Name: Easy 30-Minute Spicy Chicken Rigatoni Pasta
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 chicken breast ((butterflied)); 8 ounces rigatoni pasta; ½ cup cherry tomatoes ((sliced in half)); ⅓ cup minced shallot ((about one medium-large shallot)); 1 clove garlic; 1 tablespoon tomato paste concentrate ((use 2 tablespoons of canned tomato paste)); 1 teaspoon salt ((plus more for seasoning)); ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes; ¼ teaspoon black pepper ((plus more for seasoning)); 1 ounce parmesan cheese ((freshly grated works best!)); 1 sprig fresh basil; 1 ounce goat cheese ((add with the parmesan))

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Your search for the best chicken pasta recipe is over! This spicy chicken rigatoni recipe has a creamy, comforting spicy tomato sauce loaded with lots of parmesan cheese, crushed red pepper flakes, and fresh basil to finish. Simple, classic flavors, quick to make, and well-tested tips for an unreal dinner.

5 star reader review

“LOVED this recipe!! Tried it on a whim and it was so easy, so quick, and so delicious!!! I messed up a bunch because I was not paying attention, and although I do not recommend splitting your attention, it still turned out awesome. Thanks for the quick and comprehensive recipe 🙂 Totally suggest trying it! I am not even a pasta person!”
—Emilie H

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a bowl of spicy chicken rigatoni topped with basil

When you want an easy, low-effort dinner that uses a lot of pantry staple ingredients, a one-pan pasta like this spicy chicken rigatoni is exactly what you need. It's great for busy weeknights and lazy weekends, and is a great recipe for beginner cooks!

If you're looking for other easy pasta dinners with a little less heat, check out my foolproof one pan cacio e pepe or my garlic parmesan chicken pasta. Both of them use this same simple one-pan cooking technique!

If you've never made a one-pan/one-pot pasta dish before, you're going to love this spicy chicken rigatoni. You basically cook everything — including the pasta — all in one skillet on the stovetop! It's pasta, risotto-style!

You don't even need to get out a separate pot to boil water for the pasta.

If you love spicy food and are looking for a fiery hot spicy chicken pasta, you may want to double or even triple the amount of red pepper flakes in the recipe. On the flip side, if you have zero tolerance for spicy food, you may want to cut the amount of red pepper flakes in half.

Because there are so few ingredients in this spicy chicken pasta recipe, I do recommend making the effort to use as many fresh ingredients as possible (except for the pasta). The pasta should be dried box pasta.

all the ingredients for spicy chicken rigatoni — *See recipe card (at the end of the blog post) for quantities.* Not pictured: Water. You'll need enough water to just barely cover the pasta in the pan.

I use rigatoni when I make my spicy chicken pasta recipe because it's hearty enough to hold up to the rigorous stirring and boiling this recipe requires. It's a great rigatoni pasta recipe. When I don't have rigatoni, I use other sturdy pasta shapes like cavatappi, gemelli, macaroni, or penne instead.

When it comes to Parmesan cheese, I always grate it myself with a Microplane zester because the cheese melts best this way. If you're going to buy pre-grated parmesan, just don't get the powdered kind in the big plastic jar, it tends to clump.

I am obsessed with squeezable tubes of tomato paste concentrate because they pack a lot more flavor than canned tomato paste, and I never end up with a weird half-can of tomato paste left over. So easy for a recipe like this, just squeeze directly into the pan! I usually just eyeball it.

📋 How One Pan Pasta Recipes Work

This one-pan pasta cooking method isn't just efficient; it also helps intensify the flavors in the pasta dish. We're basically cooking pasta the way you cook risotto, using noodles instead of rice. Because the pasta cooks in the same pot as the chicken was cooked and cooks right along with all the sauce ingredients, the pasta absorbs all those flavors.

You know how people talk about reserving the pasta water to thicken sauces? When you make a one-pan pasta recipe, the water absorbs into the pasta or boils away, leaving all those starches behind in the small amount of water left when the timer goes off. When the starchy water is combined with the finely grated Parmesan cheese it turns into the most wonderfully silky, flavorful pasta sauce. As I said, this really is an easy pasta recipe with chicken!

How to Make Spicy Chicken Rigatoni

The first step in making spicy chicken rigatoni is to butterfly the chicken breast. This helps it cook faster.

How to butterfly a chicken breast: Pat the chicken breast dry on a cutting board. Hold your knife horizontally, parallel to the cutting board. Press the heel of your other hand down on top of the chicken breast with your fingers flared up to keep them out of the way of the knife. Slice across the chicken breast, cutting it into two chicken breast pieces each about half an inch thick.

(If you prefer, you can pound the chicken breast to about half an inch thick with a meat tenderizing mallet instead.)

Season the top sides of the chicken breast pieces with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, in a medium sized skillet with straight sides about 3" high, heat up the oil. Read more: How to Preheat Stainless Steel to Prevent Food From Sticking.

