These Sauteed Chicken Tenders are paired with a garlic tomato sauce and tossed with pasta for a quick weeknight dinner. It is one of my favorite recipe for chicken pasta dishes and is packed with protein and flavor.
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❤️ Why you'll love it
✔️ This easy chicken dinner is one of the best ways to make a quick and easy meal on busy weeknights and leftovers are great the next day.
✔️ It is a healthy meal that is an easy recipe for the beginner cook.
✔️ This is one of the best chicken tender recipes for kids and the whole family will love it.
🥘 Ingredients
Chicken tenderloins: these cook fast and make it easy on weeknights.
Black pepper: to season the chicken when cooking.
Garlic cloves
Fresh parsley, I like to use fresh herbs for fresher flavors, but dried parsley can be used as well.
Diced tomatoes with liquid, don't drain the liquid for this recipe.
Vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
Chicken bouillon cube, intensifies the flavor of the sauce and adds saltiness.
Tomato paste, this adds deeper flavor and aids in thickening the tomato sauce.
Bucatini pasta, this is what I used (I love i!), but you can use any pasta you have in the pantry.
🔪 Instructions
- On a large skillet over medium high heat, heat olive oil until hot. Place chicken tenders in hot oil and season with black pepper.
- In a large pot over high heat, cook the pasta according to package directions. Reserve ½ cup pasta water to make the tomato sauce.
- Cook tenders for 4 minutes on each side, reducing heat to medium heat if needed. Remove chicken pieces from pan and set aside.
- Leave oil from cooking chicken in pan. Add garlic to the oil and stir-fry for one minute.
- Add chopped parsley and stir-fry another 30 seconds. Add diced tomatoes, vegetable broth, water, and chicken bouillon cube.
- Bring tomato sauce to a boil then reduce heat. Place sauteed chicken tenders back in the skillet and simmer covered for 15 minutes.
- Remove cover, remove chicken and set aside.
- Add tomato paste and whisk into the sauce to combine. Simmer tomato sauce uncovered for 5 minutes or until sauce reduces in volume and thickens.
- Return chicken to the sauce along with cooked pasta and toss to coat.
🥄 Equipment
Large skillet
Tongs
🥫Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge up to 4 days.
📖 Variations
- Bread the chicken breast tender in an egg wash and coat with bread crumbs. Fry in the skillet as instructed. Do not return to the skillet, rather make the sauce and then serve the sauce with pasta and crispy chicken strips. Top with fresh grated parmesan.
- Saute ½ onion and red bell pepper, and mushrooms with the garlic to add chunky vegetables to the sauce.
- Substitute chicken thighs, chicken cutlets, for the tenders. If using chicken breast, cut into strips or small pieces to enable quick cooking.
- To add more flavors, season the chicken tenders with onion powder and garlic powder along with the black pepper when sauteeing.
💭 Tips
- Be sure to use a large enough pan, you want a large skillet with tall sides so you can cook the strips and the sauce in the same pan.
- Make your own breast tenders by slicing a chicken breast into strips.
- No need for a meat thermometer for this chicken recipe as the tenders are cooked long enough in the tomato sauce to ensure they are well cooked. However, if you use a larger cut (such as a chicken breast) be sure to check the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
- Reduce fat by using olive oil cooking spray instead of olive oil.
📚 Related Recipes
Cajun Chicken Pasta - a copycat recipe
Thai Peanut Chicken and Noodles
Baked Ziti with Italian Chicken Sausage
🍽 Serve with...
Serve these chicken tenders in tomato sauce with a green salad and side of homemade soft white bread or cheesy garlic bread.
🏫 The last word
I do not season the chicken tenders with salt when cooking due to the use of chicken bouillon. The bouillon adds enough salt to balance the flavors out. If more salt is needed, I recommend it be added to taste by each individual serving.
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📖 Recipe
Sauteed Chicken Tenders in Garlic Tomato Sauce
Equipment
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Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 pounds chicken breast tenders
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- 1 cup diced tomatoes with liquid
- 1½ cup vegetable broth
- ½ cup hot pasta water , reserved from boiling pasta
- 1 chicken boullion cube
- 1½ tablespoon tomato paste
- 12 ounces bucatini pasta
Instructions
- On a large skillet over medium high heat, heat olive oil until hot. Place chicken tenders in hot oil and season with black pepper.
- In a large pot over high heat, cook the pasta according to package directions. Reserve ½ cup pasta water to make the tomato sauce.
- Cook tenders for 4 minutes on each side, reducing heat to medium heat if needed. Remove chicken pieces from pan and set aside.
- Leave oil from cooking chicken in pan. Add garlic to the oil and stir-fry for one minute.
- Add chopped parsley and stir-fry another 30 seconds. Add diced tomatoes, vegetable broth, water, and chicken bouillon cube. Bring tomato sauce to a boil then reduce heat. Place sauteed chicken tenders back in the skillet and simmer covered for 15 minutes.
- Remove cover, remove chicken and set aside. Add tomato paste and whisk into the sauce to combine. Simmer tomato sauce uncovered for 5 minutes or until sauce reduces in volume and thickens.
- Serve chicken and sauce over top of pasta or toss pasta with sauce before serving.
Christine
Hi Shelby, Your Tenders with Buccatini recipe has been selected by Knapkins to be featured in a Recipe Guessing Game. Please share the following link with your friends and fans. To play, go here: http://knapkins.com/guess_games/354?source=blog Congrats again!! 🙂
Ruth Daniels
Looks and sounds delicious. I love buccatini. It brings out the kid in me... slurping through the noodles 😉 Thanks for sharing this one with Presto Pasta Nights this week.
Christine knapkins_com
Hi Shelby, Your Chicken Tenders in Garlic Tomato Sauce with Buccatini recipe has been selected to be featured in a Recipe Guessing Game. Please share the following link with your friends and fans. To play, go here: http://knapkins.com/guess_games/295?source=blog Congrats again!! 🙂
Quirky Jessi
Mmmm, delicious. I've always loved pasta and as an adult, love it even more than I thought I ever would. Something about getting to play around with it more, serve it with various sauces or meats or whatever....it's satisfying it never has to be the same way twice, but it just as yummy if you repeat a standby recipe.
But aaannnyyywwwaaayyy.... I love the large chunks of chicken tenders served on top. Sounds good!
Kathleen
YUM! This looks amazing!
Zesty Cook
Love this recipe concept--it's a combination of two of my favorite foods!
Fallon
That looks so good!! I love buccatini, such a fun noodle!
claudia @whats cookin
I just love your chicken dishes and this one is heavenly... looks like something we will all flip over how can you go wrong... with these flavors its a hit!
Jay
very flavorful n interesting dish...looks fabulous..;)
Tasty Appetite