This Chicken Scampi recipe is a light, flavorful weeknight pasta dinner that’s high-protein and comes together in under 30 minutes.
Chicken Scampi
This easy Chicken Scampi is my high-protein spin on classic shrimp scampi—made with juicy chicken breast, garlic, lemon, and a buttery white wine sauce tossed with whole wheat angel hair and spinach. I actually developed this while testing recipes for Skinnytaste Simple, but it didn’t make the cut since it has more than 7 ingredients. Still, it was too good not to share here!
Why You’ll Love This Chicken Scampi Recipe
On weeknights when I don’t have the time or energy to cook, I love whipping up a quick pasta dish. I love this one because it’s kid and husband approved, and since I am trying to hit my protein goals, it’s Gina approved too!
- Quick: Ready in under 30 minutes
- High Protein: 47g protein per serving and lighter than traditional scampi recipes
- Kid-Friendly: Easy dinner the family will love!
Not in the mood for pasta? More chicken breast recipes with no pasta you might also enjoy, try this Chicken Piccata or my popular Chicken Parmesan Recipe.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe, see recipe card for exact measurements.
- Chicken: Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small cubes for quick cooking.
- Garlic: Thinly sliced for classic scampi flavor.
- Butter: Just enough to give the sauce richness.
- Dry white wine or broth: For deglazing the pan and building flavor. Broth can be used if you don’t drink wine.
- Crushed red pepper flakes: Optional, but a pinch adds warmth.
- Lemon juice: Brightens up the sauce.
- Cherry Tomatoes: Adds color
- Spinach: Stirred in at the end for color and added nutrients.
- Whole wheat angel hair pasta: I love using Delallo for its texture and taste. You can use plain or gluten-free pasta if you wish!
How to Make Chicken Scampi
Here’s the step-by-step directions for making this easy chicken dinner. See recipe card for printable directions.
- Boil the pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Cook the chicken: Cut into ½-inch cubes and season. Brown in batches over high heat for a quick sear, then set aside.
- Build the sauce: In the same pan, sauté the garlic in butter, then deglaze with wine or broth, scraping up the bits. Add red pepper and salt. Simmer to reduce.
- Add finishing touches: Stir in tomatoes briefly, then the rest of the butter and lemon juice. Remove from heat.
- Toss everything together: Cook the pasta al dente, reserve some water, then toss the pasta with chicken, spinach, and sauce. Add pasta water as needed to coat. Finish with parsley and Parmesan.
Variations
- Swap the protein: Use shrimp instead of chicken for a more traditional scampi. It cooks even faster!
- Make it gluten-free: Use your favorite gluten-free spaghetti or angel hair pasta.
- Add more veggies: Toss in sautéed zucchini, mushrooms, for extra flavor and fiber.
- Use broth instead of wine: If you prefer to skip the alcohol, chicken broth works well in place of dry white wine.
- Make it spicy: Add more red pepper flakes or a dash of hot sauce for heat.
Chicken Scampi
Ingredients
- 8 ounces whole wheat angel hair pasta, I love Delallo, or your favorite plain or gluten-free pasta
- 24 ounces chicken breasts, from 3 boneless skinless breasts
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- olive oil spray
- 2 tablespoons butter, divided
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- ¾ cup dry white wine, or broth
- ⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more to taste
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, or grape tomatoes, halved
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 3 tablespoons chopped parsley, plus more for garnish
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Cut chicken breasts into small ½ inch cubes. Season the chicken on both sides with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper to taste.
- Heat a very large skillet over high heat. When the pan is hot, spray the skillet with oil and add half the chicken and cook until browned on all sides and no longer pink inside, 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining chicken. Set aside and reduce heat.
- Add ½ tablespoon of the butter to the skillet and melt, add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the white wine or broth, crushed red pepper flakes and remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt. Cook, scraping the bottom of the pan, until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and let them cook 1 minute, to soften.
- Add the remaining 1 ½ tablespoons butter and melt, add the lemon juice, remove from the heat.
- Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to package directions for al dente, reserve ½ cup water. Drain the pasta and toss with the chicken, add the spinach and cook 1 minute tossing with the sauce adding some of the reserved pasta water if needed. Finish with fresh parsley and serve with plenty of grated Parmesan cheese.
Last Step:
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Recipe Tips
- Don’t overcrowd the pan when browning the chicken—cook in batches for the best sear.
- Wine vs broth: Wine adds depth, but broth works just as well if you prefer it alcohol-free.
- Use tongs to toss the pasta with the sauce—it helps coat every strand.
Serving Suggestions
This dish is a meal on its own, but if you want to round it out, here’s a few side salads that would pair well:
Vegetable Sides
And here’s some easy vegetable side dishes…
More Weeknight Pasta Dinners
For more dinner ideas using pasta, check out these five delicious pasta recipes to inspire your next meal!
