Skillet Chicken Tomato Sauce with Ricotta and Pasta
This Skillet Chicken Tomato Sauce with Ricotta and Pasta is a delicious and simple one pan meal. Ground chicken is seared to get a browned, flavorful crust. Garlic, broth & tomatoes are added & cooked down into a delightful sauce with a meaty bite from the chicken. Pasta is mixed in, then creamy Ricotta is added. Bellissimo!
Ingredients
- 16 oz Ground Chicken Breast Free Range, No antibiotics used
- 28 oz San Marzano Whole peeled tomatoes
- 1 cup Vegetable Broth or Chicken Broth
- 1 clove Garlic
- ½ teaspoon Salt increase to 1 teaspoon if your broth is unsalted
- 1 teaspoon Fresh Ground Pepper
- 2 teaspoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 8 oz Spaghetti I used gluten free
- 16 oz Ricotta Cheese
- ¾ cup Basil Leaves, loose
Instructions
Prep Ahead
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Mince the garlic Clove. Rough chop the basil leaves - or just leave them whole for garnish at the end.
Cook
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Make the spaghetti to al dente according to package instructions then set aside until you are ready to add to the sauce. NOTE: you do not want to over cook the pasta as it will continue to cook in the sauce.
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Preheat a large skillet on high heat. Add 2 teaspoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil and spread it around the skillet. Add the ground chicken, break it up and make a single layer of meat so that all of it can get a nice brown sear.
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Let the chicken cook on high heat for at least 5 minutes without touching it, but even longer is better so that it gets REALLY BROWNED! Then flip the chicken over breaking it up again so that it doesn't form one large patty and cook the other side for another 5 minutes. You want to make sure that all of the pink is gone and preferably all of the white too so that everything is nice and browned. BROWNED = FLAVOR :)
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Now add the minced garlic and stir to combine and cook for 1 minute.
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Add the Broth and stir to get all of those delicious browned bits off the bottom of the skillet.
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Add the tomatoes and break them up with a spatula. Mix to combine. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. TIP: If you do not have a cover for your skillet, you can use a sheet pan or just aluminum foil.
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Now mix in the spaghetti and mix using tongs so that all of the sauce combines with the pasta.
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Finally, add in some hefty dollops of creamy ricotta cheese. You can add in as much or as little as you want, but I like to scoop out 1-2 dollops per serving.
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Serve and garnish with basil.
Recipe Notes
This recipe is intentionally simply and short on herbs because I really wanted to let the natural sweetness of the tomatoes and the browned flavor from the chicken be the star. The basil at the very end as garnish is a nice fresh burst of flavor. However, feel free to also add basil to the sauce and mix it in before you cover it to simmer.