Spaghetti with Chicken Thigh, Herbs and Parmesan

Name: Spaghetti with Chicken, Herbs and Parmesan - Quick Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Spaghetti 250 g; Water for boiling the pasta 3 l; Salt for boiling the pasta 21 g (7 g per 1 l of water); Chicken drumsticks or thighs 2; Olive oil 3 tbsp; Garlic 1 clove (optional); Fresh dill and parsley 4-5 sprigs; Grated hard cheese 1 tbsp (7 g); Salt, black pepper to taste

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30 mins

For a good breakfast, especially when you have no time to cook, simple Italian pasta recipes are just the thing. Simple spaghetti with chicken, herbs and grated Parmesan is tasty, wholesome and takes almost no effort. As it happens, when we are short on time in the morning, we make this dish: not always, I wouldn’t say, but very often. It is our homemade lifesaver.

A full breakfast is very important, considering it is the first and special meal of the day. Most likely, a good lunch is unlikely, since at work it brings certain difficulties. Dietitians think a bad breakfast is a prerequisite for good illnesses, and they are right. Eat breakfast yourself: holy simplicity!

Breakfast traditions around the world are very diverse. A traditional English breakfast usually consists of eggs with bacon and assorted other goodies, fried bread, pudding. By the way, there is a common belief that an English breakfast is porridge. That is rather a Scottish tradition. European breakfast traditions are most often based on dishes of the Mediterranean cuisines: light and nourishing.

Italian cuisine became popular around the world first of all thanks to spaghetti and pizza. Making pizza for breakfast is, of course, a bit difficult, but making a simple spaghetti dish is very easy.

Adding fried meat or poultry to spaghetti means you don’t need to make a complicated, runny sauce. Large pieces of chicken fried in olive oil go wonderfully with pasta. If you add herbs and a good cheese, spaghetti with chicken turns out aromatic and filling: an ideal Mediterranean-style breakfast. The basic recipe is pasta with chicken in cream sauce; for variety, try spaghetti with chicken meatballs.

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Ingredients

2 servings

Spaghetti 250 g
Water for boiling the pasta 3 l
Salt for boiling the pasta 21 g (7 g per 1 l of water)
Chicken drumsticks or thighs 2
Olive oil 3 tbsp
Garlic 1 clove (optional)
Fresh dill and parsley 4-5 sprigs
Grated hard cheese 1 tbsp (7 g)
Salt, black pepper to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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The ingredients and the chicken

To make spaghetti with chicken you need quality pasta, not a mix of soft flour of dubious origin. If the pasta swells while boiling, you end up with mush of dough with pieces of chicken.
For personal reasons I don’t like fried white chicken meat. The exception, perhaps, is a grilled chop. As a rule, for simple home dishes we use chicken thighs or drumsticks. These parts of the chicken have a large bone that is easy to cut out, and quite a lot of dark meat.
Cut the meat off the bone: with a sharp knife, cut off all the flesh, carefully removing the bone and cartilage, as well as the tendons that look like thick threads. Cut all the chicken meat into small pieces of any shape.
Fry the chicken. Heat olive oil in a saucepan or skillet. If you like, fry a crushed garlic clove in the oil for flavor. Add the cut chicken to the hot oil and fry over medium heat for 7-8 minutes, stirring, until the pieces are browned. Chicken fries very quickly and is guaranteed to be done.
When the chicken is fried, salt it lightly to taste and season with freshly ground black pepper. By the way, I like pasta with chicken better when it is well peppered, more than usual dishes. So, to your taste. Mix the chicken with the spices, take the skillet off the heat and cover with a lid.

Spaghetti

Boil the spaghetti. While the chicken is frying, bring 3 l of water with 21 g of salt (7 g per 1 l) to a boil over high heat. Cook the spaghetti strictly for the time stated on the package: this time guarantees the “al dente” doneness. It is important not to overcook the pasta. Drain the spaghetti in a colander to let the water run off.
Mix the spaghetti with the chicken and herbs. Finely chop the dill and parsley sprigs with a knife first. Put the boiled spaghetti right into the skillet where the meat was fried, add the herbs and mix. I don’t use basil, the traditional herb for pasta sauces, because of its strong aroma and flavor.

Serving

Put the pasta on plates and sprinkle with finely grated hard Italian cheese. Parmesan, sheep’s milk Pecorino or Grana Padano are all excellent.
You don’t even have to toss the spaghetti with chicken, herbs and cheese on the plate. The spaghetti is long enough that the cheese spreads well through the dish as you eat.
I recommend eating breakfast right away, while the pasta is still hot. I’m sure such a breakfast will keep you full until lunch.

Calories and macros

790 kcal

Serving ≈ 360 g

Protein31 g16% of kcal
Fat31 g36% of kcal
Carbs90 g47% of kcal

100 g219 kcalProtein 8.7 gFat 8.5 gCarbs 25.1 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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