Number 1- Chicken Chipotle Pasta (Copy-Cat Recipe from Cheesecake Factory):
Also, I really love the Cheesecake Factory copycat recipe, so here are a few other people who’ve done a great job with it HERE and HERE. If I decide to try one of these recipes I’ll let you know how it turns out. We don’t eat out at Cheesecake Factory very often, but when we do I get this dish! I love it’s smoky, spicy, crunchy flavor.
Number 2- Katrina’s Spicy Chicken Pasta:
Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4-1/2 T crushed red pepper (depending on how hot you want it)
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 T chopped garlic
6 oz chicken, sliced
3/4 cup marinara sauce
1/2 cup alfredo sauce (you can substitute plain Greek yogurt or sour cream)
2 T butter
1/4 cup peas
1lb rigatoni or penne {I used gluten-free penne}
Directions:
Cook pasta as usual…
Saute oil over medium heat. Add crushed red peppers, salt, pepper and garlic. Saute just long enough for garlic to caramelize and red pepper to release flavor into oil. Add sliced chicken and sauté briefly to coat in spices and garlic.
Add Marinara sauce first. Then add alfredo sauce. Cool until sauce thickens and chicken is thoroughly cooked. Turn off flame and add butter and peas to sauce.
Mix sauce and pasta and garnish with red pepper flakes (just be careful, it gets hot quick)
*Bell Peppers: to add veggies just cook some sliced bell peppers with the chicken
*More veggies: mini-asparagus is also in the Cheesecake Factory recipe. These could be easily added in the end to the sauce or boiled during the last few minutes with the pasta- if bought frozen.
*Chipotle: to give it a chipotle flavor I added some ground chipotle pepper seasoning {about 1 tsp at a time}. I always have it in my pantry…sprinkle, taste and add more if you like a good chipotle kick
*Crunch: I also love to crumble a few tortilla chips on the top of my serving {that’s what I love about the Cheesecake factory dish}
