Creamy Tomato Chicken and Chorizo Pasta

Name: Creamy Tomato Chicken and Chorizo Pasta Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 5.5 oz chorizo (- see note 1); 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 onion, chopped; 1 red bell peppers, chopped (- see note 2); 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped (- see note 2); 2 chicken breasts, cubed; 4 cloves garlic, crushed; 1 can chopped tomatoes (14oz/400g); 1 tsp Italian seasoning; 1 tsp sugar; ¼ tsp salt; ¼ tsp smoked paprika (- optional); 14 oz pasta ( - see note 3); 1 tablespoon salt; 1 cup heavy cream; 1 cup fresh spinach; parmesan; flat-leaf parsley

Updated: Oct 19th 2023 • Published: Sep 20th 2019 • 48 Comments

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4.62 from 140 votes

This Easy Creamy Tomato Chicken and Chorizo Pasta takes under 30 minutes to cook! And is sure to be a hit with the whole family.

With juicy chicken and flavor-packed chorizo sausage, this creamy pasta recipe has so much flavor whilst still delivering a creamy and comforting yet simple dinner.

We like this with penne pasta, but you can use any pasta shape you like here. Serve it with some garlic bread, a side salad and dinner is done!

close up on a piece of penne in a creamy tomato sauce

We do love pasta! And this Creamy Tomato Chicken and Chorizo Pasta is a family favorite! Mostly because it is packed full of flavor!!! The key is a good Chorizo sausage. It adds so much to the simple sauce!!

A delicious family dinner, that cooks in under 30 minutes and is guaranteed to be enjoyed by even the pickiest eaters.

The base of the sauce is a simple can of tomatoes, this is layered with flavor from some bell peppers, onions, and Italian herbs.

If you have it, a little hint of smoked paprika helps to enhance the smoky chorizo and some sugar balances the acidity of the tomatoes.

a silver spoon scooping up chicken pasta from a pan

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Ingredient Notes

These notes are there to help make this recipe a success, it covers some but not all ingredients, for a full ingredient list, check out the recipe card below.

Chorizo: There are two types of chorizo - Mexican and Spanish. Both will work in this dish. I usually make this dish with the firm cured Spanish chorizo, you'll find it with the pre-packed hams and lunch meat. But if you can only find the soft Mexican sausage kind then go ahead and use that in this dish, it will work well too!
Bell Peppers: You can use any color of peppers (capsicums) you like here. We prefer the sweeter red and yellow varieties. But add green if you like.
Onions: You can use red, white or brown onions for this dish.
Canned Tomatoes: For this sauce it is best to use crushed or chopped tomatoes. They meld into a sauce better than the whole tomatoes. If you have canned peeled whole tomatoes then crush them with your hands before you add them to the pan.
Sugar: you can use brown, white or castor sugar.
Salt: Please salt your pasta water well. But for the sauce, taste it before you add any salt, chorizo sausage varies in salt content so yours could be more/less salty than mine.
Cream: I use a heavy cream/whipping cream/thickened cream here as I don't want the acidity of the tomatoes to split the cream. You can replace it with half and half or milk but there is a chance that your sauce will look slightly split. This won't affect the taste but it will affect the appearance and thickness.
Pasta: We use penne but rigatoni, spirals, ziti, spaghetti or linguine will work. Just use whatever is in the cupboard.

Recipe Tips

We've tested this recipe at least 3 times to ensure it works well for you, have a look at our tips for getting the best dish you can!

Depending on what type of chorizo you buy can either slice or crumble the chorizo. Both work fine.
Don't drain the oil that comes out of the chorizo, it helps to cook the vegetables and also adds flavor to the dish.
If you don't have an electric kettle, put the pasta water on to boil when you start making the sauce, as it will take a while to come to a boil.
Before you drain the pasta, reserve a cup of the cooking water. This can be used to thin the sauce if it gets too thick, without diluting the flavor.
The chicken is browned first, but it doesn't need to be cooked through as it will cook for another 10 minutes in the sauce.

close up on a piece of chorizo in a pan of pasta

Recipe Adaptions/Substitutions

These are all just suggestions and things that have worked in our test kitchen, but it is your dinner, so adapt it to suit your family. That is the beauty of cooking; we can all create our own delicious meals.

Swap the meat: You can swap the chicken breast for chicken thighs, or for cubes of beef or pork tenderloin. They can be cooked in the same way as the chicken. Or try adding shrimp, these can be panfried in the chorizo oil and then removed from the pan and added back in when you add in the cream.
Extra veg: Feel free to add to the veg or mix up what you add in. Hard vegetables like carrots and celery can be added with the onion. Softer vegetables like broccoli, mushrooms, peas or corn work well and can added 5 minutes before the sauce is cooked.
Spice it up: Add some red pepper flakes or chopped chili to give the pasta a kick.
Turn it into a bake by adding some cheese and breadcrumbs to the top and broiling it for 5 minutes.
The sauce is delicious over rice, so leave out the pasta and cook some white or brown rice instead.

overhead view of a cast iron skillet with chicken chorizo pasta in it

Serving Suggestions

Sides: As with nearly all the pasta recipes on my site (there are over 100!), I generally serve pasta with some sort of bread and a side salad. I may occasionally add a side of garlic green beans or roasted broccoli.

Wine: The smoky chorizo works well with a Rioja, which normally can't stand up to the acidity of tomatoes, but because they are mellowed by the addition of the cream, the rioja is well balanced here. Or a light Zinfandel.
Alternatively, add a Chenin Blanc, which is rich enough to carry the sauce, but fresh enough to balance the smoky notes. Interestingly a dry cider works too!

penne pasta in a creamy tomato sauce with parmesan and herbs on top

Enjoy x

For other great pasta recipes why not try:

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