One-Pot Cajun Chicken Pasta

I usually cook from the hip. I am an intuitive cook. My family LOVED this. They scarfed it down like they hadn't eaten in weeks. I used the penne rigate even though it said not to. The dish turned out perfectly. I didn't time anything. I just cooked the ingredients until they seemed ready to go to the next step. My sauce was thick and tasty. My only other change was to salt and pepper as I went along. I didn't salt at the end.

Add more seasoning to make it more flavorful if you want but I made it for a 4 year old. Added shrimp for a bonus.

Add an extra dash of Cajun seasoning to your serving for added kick.

The sauce is delicious, and the pasta was so flavorful being cooked in it. Would make it again with modifications. The peppers were too mushy. I would saute them and add them later in the cooking process. The chicken was so bland and tough being cooked this way. I would have preferred more browning and maybe adding this later at the end. I only used 3 cups of chicken broth (based on other reviews), and it was still too soupy. I also only used 4 ounces of cream cheese, so perhaps that is why.

This was a great dinner. I would rate it a 7 out of 10. The recipe warns you not to use anything but smooth penne pasta so we broke that rule and have no idea how much it affected the dish. LOL. I would add a little corn starch to thicken up the recipe even though it says it will thicken as it sits. Not sure I really saw that. I think this meal would probably go well on top of rice as well since it is nice and saucy - is that a real word?

I used frozen vegetables, so my sauce was a little runny. I’ll try less broth next time to reduce the liquid.

Recipe was really good. Prep took longer than expected. Added more spice and chorizo to it which I think made the dish nicer. Tomato, cream cheese and spices all worked well together. Definitely will make it again as the whole family loved it.