This Skinny Chicken Fajita Pasta is perfect for people who like lots of flavour but are looking to be a bit healthier. This comes in at under 500 calories!
What makes this Fajita Chicken Pasta ‘Skinny’?
I am a firm believer that food should always be delicious. I don’t think consciously making meals healthier shouldn’t compromise on their taste. Having said that I am all for making healthier tweaks where possible. For example my Chicken & Ham Hock Filo Pie using filo pastry as a healthier alternative to puff pastry.
With this Skinny Fajita Chicken Pasta, the skinniness comes from the healthier sauce. Whereas many classic pasta recipes use cream and cheese to create a rich and creamy sauce; this recipe has a twist. Low fat cream cheese is the secret weapon to create delicious, creamy sauces with less calories. It is a common ingredient in a lot of my pasta recipes such as Chicken & Basil Pasta, Skinny Creamy Chicken Sausage Pasta and Sausage, Mustard & Basil Pasta.
If you like fajitas, you’ll love this!
This Skinny Chicken Fajita Pasta is perfect if you love fajitas. It is easily customisable to your fajita preferences. If you like a bit more spice, add as much fajita seasoning as you like. I don’t like onions and I always cook them separately when we have fajitas. So that is what I do with this too. If you’re a normal person and like onions then you can cook them at the same time as the peppers.
Want to make this vegetarian or vegan?
This Skinny Chicken Fajita Pasta is very easy to make vegetarian. You obviously leave out the chicken for a start! The only other change you need to make is to use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.
Although I personally haven’t tried it, I believe this would be relatively easy to make vegan. You can use your favourite plant based milk and swap to vegan cream cheese.
With either option you can add more vegetables or tofu in place of the chicken. Mushrooms and courgette would work well I think.
Make extra so you have leftovers
Once you have made this, you will definitely wish you had made more so you have leftovers. It is perfect to take to work the next day and is delicious hot or cold. I would always prefer to reheat mine which is very easy to do in the microwave.
Skinny Chicken Fajita Pasta
This Skinny Chicken Fajita Pasta is perfect for people who like lots of flavour but are looking to be a bit healthier. This comes in at under 500 calories!
Ingredients
- 300 g pasta
- 200 g chicken breasts (2 small breasts)
- 1 tbsp Fajita seasoning add more or less depending on your taste
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 peppers sliced
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
- 250 ml chicken stock
- 80 ml semi-skimmed milk use skimmed if you would prefer
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 100 g light cream cheese
- ½ tsp sea salt
- pinch black pepper
Instructions
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In a large pan of salted water, cook the pasta as per the packet's instructions
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Cut the chicken in to very thin strips and add to a bowl with the fajita seasoning
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Slice the peppers and onions (if using) into thin strips
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In a bowl, whisk together the cream cheese, milk and flour until smooth
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Heat a large frying pan with ½ tbsp oil and cook the chicken on a medium high heat until the chicken is browned and cooked through (roughly 5 mins). Remove the chicken and set aside
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Reduce the heat to medium and add the rest of the oil to the pan. Add the peppers, onions and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes until softened
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Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the chicken stock and cream cheese mix. Add the salt and pepper and leave to thicken for a couple of minutes
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Return the chicken to the pan and add the drained pasta. Stir thoroughly and cook for a minute or so before serving
Recipe Notes
Nutritional information is given as a guide only and my vary.
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