Revisiting a simple meal—Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Pasta

Over 20 years ago, out of university, with a limited income, I knew I had to eat on a budget, and I didn’t want to pay for jar sauce (don’t use jar sauce). This was one of my go-to recipes for dinner swapping sautéed chicken breasts with ground meat in the pasta. I had a vague notion of what pasta sauce was with limited ingredients that I could use for a variety of different meals (lunches and dinners). So this week I decided to try to make this from scratch, going out to the super market like I had done in the past, and seeing if I could replicate what I used to do, but maybe a little better.

Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Box Pasta and Homemade Pasta Sauce

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Yields: 2 servings
• Tools
  • knife
  • (optional) food processor with mixing blade attachment
  • a deep sauce pan or pot
  • a sauce pan
  • a frying pan (lid optional)
  • 2-3 bowls to set things aside in

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts, boneless
• 6 cloves or more garlic (.5 bulb)
• vegetables, add pretty much whatever you usually buy, who fucking cares, maybe use a real onion instead of scallions because you’re special, otherwise here’s an idea.
  • 3 mushrooms
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 bell pepper
  • 2 green onions (scallions)
• 1 can of tomato sauce (225g)
• 200g box pasta (rainbow twirls)
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 6 cups (1400 ml) of water
• 1 tbsp flour
• salt
• (optional) pepper
• (optional) oregano

This ended up costing me $11.00 USD for 2 servings in 2026. My vague memory puts it at about half that back twenty years ago. I think that’s pretty good for a decently healthy meal.

Notes

Back then, I was armed with only a “dumpster” dived vegetable slicer, free gift paring knife, frying pan, my roommate's cutting board, and 2 sauce pans. This is all you need. Having better tools makes the job easier , but not impossible.

Amazingly I still have both of the sauce pans and use them regularly!

I now use a food processor and chopping knife rather than a paring knife. I also just got a fancy new silicon and mesh lid for my frying pans so I am not as messy. Spoiler: I am still as messy.

Instructions

1. Rinse the vegetables in a strainer. Or be lazy. It doesn’t really matter unless you’re a food snob.
2. Peel the garlic cloves.
3. Slice 1 garlic clove length-wise, and slice one of the two halves into narrow strips and set aside.
4. Mince the rest of the garlic cloves either with a knife or in a food processor. Set aside the minced garlic into a small bowl or plate.
5. Peel the carrots
6. Finely chop the carrot or use pulse on the food processor.
7. Finely chop the mushrooms after cutting off the stems because I don’t like them (or use pulse on the food processor).
8. Finely chop the bell pepper after removing the seeds.
9. Finely chop the white portion of the green onions.
10. Roughly cut the green portion of the green onions as a topping for later.
11. Combine the diced green onions, bell pepper, mushroom, and carrot and set aside.
12. Use a knife to cut small, long holes into the chicken breasts and insert the narrow garlic clove strips as best as you can
13. Add the flour, a pinch of salt, add the chicken breasts, and mix to lightly-bread the chicken breasts. This can be done in a bag known as the “shake” in shake-n-bake.
14. Add the water to the deep sauce pan or pot on the stove set to medium-high heat, add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil to the sauce pan on the stove and set to medium heat. Add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil to the frying pan on the stove and set to medium-high heat.
15. When the sauce pan with olive oil is hot, add the garlic and brown for about 1 minute.
16. Add the tomato sauce, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, a pinch of oregano to the sauce pan and mix.
17. Add the finely-chopped vegetables into the sauce pan, mix, turn down the heat and simmer. Stir occasionally while doing other steps.
18. Add the pasta to the boiling water. Set a timer for 12 minutes and do step 17 when the timer or pasta is done (10-12 minutes).
19. Add the chicken breasts to the frying pan. Sauté on medium-high heat until each side is browned, about 3 minutes each side. Then turn the heat down to low and flip the chicken breasts every couple of minutes taking the temperature and cooking until it reaches 165F / 74C to be safe. This takes about 14 to 15 minutes. If the chicken is getting done before the boiling water, pull it out at 160F / 72C and let it rest while performing the other steps.
20. Drain all but 1/2 cup or 115ml of the pasta water.
21. Add some olive oil to the deep sauce pan or pot. Turn the heat down to low. Add the pasta back. Stir. Then add the pasta water. Stir. Then add the pasta sauce. Stir.
22. Plate and top with the remaining green onions.

CC: @cooking