Creamy lemon chicken pasta
A delicious dish of creamy lemon chicken pasta. It’s a great family dinner and has enough steps in it for kids to help with and get busy in the kitchen.
Creamy lemon chicken pasta is a favourite family dinner in our house. My kids love the creamy yet tangy flavour and the tender chicken pieces and I love that I can get it ready in under half an hour, so it’s perfect for a quick midweek meal.
I first came across a recipe for creamy lemon pasta on Tasty. I wasn’t sure exactly how cream and lemon would go together – in my mind they weren’t a natural pairing but we tried a version of it anyway and it has now become a family favourite. If you want to see a video of the original recipe take a look here.
How can kids help to make this creamy lemon chicken pasta?
This is a really simple dinner and if your kids want to get involved in making it there are lots of steps that they can get involved in, especially if they are old enough for you to trust stirring things on the hob.
Kids can help to prepare the onion, garlic, and lemon. Even younger children can help to peel an onion if you half it and start them off first. My kids also enjoy grating the zest of the lemon (be careful of small fingers and graters) and squeezing the lemon juice out.
If you have older children who can be trusted around a cooker, they might also be able to help stir in the all the ingredients. While i won’t really get my kids involved in chopping the chicken, they can help brown it in the pan – stirring it round until it is browned on all sides.
top Tip for getting more juice out of your lemon
If you want to make the most of your lemon, give it a little blast in the microwave (about 15-20 seconds), then rub it around on your work surface before you squeeze it. The juice will come out more easily which is great if your kids are juicing the lemon, you’ll also get more juice out of your fruit.
Other pasta recipes for kids
If your children enjoy this creamy lemon chicken pasta, they might enjoy making and eating some of our other easy pasta recipes:
Creamy Italian sausage pasta
Chicken and red pesto pasta
Roasted red pepper pasta
Chicken and chorizo pasta
Sausage pasta
Slow cooker bolognese
Bacon mac and cheese
Homemade pasta
Useful equipment
You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make this creamy lemon chicken pasta
Chopping board
Saute pan
Measuring spoons
Wooden spoons
Lemon juicer
Lemon zester
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Difficulty: Easy
Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2 adults and 2 small children
Ingredients
2 large chicken breasts
1 tbsp butter
1 red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp thyme
50ml water
120ml double cream
85g baby spinach
2 tbsp parmesan, plus extra for serving
350g pasta
how to make creamy lemon chicken pasta
Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.
Cook the chicken
Cut the chicken into small pieces and fry over a medium heat. Once it’s browned on all sides, set aside. I don’t let the kids touch raw chicken but kids might be able to help stir the chicken to make sure it was cooked on all sides.
When I’m cooking dinner with the kids I like to prepare everything before I start cooking rather than doing it as I go along like which I might do when I’m cooking on my own. I want to make sure that once the heat has been turned on I can give all my attention to that and making sure no fingers get buned etc.
Chop the onion and garlic
Your kids can probably help you to peel the onion and garlic. I then chopped the onion while my kids got the garlic crusher and garlic ready.
Zest and juice the lemon
Pop the lemon in the microwave for 10-15 seconds – this will help you get a lot more juice out of it. Using the small side of a grater, get your child to help grate the zest off the lemon – making sure little fingers don’t get hurt. Cut the lemon in half then squeeze all the juice out into a small bowl.
Cook the onion & garlic
Wipe the pan the chicken was in with a paper towel and add a tablespoon of butter. Fry the onion and garlic for a few minutes until they have softened. Your child can stir them in the pan if you like.
Add the lemon
Add the lemon zest and juice, and a tsp of thyme and stir everything together. As you don’t need to worry about being too accurate this is a good step for your child to help with.
Add the liquids
Pour in the water (50ml) and double cream (120ml). Again, let your little one give everything a stir.
Add the spinach – again, don’t worry about being too accurate and weighing it. Most packs come in 100g so use it all or just keep a little back if that seems too much for you. Leave the spinach in the pan to wilt for a minute or so.
Add the cooked chicken back in along with the cooked pasta and parmesan. Give everything one final stir to coat the pasta and chicken in the sauce.
Serve the a sprinkle of parmesan.
Creamy lemon chicken
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 red onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp thyme
- 50 ml water
- 120 ml double cream
- 85 g baby spinach
- 2 tbsp parmesan plus extra for serving
- Pasta
Instructions
Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.
Cook the chicken
- Cut the chicken into small pieces and fry over a medium heat. Once it’s browned on all sides, set aside.
Chop the onion and garlic
Prepare the vegetables
- Peel and chop the onion and garlic. And Zest and juice the lemon. Pop the lemon in the microwave for 10-15 seconds – this will help you get a lot more juice out of it.
Cook the onion
- Wipe the pan the chicken was in with a paper towel and add a tablespoon of butter. Fry the onion and garlic for a few minutes until they have softened.
Add the lemon
- Add the lemon zest and juice and stir everything together. Add a tsp of thyme.
Add the liquids
- Pour in the water and double cream.
- Add the spinach and leave it in the pan to wilt for a minute or so.
- Add the cooked chicken back in along with the cooked pasta and parmesan. Give everything one final stir to coat the pasta and chicken in the sauce.
- Serve the a sprinkle of parmesan.
If you liked this hidden veg pasta you’ll love our easy dinner ideas for kids as well as our favourite pasta recipes:
Chicken and chorizo pasta
Creamy sausage pasta
Roasted red pepper pasta
Sausage pasta for kids
Hidden veg pasta sauce
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