Chicken Scampi Pasta has a garlic butter sauce that is light, vibrant, and so satisfying. It was inspired by our Shrimp Scampi Pasta and the family licked their plates clean with this one.
My kids loved the lemon flavor and went back for refills, and so did my husband. It’s the best feeling when the whole family is so pleased with dinner.
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We love chicken pasta recipes from Chicken Alfredo to Lemon Chicken Pasta and let’s not forget Chicken Tetrazzini. If you are a pasta lover, this Chicken Scampi Pasta is a must-try.
Chicken Scampi Video Tutorial
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What makes a dish scampi?
In the US, most people think of Scampi as being the Italian-American concept of Shrimp Scampi, but scampi by itself is a dish that is served in a sauce made of butter, garlic, and dry white wine. You can make all kinds of scampi including lobster, scallops, and chicken scampi.
Ingredients for Chicken Scampi
- Pasta – use 12 oz spaghetti and salt the water
- Chicken Tenders – the easiest and most forgiving chicken to work with
- Salt, Pepper, Flour – to dredge the chicken
- Olive Oil, Butter– to cook the chicken and make sauce (do not skimp on the butter)
- White Wine – use a dry wine such as chardonnay or sauvignon blanc
- Garlic – 4 cloves, or 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- Lemon – you’ll need 1 tsp of zest and 1/4 cup lemon juice from 1 large or 2 medium lemons
- Parsley – finely chopped and added at the end
How to Make Chicken Scampi
- Prep – before firing up the stove, chop, zest and juice your ingredients. Season chicken tenders and dip in flour, dusting off the excess.
- Cook Pasta in salted water until al dente, reserve 1/2 cup pasta water then drain and tranfer to a serving platter.
- Saute Chicken – while pasta is cooking, sautee chicken in butter and oil for 2 minutes per side (or until 165˚F on a thermometer) then transfer to a plate.
- Make Sauce – Deglaze the pan with 3/4 cup white wine and cook 5 minutes to reduce down to 1/4 cup liquid. Add butter then garlic and simmer 30 seconds. Off the heat add lemon juice, zest, parsley and salt to taste.
- Combine – return chicken to the pan and turn to coat in sauce. Spoon extra sauce over the pasta and toss. Top the pasta with chicken and any remaining sauce.
Pro Tip: Use some of your reserved pasta water to deglaze the empty pan then drizzle that over your pasta to get all of the tasty sauce in your dish.
Common Questions
You can substitute with boneless, skinless chicken breasts that have been trimmed of fat and cut into strips (1-inch thick).
You can reheat leftover pasta and chicken over low heat on a skillet just until warmed through. If the pasta seems dry, you can drizzle with water and a little more butter. For a boost of flavor, squeeze in fresh lemon juice and serve with freshly chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese.
You can use an inexpensive dry white wine, but I highly recommend only cooking with a wine that you’d drink. Avoid using “cooking wine,” which contains preservatives, sweeteners, and salt that can ruin a dish.
You can make the chicken scampi with sauce and serve it over Mashed Potatoes or White Rice. It’s also yummy on cooked buckwheat.
Serve with
Chicken scampi pasta is such a hearty and satisfying dinner. All it needs is a simple veggie side dish or salad to complete the meal. We love to serve pasta with:
Make Chicken Scampi for your next pasta night. It comes together fast and everyone loves this easy 30-minute meal.
More Pasta Dinners
If you enjoyed this Chicken Scampi Pasta, you will love these comforting and family-approved pasta recipes:
- Chicken Lasagna
- Baked Feta Pasta
- Stuffed Pasta Shells
- Baked Ziti
- Spaghetti and Meatballs
- Creamy Shrimp pasta
Chicken Scampi Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 oz spaghetti
- 1 1/2 lbs chicken tenders
- 1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- 3/4 cup dry white wine, chardonnay or sauvignon blanc
- 4 garlic cloves, (1 Tbsp minced)
- 1 tsp lemon zest, from 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup lemon juice, from 2 lemons
- 1/3 cup parsley, finely chopped
- Parmesan, freshly shredded to serve
Instructions
- Prep: chop, zest, juice, and mince all of your ingredients before you start cooking. Season chicken tenders with salt and pepper then dredge in flour.
