Better than Olive Garden, this easy chicken broccoli fettuccine alfredo recipe will become an immediate family favorite and YOU will love how quick and easy it gets dinner on the table!
It is a bold statement for me to say anything is better than Olive Garden. One of my first date’s with Nate was to Olive Garden and through our dating, it was the “fancy” place. You know, the place you go when you are celebrating something, apologizing for something, double dating, or trying to impress.
Our early anniversaries were at Olive Garden and we would even grab dessert to bring home for our kids birthdays and special occasions.
We are now over that phase and prefer our local farm to kitchen restaurants whenever possible but…Olive Garden has sentimental value.
And Nate still thinks of Olive Garden whenever I make anything with alfredo sauce, marinara sauce, or stuffed with cheese.
What is in an alfredo sauce?
As you probably know, a proper alfredo sauce has butter, heavy cream, and Parmesan cheese. I know that all of those ingredients should be limited in our diets. But PLEASE, for the love all things good, try making a real alfredo sauce at least once in your life.
Your soul needs the real deal, sometimes.
This recipe uses the traditional ingredients for the alfredo sauce. I also add a bit of onion and salt & pepper.
Because so much of this recipe is about the butter, make sure to use quality butter.
The quick way to cook up your broccoli is to throw the florets into the pasta water after you pull out the noodles. This dish is also great with rotisserie chicken <— isn’t that stuff such a time saver! Love it!
I pick up a rotisserie chicken from our local co-op deli and have the kids pull the cooked chicken off, snacking as they go. It is easier for us to buy an already cooked chicken and pull the meat off rather than remembering to defrost and cook up a package of chicken breasts.
Then I use the leftover chicken and bones to make up a batch of chicken noodle soup the next day. Multi-tasking chicken. Or multi-use? Eh, whatever the term… the rotisserie chicken is a good buy.
Anyways, I’m a lover of the stuff. But good old chicken breasts chunked will work just fine, too.
Butter. It’s so good ;). Good ol’ butter can not be beat.
If you are using already cooked chicken, add it when you add the broccoli. You’ll just want to get it heated without cooking it again.
The fresh parsley helps keep this dish light and fresh. I add some into the dish and then add some on top for garnish.
In the summer, I have an old red wagon that I use for a herb garden. I plant it full of herbs and then roll that thing around chasing the sun all day.
Totally need to get another wagon :). Mine is chocked full of herbs that are always stunted. I keep cutting them off before they get a chance to grow again. LOVE fresh herbs with a big love!
Throw that broccoli in later so that it doesn’t cook for too long. It can be hard enough to get your kids to eat broccoli when it is cooked properly never mind when it tastes like mush.
No mushy broccoli…throw it in towards the end.
Toss in the pasta and give it a bit of a stir…done. So easy!
This is also where you would throw in the cooked chicken, if you are using that instead of the chicken breasts.
This will be the dish you make for Thursday night supper. And for when company comes over (serve with a simple salad and breadsticks). Then you’ll make it again on Sunday afternoon, just because.
Be sure to use #NBRecipeChallenge if you make this…we want to feature you!
Easy Chicken Alfredo with Broccoli
Ingredients
- 2 cup chopped chicken
- 1 onion chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
- 3/4 cup half and half or use cream or milk
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 pound pasta … cooked
- 2 cups broccoli
- 1 cup grated Parm cheese
- pepper and salt to taste
Instructions
- Set milk on counter (to bring closer to room temp) while working.
- Cook pasta according to instructions (I recommend linguine). Remove pasta from water and drain the pasta, reserving the water for the broccoli.
- Cook broccoli in water for 3 minutes. Set aside.
- In large skillet melt butter, add chicken and onion.
- Saute for 6 minutes or until chicken is cooked and onion is translucent.
- Add milk, parmesan cheese, parsley, salt & pepper, and cooked broccoli.
- Stir well.
Nutrition
Save this recipe to your Pinterest board (or print it!) for later…
Other pasta dishes to try:
homemade Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni
