Today, I want to introduce you to what just may be my new favorite way to eat chicken! You see it there? The one down there coated in that beautiful Rosa Vodka Sauce sprinkled with fresh basil and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
That little beauty made me excited about eating chicken again. You know the kind of excited, the dancing-in-my-chair-waving-my-fork-and-singing kind of excited you get when you take the first bite of deliciousness. It’s funny because the recipe is so simple.
To be honest, I always feel a little hypocritical when I post chicken recipes because a lot of the time I’m a fence-sitter when it comes to chicken – I like it (sometimes) but it’s not my favorite. But I guess that means when I do post chicken recipes, you fellow fence-sitters out there should know it’s a recipe I thoroughly enjoyed. This Chicken in Rosa Vodka Sauce is one of those recipes – in fact, we’ve already had it again even before I could even post this recipe.
But how does something so simple become a Date Night dinner? The answer is simple – Vodka! ;)
This recipe starts with two split chicken breasts, which I deboned and then sliced into chicken breast cutlets. If you want you can start with boneless, skinless chicken and either slice it or pound it out into thinner cutlets. Slicing it is the quickest way to achieve the same results without all the hassle. But we’re all adults here – you do you. Whatever way you use to get the chicken to the desired thickness is OK by me.
To make this Date Night dish into a quick and easy meal, I started with two of the New Bertolli Sauces – Organic Fire Roasted Garlic Marinara and Organic Creamy Alfredo to create the base. To that, I added vodka and allowed it to simmer to burn off the alcohol.
It’s worthwhile to note here that while most of the alcohol does boil off and evaporate, small amounts of alcohol may be left behind. This is why we reserve this as a Date Night meal – or I serve up my daughter’s sauce before the addition of the alcohol.
If you prefer not to have alcohol in the sauce, you, of course, may omit it without any substitution.
Next, I stir in the basil and then add the chicken back into the pan to reheat and get covered in all that luscious Rosa Vodka Sauce. Yummmmm!
To serve, I place the chicken on top of a serving of pasta. Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and extra fresh basil, if desired. For a complete meal, serve with a fresh garden salad with vinaigrette.
Chicken with Pasta in Rosa Vodka Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 lb. chicken cutlets [or chicken breasts cut or pounded into cutlets]
- Kosher salt and Ground Black Pepper
- Sweet Paprika
- 1-1/2 cups Bertolli Organic Fire Roasted Garlic Marinara Sauce
- 1 cup Bertolli Organic Creamy Alfredo Sauce
- 1/4 cup fresh basil [Loosely packed, cut or torn into ribbons]
- 1/4 cup vodka
- 8 ounces pasta like penne, spaghetti or linguine
Optional Garnishes:
- Parmesan cheese
- fresh basil
Instructions
- Sprinkle each piece of chicken generously with salt, ground pepper, and paprika.
- Combine the pasta sauces and set aside.
- Bring a pot of generously salted water to a boil and prepare the pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large heavy skillet. Add the chicken and saute for several minutes on each side until golden brown on the outside. When the chicken is done remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add the Rosa Sauce into the pan and return to heat. Add the vodka and simmer to cook the alcohol off. [See Note 1]
- Add the chicken back in to the pan to heat and soak up the sauce.
- Just before serving, stir in the basil. Top servings of pasta with the chicken and the sauce.
- Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and shreds of basil, if desired.
- For a complete meal, serve with a fresh garden salad with vinaigrette.
Notes
- If you prefer not to add alcohol, omit without substitution.
This sounds wonderful! Call me old-fashioned, but I like to print recipes instead of referring to my phone or iPad while making the dish. I noticed in the recipe it calls for “1-1/2 cups Bertolli Organic”…? From reading the text and looking at your pictures, I’m assuming that’s 1-1/2 cups Bertolli Organic Fire Roasted Garlic Marinara? Thank you for sharing your recipes!
Hi Al.
I updated the recipe card test to read Organic Fire Roasted Garlic Marinara. Thank you for stopping in. Hope you enjoyed it.
Hubby enjoyed this for date night. He’s not a fancy guy but loves pasta!
Very easy weeknight meal. Thanks for the recioe
Your photos are always so beautiful! Nice work!