Chicken Alfredo

This is a fool-proof way of making chicken alfredo. One of the first dishes I ever made included alfredo sauce, and I completely botched it. After many attempts at making it correctly, I finally have it down (only took me 2 years- haha).

You can make the chicken ahead of time, in order to cut down on cooking time, the day you're making this dish. For instance, you can bake a large batch of chicken breasts on a day you're not busy. Then, you can use them for meals throughout the week.

With that being said, I'll be honest. Making a large quantity of chicken at once is not my preferred method. What I like to do is throw a few breasts in the crockpot, add 1/2 cup of chicken broth, turn it on low, and then cut/shred it for dinner that night. This way, the meat stays fresh & juicy. I simply like the way it tastes better, when done this way.

Note: While it seems there are a lot of ingredients and steps, it actually doesn't take much time to prepare this dish.

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Ingredients:

2 bell peppers

1/2 red onion

2 tsp red pepper flakes (adjust according to how much spicy you can handle)

1 lb pasta (I prefer linguine or fettuccini noodles, however, I've definitely used whatever I have in the pantry)

2 tbsp olive oil or cooking oil

1 tbsp garlic

Alfredo sauce: 3 tbsp butter

5 tbsp flour

1 cup heavy cream

3 cups milk (I use skim, but any milk would suffice)

2 cups fresh parmesan cheese

3 tbsp garlic

Directions:

1. Prepare chicken- use abovementioned methods to save on time, or bake in oven (if baking in oven, follow these steps, before continuing with this recipe).

2. Cut peppers and red onion into strips.

3. Put olive oil into cooking pan and turn on medium heat. Once hot, add peppers and onion.

4. Allow peppers and onion to "sweat," becoming more translucent and limber. Add garlic, then turn heat down. Allow them to cook all the way through.

5. While peppers and onion finish cooking, begin alfredo sauce and noodles.

6. Boil water & cook pasta as directed*.

7. Place butter into separate cooking pan. Turn heat on medium.

8. Once butter is melted, add flour to make roux**.

9. Once butter and flour are combined, add heavy cream, milk, & garlic. Whisk to combine.

10. Add fresh parmesan cheese and continue to whisk frequently (every 1-2 minutes), so cheese does not burn to bottom of pan.

11. Stir in red pepper flakes.

12. As cheese melts, the sauce will begin to thicken, and look more like the alfredo sauce consistency*** we all know and love.

13. After about 12 minutes, sauce should be done (Make sure cheese is melted completely).

14. Add chicken pieces and peppers/onion to sauce & mix.

15. Combine pasta and sauce. Serve with parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

How do you make your alfredo sauce? Please share with me in the comment section (or share your pictures!)

TIPS:

* If pasta finishes cooking before you are ready to combine sauce, drain it & then drizzle about 1 tbsp olive oil over it, to keep it from getting hard.

** Roux: (noun), "a cooked mixture of butter or other fat and flour used to thicken sauces, soups, etc. (dictionary.com)"

*** If sauce does not thicken, place about 1 cup of it into a small mixing bowl. Add 1-2 tbsp flour and combine. Add this mixture back into sauce and whisk. Whisk sauce for about 5 minutes, and repeat until desired thickness.

Happy cooking!