Place the chicken breasts in the oil seasoned side down, then season the tops with salt and pepper.

two browned chicken breasts in a skillet — Cook the chicken until golden brown on both sides.

Now, without cleaning it out, it's time to cook the aromatics and the pasta. The brown bits on the bottom of the pan from the chicken are called "fond," and it gives the spicy rigatoni sauce SO much flavor.

TIP: I always make my rigatoni with chicken pasta recipe in a stainless steel skillet. Non-stick pans aren't able to build up a fond, which means the pasta won't have as much richness and flavor!

shallot and garlic sauteed with tomato paste in a skillet — Cook the shallot, then add the rest of the sauce ingredients.

Pretty quickly, everything will start sticking to the bottom of the pan, adding more flavor to the fond.

deglaze the pan with a small amount of water and scrape the brown bits off the bottom

Add a splash of water to deglaze the pan; Bring the water to a boil, and use a spatula to scrape up the fond.

uncooked rigatoni, sliced cherry tomatoes, and salt added to the skillet

Add the uncooked pasta along with salt and sliced cherry tomatoes. Give it a quick stir.

Now it's time to work the one-pan pasta magic. Add just enough water to the pan to almost cover the rigatoni.

It's okay if some of the pasta is sticking up above the water. You can always add more water later if it needs it, so better to start out with slightly less water than you think you need.

Increase the heat to high and keep an eye on the skillet. As soon as the water starts to boil, set a timer for the "al dente" cook time on the pasta box.

Keep the water boiling for the entire cook time and stir frequently.

a thick spicy tomato sauce coats the rigatoni at the end of the cook time

The goal is for most of the water to be absorbed and evaporated when the timer goes off.

Different pasta varieties absorb water at different rates, and water will evaporate differently based on the size of your skillet. If the water seems to be boiling away too quickly, it's okay to add a bit more.

when the water boils away and the pasta is cooked, add the parmesan cheese

Reduce the heat and add the Parmesan cheese. Stir until it melts into a sauce.

sliced chicken and basil added to the pasta in the spicy sauce

Stir in the sliced chicken and half the fresh basil and stir to combine.

That's it! That's how you make one pan spicy rigatoni chicken. A super easy pasta recipe with chicken. The whole process start-to-finish is about twenty minutes, and you've only used one pan!

I always try to serve my rigatoni with chicken pasta immediately, garnished with more parmesan cheese and the remaining fresh basil.

Variations & Substitutions

Out of a specific ingredient or need to make a substitution? I've got you covered.

Vegetarian - Skip the chicken! You'll miss out on the flavor from the fond, but you can make up for it by doubling the amount of shallots, AND/OR by sautéing some thinly sliced leeks with the shallots before you add the pasta.
Extra Spicy - Double the amount of red pepper flakes AND/OR season the chicken breast with a pinch of cayenne on each side. You could also add a dash of your favorite hot sauce to the pot when you add the water. Add extra red pepper flakes to garnish.
Out of Parmesan - If you don't have parmesan cheese, pecorino romano or parmesano reggiano will also work.
No Fresh Basil - Dried basil will also work, it just won't have quite the same fresh flavor! You could also use fresh oregano or parsley.

an overhead shot of three bowls of spicy chicken rigatoni

Practical Tips & Recipe Notes

You do want to have a little bit of water left in the pan when there's a minute left on your timer and it's time to add the cheese. How much water? It should feel like you're stirring a very saucy pasta. Not so much that the noodles are swimming, but enough to be able to say "yeah, there's still some liquid in here."
This recipe is best served immediately. The cheesy sauce starts to dry out pretty quickly as it cools. If you need to buy yourself a little time, you can leave it in the pan off the heat. Just turn the heat back to low and give it a few stirs to re-melt the cheese before serving.
I first learned of this one pan pasta technique from a recipe credited to Martha Stewart (though her recipe is actually inspired by a dish one of her editors ate in Italy, so to call it Martha's is a bit misleading). But I've been obsessed with the technique ever since.

📖 Recipe

Easy 30-Minute Spicy Chicken Rigatoni Pasta

Servings people

Author Rebecca Eisenberg

The Practical Kitchen readers say: “I can definitely see myself adding this to the rotation, and it's the type of dish that I wouldn't mind making even after a day at work. Another slam dunk for The Practical Kitchen.”

