This Smoked Chicken Jalapeno Pasta is comfort food with a load of veggies and a kick! This cold weather classic is a go to treat in our home.

The Flavors in our Smoked Chicken Jalapeno Pasta

The smoked chicken adds a savory flavor to this vegetable rich dish, while the jalapeno kicks in some spice and the pasta ties it all together. Each spoonful (or forkful… there is a debate at our house on which is better to enjoy this meal) brings in different flavors to tantalize your taste buds.

Add in your favorite pasta (or follow our suggestion with some extra spice in the red chili tagliatelle) and it ties it all together.

And wait… still more! Some shaved parmesan cheese on top? Over the top tastiness that will even get the kids to eat their veggies.

The Ingredients

Smoked chicken is very important to bring all of the flavors together. Fire up the smoker or find a smokehouse (or grocery store) that sells them. As a very last resort, a rotisserie chicken with some Liquid Smoke can be substituted, but it is definitely not the same as a truly smoked chicken.

How about some veggies? You need 3 bell peppers (I like different colors for the visual impact as you serve the dish, so usually grab one red, one orange and one yellow), 4 jalapenos, a red onion, a shallot and 3 cloves of garlic.

We really like our pasta to add to the zing in this recipe, so pick up a red chili tagliatelle. The pasta itself has some spice to it and adds to the overall flavor profile of this dish.

Finish off with 8 cups of chicken broth or chicken stock and a can of sweet corn (drained) and you’re ready to get started.

Prepping the Ingredients

This recipe does involve some prep time. Shredding the smoked chicken and cutting all of the fresh veggies is labor intensive, but so worth it in the end!

Shred the chicken to be small bite sized pieces. If your chicken is large, you might end up with some extra (I like to keep the legs and thighs for another meal!)

Seed the bell peppers , then slice them into about 1/2″ wide strips.

Cut mushrooms into slices (or buy the pre-sliced for a little time saver!)

Take the outer paper layer and the ends off of the red onion. Cut it into slices, then cut the slices into quarters so that none of the pieces are very large. Red onion can be very strong, so a large piece can overpower all of the other flavors!

Jalapenos are important to the flavor profile of the recipe. You can choose how much spice to add by how many seeds you leave in! We normally seed two of the jalapenos and leave the seeds in the other two. Dice the jalapenos and seeds you decide to leave in.

Peel the outer layer of the shallot and then dice it into small pieces.

Mince the garlic. If your cloves have a small green sprout out the top, you can save some bitterness by cutting them in half and removing the green part in the middle.

Time to Cook the Smoked Chicken Jalapeno Pasta!

Add a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter to the pan. Melt the butter over medium-high heat (about a 7 out of 10). Add the bell pepper strips to the pan and sauté for 2-3 minutes.

Next, add the red onion and the shallot and sauté another 2-3 minutes.

Add mushrooms and cook down until the liquid from the mushrooms mostly cooks off (about 3 minutes).

Now, add jalapenos and cook for 2 more minutes.

Add garlic and cook for one minute, stirring often so the garlic just releases flavor but doesn’t burn.

Finally, add chicken stock, corn and chicken. Allow the juice to start to bubble, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Simmer for at least 20 minutes (we’ve gone as long as 45). The longer you simmer, the stronger the flavors and the less juice you will have. Cook your pasta while it simmers.

Serve by placing pasta in the bottom of a bowl. Spoon the chicken and veggie mixture over the pasta and top with shaved parmesan cheese.

I made a very detailed video about this dish, and the link is here. There is a much abridged version below on the recipe card if you don’t want the whole step by step in this longer version!

Because we like the spice in this recipe, we serve it with a Tempranillo (Rioja) or Zinfandel wine. If you take more seeds out of the jalapenos, this would be great with a classic Italian wine like Chianti or Montepulciano de Abruzo as well!

Smoked Chicken Jalapeno Pasta

Recipe by HeCooks4Me.comCourse: DinnerCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Medium

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Calories

288

kcal

Total time

1

hour 

10

minutes

This Smoked Chicken Jalapeno Pasta is comfort food with a load of veggies and a kick! This cold weather classic is a go to treat in our home.

Ingredients

• Smoked Chicken – shredded

• 2 Tbsp Butter

• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil

• 3 Bell Peppers – sliced (yellow, red and orange)

• 4 Jalapenos – diced

• 1 Red Onion – sliced

• 1 Shallot – diced

• 3 Garlic Cloves – minced

• 8 oz Mushrooms – sliced

• 8 cups Chicken Stock

• 1 Can Sweet Corn – drained

• 1 lb Pasta (red chili tagliatelle!)

• Shaved Parmesan Cheese

Directions

• Melt butter and heat olive oil over medium-high heat
• Add bell peppers and sauté for 2 minutes
• Add red onion and shallot and sauté for 2 minutes
• Add mushrooms and cook until most liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes
• Add jalapenos and sauté 2 minutes
• Add garlic and cook for one more minute, stirring often
• Add chicken stock, corn and chicken. Allow the stock to just start to bubble, then turn down to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes
• Cook pasta while the chicken dish is simmering
• Place pasta in a bowl. Ladle chicken dish over the pasta. Top with shaved parmesan cheese

Recipe Video