I use to frequently shop in the frozen food section. When I moved out of my parents house and even when Thomas and I first got married, I loved to stock our freezer with “microwave and eat” meals. There was one in particular that I loved (and still love) that I would always grab and toss into the buggie.
Cheesy Chicken Pasta was a skillet meal that you literally just poured into a skillet, heated and enjoyed. We actually had it the other night and while I was stirring our dinner I thought, ‘Self, you could totally make this from scratch.”
So that’s what I did. I made my own version of the Cheesy Chicken Pasta.
But guess what mine’s got that the bagged kind doesn’t have….
That’s right! Andouille sausage!
My mom actually gave me the idea for that one! She makes the bagged cheesy chicken and started adding cut up Andouille sausages to it! She brought some to work a while back and I fell in love with the Andouille sausage addition.
When it came time for me to make my homemade version of the Cheesy Chicken Pasta, I knew that I wanted to add in the Andouille sausage.
It totally makes a difference, well in my opinion it does. 🙂
I know that no one is interested in heating up their house with the oven right now, so y’all will be happy to know that this entire dish is made on the stove top.
Cheesy Chicken & Sausage Pasta
- Serves: 8
- Yield: 8-10 servings
Ingredients
- 16 ounces Radiatori Pasta (or any type of mall swirl pasta)
- 1 pound Colby Jack cheese, grated
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons Pike's Peak Butchers Rub* (or your favorite blend of spices)
- 1 (12 oz) bag frozen broccoli pieces
- 1 (10 oz) bag frozen mixed vegetables
- 2 Andouille sausages, about 15 oz
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breast
- Salt (for pasta water)
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add pasta. Cook pasta for about 12 minutes or until done. Drain and set aside.
- While the pasta is cooking, dice the chicken into bite size pieces and add it to a large skillet. Cook over medium heat until done. Chicken should be white when completely cooked.
- Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.
- Slice the Andouille sausages in to semi thin disks and add them to the skillet. Cook for 1-2 minutes, tossing occasionally, until sightly browned.
- Add in the seasoning, frozen mixed vegetables and frozen broccoli pieces. Place lid on the skillet and cook for about 15 minutes on medium-high heat, stirring occasional, until vegetables are hot.
- In the empty pot you used for the pasta, melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Add in the flour and cook over medium heat while whisking until the mixture is light brown.
- Add in the heavy cream and whisk until smooth. Add in the milk and whisk. Let the milk heat and right before it starts simmer, add in the cheese and whisk until the cheesy is melted.
- Whisk in 1 teaspoon dry mustard.
- Pour the cheesy sauce into the skillet with the vegetables, add in the chicken and stir until the cheese covers everything.
- Serve hot/warm.
- If you need to reheat this later, add a splash of milk before reheating.
- Pike's Peak Butchers Rub is a mix of black pepper, sea salt, white pepper, red bell pepper, garlic, minced green onion and parsley.
This recipe makes a ton and we were happy to freeze some and have some for left overs! However if you don’t want to make this much you may want to cut the recipe in half.But I say, if you’re going to go through making it you might as well make the whole amount.
Save the left overs for another day or hey, pack them up and send them over to a friend!
Sounds good! But what is andouille sausage?
Hey! Andouille is a smoked pork sausage.
Creamy pasta is always a winner in our house! I need to jazz it up too and use sausage more!
Yum…pure comfort food here! And I bet it’s so much better made from scratch!
I love your sausage addition!! Great recipe.
I agree, the andouille sausage is the perfect addition!
I just had a total flashback when I opened up this post, because I practically lived on those frozen skillet pastas when I was first living on my own… it’s been years since I last had one, though. I try to stick with from-scratch meals as much as I can nowadays, so I’m totally thrilled to see this homemade version. The addition of andouille is totally genius, too.
There is not a single thing I don’t love about this recipe – the ingredients, the ease, the flavor. This is going on my must-make list VERY soon!
You can’t beat the flavor of andouille sausage, and I’ll bet your homemade version of this pasta blows the packaged stuff out of the water!
MMMmmm, looks so good. I love chicken, I wouldn’t want to stop eating!!!
You use 2 andouille sausages that are 15oz each?
Is that correct?
2 andouille sausages, for a total of about 15 oz worth of sausage for the recipe unless you want more 🙂
Where in the recipe do you add the rub? With the flour and butter??
You add it with the vegetables 🙂
WOW, this is absolutely wonderful. I was looking for something that my 2 small grand daughters and my husband would love. This was perfect. I will make it again. It was so easy and the taste was absolutely perfect. Thanks for the recipe.
I’m so glad that y’all loved it!!