This Healthy Chicken Alfredo pasta recipe is made in just one pan, with all the flavor of traditional Alfredo, without the calories!
If you love One Pan Meals, try my One-Pan Baked Ziti, Sheet Pan Fajitas, or Taco Soup.
I think this Skinny Chicken Alfredo really speaks for itself with a Healthy Alfredo Sauce made without butter, heavy cream, or cream cheese. The flavor is still creamy and amazing with the same “comfort food” type of feel, but way less calories and fat.
How to make Healthy Chicken Alfredo:
- Cut chicken breasts into bite size pieces, about 1 inch, and season with salt and pepper. Add olive oil to a skillet over medium high heat.
- Add chicken to the hot skillet and brown on all sides for 1-2 minutes (you don’t need to cook it all the way through).
- Add minced garlic and sauté for one minute.
- Add chicken broth, milk, flour, onion powder, basil, parsley and uncooked pasta to pan and stir well to combine.
- Bring to a gentle boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer.
- Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring once or twice during this time.
- Remove from heat and stir in freshly grated parmesan cheese.
- Season with salt and pepper, if needed.
Recipe Variations:
- Dairy Free: Replace milk with a dairy free alternative, like soy, or almond milk.
- Gluten Free: Use 1 tablespoon cornstarch in place of the flour. Substitute gluten-free pasta.
- Vegetarian: Omit Chicken (add veggies if desired) and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
- Extra Veggies: Add broccoli florets or your favorite type of veggies! Throw them in during the last few minutes of cooking.
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Recipe
One-Pan Skinny Chicken Alfredo
Ingredients
- 6 ounces uncooked farfalle pasta or any bite-sized shape pasta (white or wheat)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 3/4 cups fat-free milk
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
- 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cut chicken breasts into bite size pieces, about 1 inch, and season with salt and pepper. Add olive oil to a skillet over medium high heat.
- Add chicken to the hot skillet and brown on all sides for 1-2 minutes (you don’t need to cook it all the way through).
- Add minced garlic and sauté for one minute.
- Add chicken broth, milk, flour, onion powder, basil, parsley and uncooked pasta to pan and stir well to combine.
- Bring to a gentle boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer.
- Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring once or twice during this time.
- Remove from heat and stir in freshly grated parmesan cheese.
- Season with salt and pepper, if needed.
- Serve with veggies, green salad, breadsticks, fruit.
Notes
- Dairy Free: Replace milk with a dairy free alternative, like soy, or almond milk.
- Gluten Free: Use 1 tablespoon cornstarch in place of the flour. Substitute gluten-free pasta.
- Vegetarian: Omit Chicken (add veggies if desired) and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
- Extra Veggies: Add broccoli florets or your favorite type of veggies! Throw them in during the last few minutes of cooking.
Nutrition
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Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
I originally shared this recipe March 2015. Updated January 2021.
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The skinny chicken Alfredo was a big hit on Christmas Eve in my home. My father in law is allergic to tomatoes so we made this as an alternate to spaghetti for him but all 20 guests loved this dish. Thank you
It’s awesome with fontina instead of Parmesan! Makes it much creamier. Great recipe-thanks!
Thank you so much for this recipe! It was so easy to make this semi lactose free. Heavy cream really hurts my tummy because of my intolerance, so this recipe was a Godsend!!
How many calories does this have per serving???
Thank you for this recipe! My family of five adored it! I served it with corn and some of the kernels mixed into one of my bites. Man oh man, what a happy accident! We dumped the rest of the corn into the dish. Thanks again! This will go into my meal rotations.
Thanks so much Mary! And the corn addition sounds delicious!
Thanks so much Mary! And the corn addition sounds delicious!
I’ve never tried it, but I think it could be delicious!
Do you ever add the nutritional values? That would be very helpful. Your recipes look delicious!
Hi Janie, Thanks for you comment! I’m looking into a way to add nutritional values–Hopefully soon!
What do you consider a serving size? I made this for dinner, it was delicious! Everyone loved it!
Hi Shannon,
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed the recipe. A serving is approximately 1 1/2 cups!
I love this recipe! I’m making it right now for the second time! The first time, I thought the Parmesan cheese was a little heavy, so I’m trying it with 3/4 cup this time! Next time, I’m gonna try no parmesan cheese because the sauce is so yummy even without the cheese! Thank you so much for sharing! I’ll definitely try more of your recipes 🙂
Thanks Katherine, you’re adaptations sound perfect. Thanks for sharing!
This looks so good. I’m going to try this. We eat lots, maybe too much, pasta! 🙂
Mmmm I love alfredo sauce, but I haven’t had it in YEARS. I like the kind that’s full of fat and cream 😉 and I know it’s not that good for me so I just stay away haha. This looks like a much lighter version though! I wonder what it would be like with unsweetened cashew milk…
Did you ever try with cashew milk, or other dairy milk alternatives?
Hi Bonnie, I haven’t but I”m sure they’d work fine!
I used almond milk and it was amazing!