Chicken Lazone is one of those dishes that feels restaurant-worthy without requiring restaurant-level effort. Tender seasoned chicken, a silky Cajun cream sauce, and pasta make this New Orleans classic feel both comforting and just a little bit special.
Recipe Summary
- ⏱️ Total time: 30 minutes start to finish.
- 🍽️ Equipment needed: One skillet, no extra pots for the sauce
- 🐔 Chicken prep: Seasoned with Cajun spices and seared in butter until browned
- 🌶️ Sauce base: Heavy cream simmered with pan drippings and Cajun seasoning until thickened
- 🧀 Finishing touch: Sauce reduces until it coats the back of a spoon before tossing with pasta
- 📍 Origin story: Inspired by the Chicken Lazone served at Brennan's, a longtime French Quarter restaurant. No reservations needed. This Authentic Cajun Cuisine recipe tastes like a dish you'd pay top dollar for.
- 🌡️ Heat level: Adjustable Cajun spice, milder than a full Louisiana-style blackened dish
If you want a chicken pasta that tastes like it came from a polished New Orleans dining room, Chicken Lazone is the one to make. I love this dish because it delivers big flavor with a simple technique: pan-seared chicken, a creamy spiced sauce, and pasta that catches every last bit of it.
This spicy Chicken Lazone Pasta is proof that restaurant-quality flavor doesn't require a reservation - just 30 minutes and a hot skillet. Rich, boldly seasoned, and impossible to put down, it's the perfect fiery pasta dinner for feeding a crowd, just like the irresistible Chipotle Chicken Pasta that spicy food lovers can't stop making.
What Chicken Lazone actually is
The dish traces back to Brennan's in New Orleans, where executive chef Lazone Randolph put together a Cajun cream sauce simple enough to make on a busy night but flavorful enough to earn his name on the menu. The chef's gone now and the dish came off Brennan's menu at some point, but the recipe stuck around because it works: seared chicken, a spiced cream sauce, pasta that soaks up every drop.
If you like this style of Cajun cooking, I've also got Louisiana Chicken Pasta and Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta on the site, both built on the same Louisiana flavor base.
Ingredients for Chicken Lazone
- Pasta: Linguine is the classic choice, though fettuccine, spaghetti, or penne work well to capture the creamy sauce.
- Chicken tenders: This type of chicken prevails here in terms of taste and texture. Chicken tenders bring up a plethora of flavors in spicy chicken pasta.
- Spices and seasonings: Because chicken tenders are coated in special mix of paprika, creole seasoning and flour mixture and then pan seared in a hot pan - the resulting texture of the spicy chicken is nothing short of amazing!
- Butter and Heavy Cream: The foundation of the sauce that combines richness and silkiness.
- Flour: Used as a thickening agent in the sauce, ensuring perfect coating consistency.
- Fresh Parsley: Adds color and a fresh herbal note as garnish.
How to Make Chicken Lazone
1. Prepare the Seasoning Mixture
Combine sea salt, Creole seasoning, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and flour into a bowl. This blend will coat the chicken and flavor the sauce.
2. Dredge the Chicken
Using a fork or tongs, dredge chicken tenders in the seasoning and flour until evenly coated. Shake off excess.
3. Pan-Sear the Chicken
Heat olive oil and butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken tenders and cook for 4 minutes on each side until golden and cooked through. Remove chicken and keep warm.
4. Make the Creamy Sauce
- Melt butter in the pan and add remaining seasoning mixture into the sauce. This mixture will have all the spices to make your sauce taste wonderful!
- Use flour. If not using remaining mixture, make sure to use 2 tablespoons of flour and add more Creole seasoning, paprika and garlic powder (one teaspoon of each) to bring the flavor in.
- Make sure to cook the flour for 2-3 minutes until flour is no longer raw.
5. Cook the Pasta
Boil linguine in salted water according to package instructions until al dente. Reserve ½ cup pasta water before draining.
6. Combine Pasta and Sauce
Add cooked linguine and reserved pasta water to the sauce; toss gently to coat the pasta fully.
7. Assemble and Serve
Return chicken to the skillet, spooning sauce over the tenders. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve immediately for a restaurant-quality experience.
Chicken Pasta is one of the most versatile dinners you can make - check out The Complete Guide to Pasta Recipes for all the variations.