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Recipe Notes

This cooking method does not work with fresh or fancier gourmet pastas. Fresh pasta cooks too quickly and is so starchy that it will break down in the water. Even dried fancy pastas tend to be a little too starchy to work really well here. It doesn't mean you can't use them, they just don't always hold up as well to the rigorous boiling and stirring as boxed pastas do. Aim for a pasta with a 9-12 minute cook time.
I recommend using a 10-inch high-sided skillet for this recipe. I like to use a 3 or 4 quart sauté pan. If you use a skillet that's too wide, you'll have a shorter layer of pasta, which means the water will evaporate much more quickly and it will be harder to submerge the pasta. And if you use a regular sauce pot, the water will be too deep to have evaporated by the time the pasta is done cooking.
8 ounces of rigatoni and 1 pound of chicken breast is enough for three very hungry people OR or four moderately hungry people who are eating this alongside something else. If you're going to scale this recipe up, the cooking process is the same; just remember, the more crowded the pan is, the more water you'll need, and the longer it will take the water to absorb/evaporate!
Every time you add new water to the skillet, it will cool down the temperature of the pan. This can slow down the cooking time. Add additional water in small amounts, but only as needed!
I gave the cheese measurement by weight because finely grated parmesan cheese is very light and delicate and there's a lot of air in it, which makes it hard to measure accurately using cups. If I told you 1 cup of parmesan and you use a denser, thicker grated parmesan, you'll have WAY too much cheese. Measuring by weight means no matter how you grate your parmesan cheese (or if you buy the pre-packaged stuff) you'll have the right amount of cheese! If you don't have a kitchen scale, add the cheese ¼ cup at a time and stir until it melts. When the sauce is as cheesy as you want and clings to the noodles, stop adding cheese.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. To reheat, microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring in between, until warmed throughout.
Variations:
- Vegetarian - Skip the chicken! You'll miss out on the flavor from the fond, but you can make up for it by doubling the amount of shallots, AND/OR by sautéing some thinly sliced leeks with the shallots before you add the pasta.
- Extra Spicy - Double the amount of red pepper flakes AND/OR season the chicken breast with a pinch of cayenne on each side. You could also add a dash of your favorite hot sauce to the pot when you add the water. Add extra red pepper flakes to garnish.
- Extra Mild - Leave the red pepper flakes out entirely.
- Like Bucca di Beppo - Add ¼-1/2 cup frozen peas when you add the chicken back in at the end.

Ingredients

1 chicken breast (butterflied)
8 ounces rigatoni pasta
½ cup cherry tomatoes (sliced in half)
⅓ cup minced shallot (about one medium-large shallot)
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon tomato paste concentrate (use 2 tablespoons of canned tomato paste)
1 teaspoon salt (plus more for seasoning)
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon black pepper (plus more for seasoning)
1 ounce parmesan cheese (freshly grated works best!)
1 sprig fresh basil (how to chiffonade basil)

Optional

1 ounce goat cheese (add with the parmesan)

Instructions

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Place the chicken breast on the cutting board and pat dry. Holding your knife so the blade is horizontal, butterfly the chicken breast so that you have two thin slices. Season the top side of the chicken breast pieces with salt and pepper.
Preheat high sided skillet over medium heat 30-45 seconds. Add 1-2 tablespoons cooking oil. When the oil has loosened up and coats the bottom of the pan when you swirl it, place the chicken seasoned side down in the pan. Season the top side of the chicken with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook the chicken about 3-5 minutes per side until cooked through (at least 160°F on an instant read thermometer). Then remove it to a plate or clean cutting board to rest.

Chicken is considered fully cooked at 165°F, but it will continue cooking as it rests. We're pulling it off the pan a little bit early so that it doesn't overcook!

Without cleaning out the pan, reduce the heat to low and add the remaining tablespoon of cooking oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently about 2-3 minutes until softened. Then add the tomato paste, garlic, and cracked red pepper flakes and cook 1 minute more until things start to caramelize slightly. NOTE: It will start to stick to the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Don't worry about that — that's a good thing! Just don't let it burn.
Add a splash of water to the pan, just enough to cover the bottom. It will immediately sizzle on contact with the pan. Increase the heat to high and use a wooden spoon or spatula with a sturdy edge to stir and scrape up the browned bits on the bottom as the liquid begins to boil.
Add the pasta, tomatoes, salt, and pepper to the pan and give them a quick stir. Then add just enough water to almost cover the pasta. It's okay if some of the pasta noodles are sticking out above the water.
When the water begins to boil, set a timer for the "al dente" time given on the rigatoni box. Keep the heat at high the whole time, stirring constantly as the water boils and the pasta cooks to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add water in very small amounts as needed (some pasta shapes absorb water more quickly than others). The idea is to have very little water left in the pan just as the timer goes off.
When there is about a minute left on the timer, and very little water remains in the pan, check the pasta for doneness, reduce the heat to low, add the parmesan cheese all at once and stir vigorously to melt the cheese into a creamy sauce. If the pasta isn't done yet, keep cooking, adding water as needed until it is cooked through.

Bite a noodle in half — if you can see a ring of uncooked pasta in the center, it needs a little more time to cook.

If the timer goes off and you still have a lot of water in your pan, crank the heat as high as it can go and stir really well — the more you stir, the faster the water will evaporate. If you truly have way too much water left, use a spoon, ladle, or turkey baster to remove some water from the pan.

Take the pan off the heat. Slice the chicken and add it back to the pan, along with half the thinly sliced basil. Stir to combine. Serve immediately, topped with the remaining sliced basil and additional grated parmesan cheese.

Video

Pasta Under 30 Minutes Basil Spicy Tomato One pan

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