Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pasta - Tender pieces of chicken breast with mushrooms and pasta all in a lighter creamy sauce.
You know how it is, you really crave a bowl of creamy flavoursome pasta, but tend to avoid it on Slimming World because anything with the word creamy in the title, tends to be high in syns.
However with a couple of Slimming World friendly ingredients it is really easy to create you favourite creamy style dishes and one of my favourites in this Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pasta.
I have to admit I love chicken and I love mushrooms. I already have this amazing dairy free Creamy Chicken and Mushroom which is delicious with this Roasted Cauliflower Rice and some greens of choice.
But for those of you that are not dairy free and want the pasta, then this is the dish for you.
Did you know you can saute mushrooms and pack them with flavour without having to add lots of oil or butter which is high in syns. A neat little trick I have been using for years now, is to gradually brown the mushrooms with some stock. As it reduces down you can keep on adding more, and the result is beautiful golden mushrooms that taste like they have been sautéed in butter. I use this method for saute many vegetables now, from onions, to green beans, even the a onion, carrot and celery mix which is the base for many of sauces and dishes.
To get the creaminess into the dish I use low fat cream cheese, adding this in with some stock until it reduces down into a lovely velvety creamy sauce is perfect. I use a similar method in this Steak with Creamy Peppercorn Sauce. So I figured it would be perfect for pasta. If you want to make this syn free, swap out the cream cheese for something like laughing cow light triangles, of which you can have 5 as a healthy extra A choice.
Reserving some of the liquid from the cooked pasta and adding it into the sauce, is another great trick for pasta type dishes, the starch from the pasta water, really helps the sauce, not appear thin and watery. I do this even with tomato based sauces.
For this Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pasta, I find chicken breast works best rather than thigh meat. Hey this even tastes amazing with no chicken and all and just served as a mushroom pasta dish.
My kids love this, and devour a bowl with no complaints. A little grated parmesan added to the top if you have some extra syns spare takes it to a whole other level.
For some speed foods, serve with a mixed green salad.
You can also make this Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pasta gluten free, but using a gluten free pasta and stock of choice, my preference is brown rice pasta, as I find it to be the closest in taste and texture to regular pasta.
All in all and delicious pasta dish for the whole family, and one that is super easy to make too.
More Recipes to try
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- Asian Chicken Meatballs
- Slow Cooked Chicken
- Chicken, Zucchini, Parmesan and Quinoa Bake
- Bacon and Cheese Tortilla Espanola
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or head on over to my Full Recipe Index with over 900 delicious Slimming World and Weight Watchers friendly recipes all fully searchable by meal type, ingredients, syn value and smart points etc
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Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pasta
Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pasta - Tender pieces of chicken breast with mushrooms and pasta all in a lighter creamy sauce.
Ingredients
- 3 x chicken breast (approx 510g/17.5oz) , sliced in to tenders
- 300g (10.5oz) of mushrooms, sliced thinly
- 320g (11.28oz) of Penne pasta (or other pasta of choice)
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2.5 cups of chicken stock
- 8 tbs of low fat cream cheese (8 syns)
- salt and black pepper
- spray oil
- handful of fresh chopped Italian parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
- Cook pasta to al dente, reserve two ladles of the pasta water and then drain and set aside.
- Spray a frying pan with some spray oil
- Add the chicken pieces and fry until lightly golden on both sides. Remove and set aside.
- Spray with a little more spray oil
- Add the shallot, garlic and mushrooms and fry for 2 minutes.
- Pour in a little stock and reduce down, keep repeating with a little stock, until the mushrooms are lovely and golden.
- Whisk the cream cheese into the remain stock and reserved pasta water
- Add to the pan with the mushrooms and bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered until the sauce reduces down and starts to thicken slightly.
- Add in the pasta and chicken and continue to simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened.
- Stir through the parsley.
- Season well with salt and black pepper
- Serve and enjoy
Notes
This recipe is gluten free, Slimming World and Weight Watchers friendly
- Slimming World - 2 syns per serving
- WW Smart Points - 10 per serving
- Gluten Free - use a gluten free pasta and stock
- Syn Free Version: want to make this syn free? use laughing cow light triangles instead of cream cheese.
NOTE: Low fat cream cheese can vary in syns, so be sure to double check the syn value of the one you use.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1 servingAmount Per Serving Calories 508Total Fat 5.8gSaturated Fat 0.8gCholesterol 83mgSodium 373mgCarbohydrates 61gFiber 1.1gSugar 3.5gProtein 51.4g
I am so excited to try these recipes. I have wrote down a bunch and bookmarked your page just incase I lose the pages!! It all looks so good.
This is such a delicious recipe. Thank you
Hello, would you mind telling me how many ml is in a cup? Many thanks - Sarah
Hi Sarah - 1 cup is 240ml 🙂
Love seeing all your recipes, must try the chicken & mushroom pasta, instead of using creamy cheese, could you use plain quark, which is syn free.
Many thanks
Can you freeze the chicken and mushroom pasta ?
Hi Alison, it is best eaten on the day of cooking, but all ingredients are fine to be frozen.
Hi there this sounds great apart from the cream cheese is there an alternative.
Thanks
Julie
You could use creme fraiche, cream, even coconut milk perhaps, but syns would need to be adjusted.
Its nice but was abit too watery. I did follow all the measurements as well
Hi Vanessa, glad you enjoyed it. It shouldn’t be watery. It sounds like you perhaps didn’t allow the sauce to simmer for long enough. As the sauce reduces down with the starch from the pasta water, it will become a light creamy sauce.
I left it about 15 minutes
I made this last night and absolutley loved it x
Hi Katrina - so glad you enjoyed it
I’ve used quark in mine and it’s separating... should I have used quark??
the recipe states low-fat cream cheese, which is Philadelphia or a similar brand. Quark is more sour tasting and has a tendency to split when added to dishes like this. So is not recommended.
Hi sorry is it 8 teaspoons of cream cheese or table spoons? Sounds lovely. I have also made sauces using the pasta water and it works brilliantly.
This was lovely and super quick. I used Philadelphia extra light and the sauce was really creamy, def worth the syns. I might add some trimmed smoked bacon next time. Daughter loved it! Thanks x
it’s 8 tablespoons. Enjoy!!
This was super-tasty! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.
Tried this recipe with Philadelphia Light as my Healthy Extra, was a lovely dish. Really, really yummy.
thank you Lisa, so happy you enjoyed it.
Loving your recipes! Do you think this recipe would work using rice rather than pasta? I'm not a big pasta lover. Thank you
I am sure it would, enjoy!!
Made it and loved it. Turned out perfect. This recipe is definately a keeper
Hi could you make this in the instant pot or a pressure cooker
Hi Patricia, I am sure you could, but haven't tested it by that method yet.
Made it today, superb, thank you.
Hi, just wondering how many stock cubes should I use?
It will depend on the brand you use. If you check the packaging it will tell you how many you need for how many mls. Hope that helps