Spaghetti with Chicken and Grape Tomatoes, a pasta inspired by the abundance of tomatoes and basil in my garden this year.
Spaghetti with Chicken and Tomatoes
Each summer, I plant every variety of tomatoes, including grape tomatoes. Grape tomatoes are always the first to grow and ripen. Since I usually wind up with more than I can eat in salads, I like to create new recipes with them. Adding them to pasta is one of my favorite ways to cook them. This is also a great way to use chicken breasts in a flavorful way. Some other recipes with grape tomatoes you make like are Spiralized Zucchini and Grape Tomatoes, Angel Hair Pasta with Zucchini and Tomatoes, and Sheet Pan Shrimp with Broccolini and Tomatoes.
This tomato basil chicken pasta recipe is bursting with flavor and is pretty easy to make. When you use in-season produce, you don’t need many extra ingredients. The only ingredients in the sauce are the fresh tomatoes, sautéed with garlic and seasoned with salt and pepper. I top it with fresh basil at the end.
Are cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes the same?
Cherry and grape tomatoes are similar bite-sized tomatoes, but they do have their differences. Grape tomatoes are oval like a grape with a thicker skin than cherry tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are rounder like a cherry, juicier, and sweeter. You can easily switch out the grape tomatoes with cherry tomatoes if that’s what you have. Tomatoes are the best in the summer, so they’ll both be delicious in this chicken pasta.
Spaghetti Variations:
- Use shrimp instead of chicken breast.
- Add extra vegetables, like spinach, onions, or mushrooms.
- Sub cherry tomatoes for grape tomatoes.
- If you’d like some heat, season with red pepper flakes.
- Swap the spaghetti for angel hair or use zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash for a low-carb alternative.
More Spaghetti Recipes You’ll Love:
- Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs
- Spaghetti with Butternut Leek Parmesan Sauce
- Spaghetti Carbonara
- One Pot Spaghetti Puttanesca
- Meatball and Spaghetti Soup
Spaghetti with Sauteed Chicken and Grape Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb), diced in 1 inch cubes
- cooking spray
- 1/2 tsp each of dried oregano and dried basil
- kosher salt and fresh pepper, to taste
- 8 oz spaghetti, gluten-free or whole wheat
- 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
- 6 cloves garlic, smashed and coarsely chopped
- 4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 tbsp chopped fresh basil
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
- Season chicken generously with salt, pepper, oregano and basil.
- Heat a large skillet on high heat. When hot, spray with oil and add chicken. Cook about 3-4 minutes, until no longer pink.
- Remove chicken and set aside.
- Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Reserve about 1/2 cup pasta water before draining.
- While pasta cooks, add olive oil to skillet on high heat.
- Add garlic and sauté until golden brown (do not burn). Add tomatoes, salt and pepper and reduce heat to medium-low. Sauté about 4-5 minutes.
- When pasta is drained, add pasta to tomatoes and toss well. If pasta seems too dry, add some of the reserved pasta water.
- Add fresh basil and chicken and toss well. Serve and top with good grated cheese.
This is one of my favorites! I use left over rotisserie chicken to make it even easier. I use your recipes 6 days a week because I know it will taste delicious, and the nutrition information makes it so easy to count my macros! Keep up the great work!
It was so light and delicious! Will definitely make it again!
Thank you for showing sodium content. Too often people do not include this. Your recipes are my favorites. Loved this one. Thank you.
This was such a great recipe! Add salt where you need and crushed red pepper. I marinated my chicken in an Italian marinade as well which was good. Pasta water is very important!Â
Made this recipe as is with grape tomatoes and basil from my garden. Sooooo good! Husband was lured with “something smelling wonderful from the kitchen.” Added some buttered crunchy bread. Thanks Gina for another easy and delish recipe….looking forward to the leftover meal.
Perfect!!
Just found this recipe and so I glad I did! So easy, delicious and not too many calories since we’re watching our weights. Will definitely be making quite often!
Made this last night. I used cooked rotisserie chicken and added the dry basil and oregano when I added the tomatoes. Quick, easy, and yummy!
I’m a bit confused about the serving size. What is 11/2? Sorry not a math person. I’m super excited to make this though. Can you advise?
its 1 1/2 cups
Thoughts on freezing this? Mine was yummy. I did add more seasoning and I tripled the recipe for a crowd, but I have too many left overs.
Loved this! Even my (slightly picky) husband couldn’t get enough of it! So easy and delicious. This will definitely become a staple in our house.
Can I use salmon in this recipe instead of chicken or shrimp? And make a day ahead of time?
Sure!
This was delicious. I added Celery to mine to use up what I had. My husband and I loved it. It was added to our rotation.
Nice, light, and easy pasta dish! Perfect for a weekend night dinner.
We found this recipe fresh and easy to make, but the result was a bit bland. Definitely needed salt. Overall, we’d make it again.
This was incredibly good. My 100% italian husband even liked it ~ alot! Very easy to put together which made great to cook after getting home from work.
We changed the pasta to spiralized zucchini and increased the garlic to 8 cloves and tomatoes to 3 cups. This was an absolutely amazing meal in under 30 minutes.
I generally love your recipes. I followed this one exactly and it was extremely bland. My boyfriend was not a fan either.Â
We spiralized zucchini from the garden. Cherry tomatoes fro. The garden. Increased the amount of garlic and tomatoes. It was spot on.
This was absolutely incredible!!! I followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect. SO flavorful and fresh! Thank you, Gina, for another amazing recipe!
I made this today for my wife, my son-in-law and myself. Three people with different food tastes. All of us loved it! I used less oregano because my wife’s not a fan, less garlic because my son-in-law is not a fan and no fresh basil because I won’t spend the money for it at the supermarket. And I used Kraft parmesan cheese.
It was delicious nevertheless. (A year ago I would have purchased the fresh basil and imported parmesan cheese, btw. I’m self-employed and business has been a little slow these past months. 🙂 )
Just made this and it smells heavenly! Fingers crossed 🤞 it will taste as good.
I made it exactly like the recipe called for and it was so yummy!! I can’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
Just made this tonight. Came out perfect!Â
This recipe was really good! Â Loved the taste of the grape tomatoes and garlic all mixed with the spaghetti. Â Will be making this again in no time.
Try adding baby spinach. Use as much or as little as you desire.
This is an amazing recipe utilizing fresh items from the garden with many options to customize depending on preferences. Soooo good.Â