Fajita-style chicken and cheese farfalle
- Preparation 25 min
- Cooking 20 min
- Servings 4 to 6
- Freezing Absolutely
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🍝 I love fajitas, I love farfalle, so I mixed the two
One pot, peppers that still snap, well-seasoned chicken and 300 g of Monterey Jack melting into hot milk until every piece of pasta is coated. No tortilla, no leftovers from last night repurposed into something else. I love fajitas. I love farfalle. I figured I would mix the two, and this was built as a pasta dish from the very first try. That is why it stands on its own: fajita flavours, with the creamy texture of a real plate of pasta.
🧀 Milk and cheese do all the work
There is no cream in here, and no cream cheese either. Just one cup of milk and grated Monterey Jack melting together in the pot for three or four minutes, until the sauce turns smooth. It is lighter than most creamy chicken pasta recipes, and you taste the dish instead of tasting the dairy. Keep a ladle of pasta water aside when you drain: if the sauce tightens up at the end, that is what brings it back together.
🥡 It makes lunches, and it freezes
454 g of pasta and 450 g of chicken gives you four to six servings. Six with a salad on the side, four if everyone is hungry. Whatever is left becomes lunch. And this is one of the rare creamy pasta dishes I freeze without thinking twice: the next day the pasta has soaked up part of the sauce, I reheat it in a pan with a quarter cup of milk and it comes right back.
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🧀 Buy the Monterey Jack in a block, always
Get a block and grate it yourself. Pre-shredded cheese is coated with starch so it does not clump in the bag, and that starch ends up in your sauce: it turns grainy instead of staying smooth. 300 g is a lot of cheese to grate, I know. Do it anyway, you can see the difference in the pot.
🌶️ Two and a half tablespoons of smoked paprika is not a typo
That is five times more than the chili powder, and it is on purpose. The dish tastes smoky before it tastes hot. If you want real heat, a pinch of cayenne right at the end does the job.
🥄 Save a ladle of pasta water
One ladle, set aside before you drain. If the sauce tightens up, that is what pulls it back together.
🫑 Peppers, three to four minutes, no more
They have to stay crunchy. It is the only contrast in the plate: next to soft pasta and a cheese sauce, everything else is tender. Overcook the peppers and the whole bowl turns into one texture.
📆 Everything can be prepped the day before
Chop the onion, the garlic, the chicken and the peppers. Grate the cheese. Measure the spices into a small bowl. Store it all in containers in the fridge, and the next evening dinner comes together while the water heats up.
🍳 The next day, a pan and a little milk
The pasta drinks the sauce overnight. That happens with every creamy pasta, and I do not keep sauce on the side to make up for it. I fix it with milk.
A pan, medium heat, a quarter cup of milk, and stir until the sauce loosens up again. Two minutes.
✅ If you like this one, you might like this style of recipe
Tex-mex turning into a pasta dish is not a one-off around here. My legendary Tex Mex pasta salad plays in the same league, cold version. My chicken enchiladas and my beef fajitas with lime and beer marinade stay inside the tortilla, for nights when you feel like eating with your hands. And if it is the creamy side that pulled you in, go see my creamy pasta with ranch chicken, mushrooms and spinach.
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Ingredients
- 454 g farfalle
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- Olive oil
- 450 g chicken breast, diced
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (37.5 ml) smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) cumin
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) chili powder
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup (250 ml) milk
- 2 1/2 cups (300 g) grated Monterey Jack cheese
- 10 fresh chives sprigs, finely chopped
- Salt and pepper from the mill
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Preparation
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta al dente according to the package instructions. Set a ladle of the cooking water aside, then pour into a colander, drain, drizzle with a thin stream of olive oil and mix. Set aside.
- In a large pot heated over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, then drizzle with a good stream of olive oil. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring.
- Add the chicken and spices, drizzle with a stream of olive oil, then season generously with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring.
- Add the bell peppers and mix. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the peppers are cooked but still crunchy.
- Add the milk and cheese and continue cooking for 3 to 4 minutes to melt everything. Season generously with salt and pepper.
- Add the reserved pasta to the pot and mix gently to coat thoroughly with the creamy sauce. Add a splash of the reserved cooking water if the sauce is too thick. Garnish with chives when serving.
One cup of milk and 300 g of grated Monterey Jack, nothing else. No cream, no cream cheese. No starch either. Milk and cheese go into the pot together over medium heat and melt for three to four minutes, until the sauce turns smooth. It is lighter than a cream sauce and it lets the spices come through instead of burying them. If it tightens up at the end, the ladle of pasta water you saved fixes it in thirty seconds.
Penne or rotini both work: what matters is a short pasta with folds where the sauce can grab on. For the protein, beef strips seared quickly replace the chicken without changing anything else. Firm tofu works too, as long as you brown it properly before the spices go in.
Everything can be chopped and measured the day before: onion, garlic, chicken, peppers, grated cheese, spices in a small bowl. The next day all that is left is the cooking. The finished dish keeps three or four days in an airtight container in the fridge, and that is where the lunches come from. The pasta will soak up part of the sauce, which is normal: reheat it in a pan with a quarter cup of milk and it turns creamy again.
Absolutely. In an airtight container, up to three months. Thaw it in the fridge overnight, then reheat in a pan with a drizzle of milk to bring the creaminess back. Skip the microwave on full power: the cheese separates and the sauce turns oily.
A salad on the side and you are done. The dish is rich, four to six servings depending on appetite, and what it needs across from it is something fresh and sharp. A cold pico de gallo does exactly that, and my Mexican bean salad turns dinner into a full meal when you have people over.
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