strips and crumbled bacon to the sauce. Taste the sauce and season with more salt and pepper if necessary.
- Next, add pasta and stir until pasta is fully coated in sauce.
Serve
- Sprinkle with additional grated Parmesan.
Recipe Tips
Watch for added-water chicken. Some packaged chicken breasts are injected with a water/sodium solution. If yours is, drain any liquid released during cooking before slicing - otherwise the sauce turns thin and you'll need extra cheese or flour just to compensate.
The butter is split for a reason. Two tablespoons sear the chicken, two more toast the garlic and spinach. Using it in stages builds more flavor into the pan than dumping it all in at once.
Paprika does more than color the sauce. It's added at the simmer stage, right before the Parmesan goes in, so it blooms in the fat instead of just dusting the top.
Don't rinse the pasta. The starchy residue on the noodles is part of what helps the sauce grip the penne once everything's combined.
Taste before you salt again. Parmesan and bacon both carry sodium, so check the sauce after the cheese melts in and before you reach for the salt a second time.
Garnish Parmesan is separate from sauce Parmesan. The extra cheese sprinkled at the end is for texture and presentation, not for thickening - don't count it toward the sauce measurement.
🌿 Lighter Swaps If You Want Them
- Swap heavy cream for half-and-half, or split the difference with half whole milk, half cream
- Cut the Parmesan from ½ cup to ¼ cup and add a tablespoon of flour to keep the sauce thick
- Trade the bacon for browned shallots - they carry enough flavor on their own that you won't be reaching for a substitute
🌾 Making It Gluten-Free
Swap the penne for red lentil or brown rice penne - both hold up fine in this sauce.
Linda Pasini says
Made this tonight and I know my husband will be asking me to make it again! It was heavenly! I did do a few things a little different. I cooked the bacon in my deep skillet and left half of the bacon grease in it for the chicken. Everything else was the same. Easy to make and even easier to eat. Thanks so much!
Olya says
Thank you Linda for your kind words! Easy is the best!
Gail says
Made this recipe tonight for drop in company, delicious, wouldn’t change a thing. Will be my new go to dinner yummy.
Olya says
You made perfect dinner!