Brennan's-Style Chicken Lazone
Equipment
- 1 cast iron skillet
- 1 spider strainer
Ingredients
Seasoning Mixture
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoon Creole seasoning (or Cajun seasoning)
- 2 teaspoon paprika powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
Chicken
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 lb chicken tenders
Sauce:
- 4 tablespoon butter
- Remaining seasoning mixture
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon paprika
Pasta
- 8 oz. linguine
- 2 tablespoon parsley chopped
- ½ cup Pasta water (reserve it)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine salt, Creole seasoning, paprika powder, onion powder, garlic powder, and flour. Dredge the chicken in the seasoning mixture and shake off excess. Reserve any leftover spice/flour mix for the sauce.
- Preheat large saute pan, add olive oil and melt butter over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken tenders until done, about 8 minutes (3-4 minutes per each side). Remove from the pan.
- Add 4 tablespoons of butter to the empty skillet and add remaining seasoning mixture into the butter until cook it until flour is no longer raw. Add more paprika and heavy cream into the skillet. Bring to a boiling point.
- Lower heat and simmer 3-4 minutes. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning to your liking.
Pasta
- Boil pasta in salty water, drain, but do not rinse. Reserve ½ cup of pasta water. If you think the sauce needs thinning, add reserved pasta water to the sauce. Add it slow - as much as you would like to have according to your liking.
- Add cooked pasta into the sauce and stir until fully coated. Add chicken into the skillet with pasta to reheat.
- Serve with sauce spooned over chicken and pasta, and sprinkled with chopped parsley.
Video
Why Pasta Water is Your Best Friend
Pasta water is really is a key ingredient to consistency in every sauce. The starch left behind in the water acts as a thickening agent and helps sauces cling to the pasta. That's exactly what makes a good pasta sauce.
Pasta soaks up liquid so quickly so make sure to add enough pasta water to make it quite liquidy. This way when you serve into bowls and take to the table it hasn't dried up.
My recommendation is to never drain my pasta in a colander. Instead always transfer it directly to the sauce using a spider strainer. That way the pasta pot full of water is left there for you to ladle in as you need. Dig deeper: How to Emulsify Pasta Sauce with Pasta Water
Getting the sauce right
- Fresh spices make a real difference here - old paprika tastes flat, and you'll notice
- Keep the heat at medium-low once cream goes in, since high heat is what causes curdling
- If the sauce thickens too fast, pasta water or half-and-half brings it back to the right consistency
- Heavy cream and half-and-half work interchangeably depending on what's in your fridge
Ways to change it up
No cream at all: the dish still works with just broth in place of cream - less rich, but the Cajun spice carries it
Spicier: double down on cayenne or add extra smoked paprika
Milder: drop the cayenne completely, or reach for a mild Creole blend at the store
Richer: stir in 2 ounces of cream cheese instead of finishing with plain cream
Dairy-free: swap in a can of coconut milk and cut the broth to 1 cup so it doesn't thin out
Common Questions
Usually it's heat that's too high, or cream going into a pan that's still screaming hot. Slow the process down: lower the heat, whisk well as the cream goes in, and if you're adding cheese, do it in small additions so each one melts before the next.
I keep the burner at medium and splash in more liquid the moment it looks like it's tightening up. That's really the whole trick - catch it before it turns pasty.
Sure - this sauce is good enough to go over rice, mashed potatoes, or roasted vegetables if pasta's not what you want tonight.
Storing and reheating
Spread leftovers into a thin, flat layer before refrigerating or freezing - it chills faster that way, which keeps the texture better once you reheat it. If you're meal-prepping, portion it onto a sheet pan so everything cools evenly before you split it into containers. When you're ready to eat again, reheat low and slow, and keep extra cream or chicken stock nearby in case the sauce needs loosening back up.
Rounding out the meal
For sides, I like this next to an Olive Garden-style salad or Zesty Brussels Sprout Coleslaw, plus something roasted like honey carrots or Zucchini Carpaccio. A hunk of Dutch Oven Bread or some crostini is perfect for mopping up whatever sauce is left in the bowl.
Ricky Blake says
Delicious pasta recipe! Thank you so much!
Olya Shepard says
Glad you liked it!