Whole wheat pasta with chicken and vegetables

Twenty minutes, 42 g of protein and a sauce that comes together with the pasta water.

20 min
Total time: 20 min
Hands-on: 2 servings
Servings: 610 cal
Per serving: Easy
Difficulty: Skillet
Method

Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture · Public domain

Ingredients

2 servings

Nutrition facts

per serving

610cal

Protein: 42 g28 %
Carbs: 66 g44 %
Fat: 18 g27 %
Fiber: 10 g
Sugarstotal, including the natural sugars in fruit and dairy: 7 g

Approximate values, calculated from food composition tables. They vary with the brands and cuts you use.

Step by step

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Whole wheat pasta with chicken and vegetables

Twenty minutes, 42 g of protein and a sauce that comes together with the pasta water.

1Step 1 of 6

Start cooking the pasta

Plenty of salted water (about 2 teaspoons per quart). Cook the pasta one minute less than the package says: it will finish cooking in the skillet.

Tip: The water should taste salty. It's the only chance the pasta has to take on salt from the inside.

2Step 2 of 6

Brown the chicken

While it cooks, season the chicken strips and brown them over high heat in the skillet with a tablespoon of oil, 4 minutes without moving them much. Transfer to a plate.

Tip: If you keep moving the chicken it releases water and steams instead of browning. Leave it alone so it gets a crust.

04:004 min · Brown the chicken

3Step 3 of 6

Sauté the vegetables

In the same skillet, cook the chopped garlic for 30 seconds, the zucchini half-moons for 4 minutes and the halved cherry tomatoes for 2 more, until they start to burst.

06:006 min · Sauté the vegetables

4Step 4 of 6

Save a cup of pasta water

Before draining the pasta, scoop out a cup of the cloudy cooking water. Don't throw it away: it's the ingredient that brings the sauce together.

5Step 5 of 6

Combine everything in the skillet

Add the drained pasta, the chicken and half a cup of the pasta water to the skillet. Turn up the heat and toss for 1 or 2 minutes: you'll see the liquid go from watery to a glossy sauce that coats the pasta.

02:002 min · Combine everything in the skillet

6Step 6 of 6

Parmesan off the heat

Turn off the heat, add the grated cheese and oregano and toss. Off the heat the cheese melts without clumping and blends into the sauce.

About this recipe

This is my Tuesday lunch: whatever's in the fridge, pasta and twenty minutes. The secret isn't cooking the pasta and the stir-fry separately and combining them at the end, but finishing the pasta in the skillet with a little of its cooking water.

That cloudy water almost everyone pours down the drain is pure starch: it's what makes the sauce cling to the pasta instead of pooling at the bottom of the plate. It's the most valuable trick in all of Italian cooking and it costs nothing.

With chicken breast it's 42 grams of protein per serving, one of the highest-protein recipes on the site.

Tips for getting it right

Whole wheat pasta needs one minute more than regular pasta and holds up better when reheated.
If the sauce is dry, add more pasta water. If it's loose, give it another minute over high heat.
A drizzle of raw olive oil at the end lifts the whole dish.

Variations

Vegetarian

Swap the chicken for 9 oz (250 g) of cooked chickpeas sautéed with paprika. That's 22 g of protein per serving.

With tuna

Two cans of tuna in water, drained, added at the end with the pasta. Even faster.

Storage

3 days in the fridge. For meal prep, a drizzle of oil before closing the container keeps it from clumping.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

What is pasta water used for?

It carries the starch the pasta released, and that starch is a natural thickener that emulsifies the fat in the pan and creates a sauce that clings to the pasta. Without it, the sauce stays at the bottom of the plate.

Is whole wheat pasta better?

It has more fiber (about 6 g versus 3 g per 100 g) and is more filling, which in practice helps you eat a smaller amount. Calories are almost the same. If you like it, whole wheat is better; if you don't, no big deal.

How much pasta per person?

About 2½–3 oz (70–80 g) dry as a well-rounded main dish, and about 3½ oz (100 g) on its own. This recipe uses 80 g because it has plenty of chicken and vegetables.

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