The secret to the creamy texture has a lot to do with the starches from the pasta in the sauce. I’ve been on a pasta kick lately. I’m missing Italian food down here in Texas after living in the Boston area for a long time, so I’m grabbing the bull by the horns and forging ahead with making Italian food myself. Granted, this chicken and broccoli linguine isn’t necessarily a traditional Italian recipe, like my last one (Bucatini all’Amatriciana), but it’s cooked using a similar method. This method ensures that the flavor-packed sauce sticks to every single noodle. Really, the photos don’t do this one justice. Trust me- those noodles are coated in the most delicious lemony, chickeny, buttery sauce imaginable.
I recommend using the “nice” pasta from your grocery store for this recipe (read: not the one that costs 99 cents), and for almost all skillet pasta recipes. Bronze cut is best- that means there is a bit of a texture to the pasta, so the sauce sticks a bit better. Bronze cut pasta also contains more starch. Some of the pasta water is added to the sauce to thicken it, and the pasta will finish cooking for just a minute or two in the sauce, absorbing its flavor and imparting its starches into it. For even more creaminess to the sauce, I stirred in some finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese at the end as well as a pad of butter for extra richness. Mmm, mmm. This pasta is seriously delicious.
The ingredients in this recipe pair so well together. Chicken and broccoli is an obvious one- who doesn’t love that combo? The sauce is super fresh and bright from fresh basil and lemon. It’s rich and salty from the Pecorino Romano cheese. Finally, sliced almonds give each bite a delightful crunch. Plus, the pan is deglazed with white wine after the chicken and garlic is cooked, ensuring all of the delicious browned bits from the pan are incorporated into the sauce. Don’t drink wine? No problem- just use a little extra chicken broth instead (see recipe notes). One final note: I love me some whole wheat pasta, but for this recipe, I used regular white pasta. White pasta is starchier, meaning the sauce will be creamier. If you choose to use whole wheat pasta, be prepared for a less creamy sauce. Love red sauce on your pasta? Try this Chicken and Linguine with Tomato Basil Butter Sauce. Here’s the printable recipe for chicken and broccoli linguine with lemon butter basil sauce!
