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This one pot ground chicken fajita pasta is the perfect busy weeknight rush dinner. Ground chicken paired with warm spices, onions, peppers, creamy sour cream, and of course – CHEESE!
Comfort food comes in all forms, and surprisingly, for me, it took a move to New York to realize that pasta is the ultimate comfort food.
I grew up in a household where my dad wasn’t a big pasta fan, so we never ate it.
This dish is literally comfort in a bowl. It is packed full of Tex-Mex flavor, made with ground chicken, vegetables, pasta, homemade fajita sauce, spices, and just a touch of cheese.
Trust me, if you’re looking for the perfect ONE POT pasta dish this is the recipe you need.
And if you love all these flavors but crave something with fewer carbs, try my stuffed Ground Chicken Fajita Spaghetti Squash, which has all the same flavors but is made with spaghetti squash.
Ingredients for One Pot Ground Chicken Fajita Pasta
- Ground Chicken – a great low-fat ground meat option!
- Yellow onion
- Red and yellow bell pepper – use whatever color bell pepper you have!
- Garlic
- Spices – I use chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, and kosher salt.
- Tomato sauce – You’ll want to use canned tomato sauce, not spaghetti sauce, with many Italian seasonings.
- Chicken stock
- Dried pasta – I used orecchiette, but other shapes that work well here are bowtie, rotini, penne, and even rigatoni.
- Sour cream – if you’re out of sour cream, cream cheese is a great substitute.
- Cilantro
- Shredded cheese – I used a Mexican blend of shredded cheese, but any shredded cheese will work well. Shredded pepper jack is one of my favorites!
What pan works best for one pot meals?
When making one pot pasta, you want a pan with high sides to add all your ingredients without worrying about anything spilling over the side.
Cleaning up a dirty stove can be the worst, especially if you have a flat-top stove like mine.
So, I busted out my trusty Le Creuset braiser pan for this one pot ground chicken fajita pasta. This pan is so excellent. You need one if you don’t already own one. TRUST ME!
If you’re looking for a pan that is a bit lighter than a Le Creuset, you should try my other favorite pan from American Kitchen.
Can I substitute ground beef?
Of course! You can easily substitute ground turkey, beef, or even pork.
I love the taste of ground chicken, which can take on the flavor of the spices you add to this recipe.
Substitutions and Adaptations
Here are a few ideas for changing the flavor while keeping the method the same.
- Switch up the ground meat to bring in a different flavor.
- Instead of using canned tomato sauce, you could easily use 15 ounces of store-bought enchilada sauce to bring in even more flavor.
- For a vegetarian experience, double the vegetables, use vegetable broth, use non-dairy cheese, and add vegan meat crumbles.
My Pro Tips
Ground Chicken Fajita Pasta Recipe Tips
Prep your ingredients ahead of time. This will allow you to focus on the food as it’s cooking and not become overwhelmed by trying to do too much at once.
To make it simple, I added cheese at the end and let the warmth of the pasta melt the cheese. However, if you love crunchy cheese toppings, pop them under the broiler.
If you don’t like cilantro, you can opt to leave it out. However, I think it brightens up the dish for you cilantro lovers!
FAQ’s
More ground chicken recipes
One Pot Ground Chicken Fajita Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground lean chicken
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 15 ounces tomato sauce
- 1-1/4 cup chicken stock
- 8 ounces dried pasta
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup minced cilantro
- 1/2 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
Instructions
- In a large 12 inch high sided skillet add 1 tablespoon olive oil and set over medium heat.
- When the oil is hot add in the ground chicken, yellow onion, bell peppers, garlic, chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, kosher salt, and black pepper.
- Cook until the meat is fully cooked and no longer pink and the vegetables have started to soften.
- Pour in the tomato sauce, chicken stock, and the dried pasta. Stir to combine.
- Let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes or until the past is fully cooked. If the mixture cooks down too much before the pasta is fully cooked add a little more stock.
- After the pasta is fully cooked the mixture should be creamy but thick. Stir in the sour cream and cilantro.
- Top with cheese and let the warmth of the pasta melt the cheese.
- Optional – Melt the cheese under an oven broiler if in an oven safe dish.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can I leave out the sour cream.
Yes but it does bring a bit of creaminess to the finished product! You can use cream cheese or greek yogurt in place.
Delicious but i like to cook my pasta separately to cut cooking time and prevent the dish from becoming a bit gummy from the water released from the pasta? Not sure how to explain that… if i dont cook pasta separately it takes sometimes up to 20 minutes with extra broth to cook the pasta to the right texture.
Some Amerxican bs. Followed recipe to a t. Pasta and Mexican just should not mix. Thank God I left out the sour cream, I would have probably thrown up.
Sorry you’re not a fan but a lot of people really enjoy this recipe. Maybe next time don’t make a recipe that has both pasta and Mexican if you don’t like them together?
Never tried fideo, then?
This was delicious! I ended up using about 3/4 of a box of pasta and just used extra chicken stock. I also was out of a few things so only used one bell pepper, one 8oz tomato sauce and it turned out beautifully! I also added a shredded zucchini for extra veg. Thanks for this super easy recipe! My whole family loved it.
Definitely like cooking risotto. I had to keep adding chicken broth, subbed greek yogurt for sour cream and maybe would cut the tomato sauce in half next time. Yummy!
So tasty and quick and easy! Most of my kids loved it (except the youngest, but that’s no surprise lol). This will go into my rotation for sure. I really appreciate the use of ground chicken and all the veggies. Thanks!
Hi Steph – I’m so glad you enjoyed the dish! Ground chicken is one of our favorite ground meats. I love all the flavor it can handle. Plus it keeps the dish nice and lean.