- Pasta with Broccoli
- Pasta alla Vodka with Chicken
- Chicken Pasta Primavera
- Cajun Chicken Pasta
- Pasta with Italian Chicken Sausage, Escarole and Beans
If you make this high protein chicken scampi recipe, I would love to see it. Tag me in your photos or videos on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook. And be sure to join the Skinnytaste Community to see what everyone’s cooking!
This Chicken Scampi was absolutely delicious. My husband and I had it for dinner with a salad. The next evening we had the leftovers but I added more tomatoes, chopped zucchini and a little more chicken, once again it was a hit!!
Delicious! I only added capers…
Just made this. It will be put on permanent rotation. Quick, easy, delicious.
This recipe was delicious even given the lower use of butter. I cooked the chicken pieces in a half TBS of butter and a full TBSP of EVOO. it makes the chicken brown and richer than just using oil alone. I also seasoned the chicken with Italian seasoning before cooking. Great flavor overall and just the right amount of richness.
I used chicken tenders and just cut them in half, it turned out great. I would definitely recommend this dish.
Super tasty, i really loved that it is so light 🙂
Delicious !!!!!
Is the 8oz pf pasta cooked or uncooked because I made it with 8oz uncooked and this made way more than 4 servings
I believe 2oz of uncooked pasta is a standard serving.
Easy, simple recipe. Not a ton of flavor, but does the job!
Excellent! I had left over mushrooms and a red pepper cause you can’t have too many vegetables
This is delicious! Simple and very filling. I love that it’s a meal in itself.
I made this last night, and my family and I loved it!! I used chicken broth vs. white wine because that’s what I prefer. This is definitely a keeper. I think next time I make it, I’ll double the spinach. I think I might even use 2 lbs. of chicken vs. 1.5. We all really enjoy extra protein.
Loved this- easy to make and so good! I added mushrooms.
I didn’t have any tomatoes on hand but this was beyond delicious! Perfect amount of lemon.
So easy and such great flavor!
This was easy to make and very tasty! I will make it again. I used about 1 pound of chicken and increased the spinach to 3 cups.
This was delicious! Loved the flavor! I added about 1/2 cup more tomatoes and doubled the spinach to bulk it up with some more veggies. Easy to make, too!
This was so delicious! My daughters loved it!
I’m so glad!
This chicken scampi came out absolutely amazing! The only swaps I made were just using olive oil since I have a dairy allergy and using arugula instead of spinach since that’s what I had. This dish was so flavorful, bright, and filling and only took about 20 minutes to make. This will definitely be a do again when craving pasta.
Very tasty – more garlic the better, I added 1/2 of wine and chicken broth.
This was quick, easy and absolutely delicious. I added mushrooms for some extra veg. Skinnytaste never disappoints! ❤️
Thanks Lisa!
Great recipe – easy and delicious. One problem with the print version of the recipe – it does not list the tomatoes as an ingredient.
Flavorful and super easy. Next time I might add a little more spinach. Otherwise, another Skinny Taste winner.
Thanks Michelle!
Delicious! Great summer dish!
WOW! I served this to friends last night and they went crazy for this!! I used arugula instead of spinach, and it was amazing! 100 🌟 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟!!
Used White wine and loved it!
So so good!!!
Delicious!!
Skinnytaste never disappoints.
Easy and really good. I had purchase chicken tenders on sale used those. The flavor was excellent. Love her recipes.
So happy you loved it!!
I made this for lunch today and it was so flavorful! It had the perfect amount of lemon and did not over power the rest of the ingredients. I love when a recipe that is so quick and easy to make packs as much flavor as this does. Definitely recommend!
The tomatoes are not in the list of ingredients. How many oz. of tomatoes.
1 cup, sorry about that! Just fixed.
Looks like cherry tomatoes in the picture, but not included in ingredient list. How many or should we just guess?
Looks delicious. Have to try it.
The amount and type of tomatoes are not listed in the ingredients.
Amount and type of tomatoes, please.
Love your recipes but this one has a few questionable things going on. First of all you don’t list tomatoes in the list of ingredients, although you say when to add them …. And it says serving size is 1/2 cup…..guessing you actually mean 1 1/2 cups?
Sorry for the mistake, will fix now. I guess I am having an off day!
Hope to make this tonight. Tomatoes are not listed in list of ingredients but are in cooking instructions. What type of tomatoes are used and how many?
Delicious! My family loved it. My kids are very picky eaters but they loved this. I make it as often as possible.
Is the serving size really 1/2 cup or should it be 1 1/2 cups?
1 1/2 (1/4 of the recipe)
There’s a mistake in the recipe if you can fix it please. Tomatoes are included in the instructions but not the ingredients? Are those cherry tomatoes maybe?
And how many/much tomatoes?