- Cook pasta: Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 2 Tbsp salt. Cook pasta according to package instructions until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water then drain the pasta and return pasta to the pot. Partially cover to keep warm.
- Sautee chicken: While pasta is cooking, cook the chicken. Heat a large skillet over medium/high heat. Add 1 Tbsp oil and swirl in 1 Tbsp butter. Sauté chicken 2 minutes per side or until golden and cooked through to 165˚F on a thermometer. Remove to a plate. Add another Tbsp of oil and 1 Tbsp butter and sauté the second batch of chicken then transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm.
- Make sauce: Carefully add 3/4 cup white wine. Return to medium/high heat and scrape the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Cook about 5 minutes or until reduced to about 1/4 cup liquid. Add 4 Tbsp butter and stir to melt. Add garlic and simmer 30 seconds until fragrant. Remove from heat and add 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 tsp lemon zest, and 1/4 cup parsley. Stir to combine and season with 1/2 tsp salt or to taste.
- Combine: Return chicken to the pan and turn to coat in sauce. Transfer drained pasta to a large serving bowl then tilt the pan and spoon extra sauce over cooked spaghetti. Toss spaghetti lightly with sauce then top with chicken and drizzle remaining sauce over the pasta*. Serve garnished with more parsley and freshly shredded parmesan.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
I can’t tell you how happy I was to find this recipe! One of my favorite dinners has always been shrimp scamp but now that my daughter has a shellfish allergy I don’t make it any more. But I made your recipe with chicken and I am over the moon happy! Thank you so much Natasha! Everyone loves it and I will be making this often
Hi Karen! I’m so glad you loved the recipe. You’re very welcome.
Great! You’re good putting together a recipe. Was hard getting through Google ads but it was worth my time.
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I appreciate your feedback, and I hope you love every recipe you try.
Thought this was very tasty! The lemon was just perfect, not overwhelming at all. I did not add the zest though. Lovely meal!
Thank you, Margie. Good to know that you loved this recipe!
Another delicious recipe of yours I’ve made for my family that was a success! My husband kept saying how good it was while eating 🙂 Thank you!
That’s great! So glad to hear that. Thank you for sharing.
Remove or reduce the lemon and this is a winner. Just too overwhelming on the lemon. I had a shrimp scampi cooking on the side with just butter and garlic and everyone poured it on the chicken to minimize the lemon. But I like the simplicity of this recipe and easy to make
Thank you for sharing your feedback, Dave!
loved the flavor! just not enough sauce!!!! i added a bit of ck. broth!
This dish was very tasty…I would make it again. Kids couldn’t get enough of it!
That’s a win! I’m glad they loved it.
Do you take out the tendons on the chicken tenders? The dish looks delicious. You mention using chicken breast in place of the tenderloins, is the cook time the same?.
Hi David! You can remove the tendons if you’d like but not necessary. If you are using skinless chicken breasts, they should be trimmed of fat and cut into strips (1-inch thick) then you can follow the recipe exactly the same after that.
Can I use corn starch in place of flour? Or would a gluten free flour be necessary?
Hi Andrea! I have not tested corn starch to advise. One of my readers reported good results using GF flour.
This recipe calls for 1.5 cups of the white wine, and the true scription of the recipe it only says add the 3/4. So when do I add the remaining 3/4?
Hi Brook, The recipe card shows “3/4 cup dry white wine, chardonnay or sauvignon blanc” I’m not finding where I have a note on it being 1.5 cups. Did you possibly use the recipe portion slider to increase the amount?
This is on repeat in our house. It’s so easy and the sauce is delicious! Love it!
So glad you love this recipe! We love it too.
Hi, is there is substitute i can use for the wine. Thank you. Your food is so amazing.
Hi, thank you! Yes, you can use broth in its place.
If I want to double the sauce is it ok to double the wine?
Will it be too much wine?
I haven’t tested that but I think it could work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
what can I use in place of wine i cannot use wine, so what would be a replacement for that ?
You can use broth in its place.
I normally love scampi. The butter, garlic— but not this one.
I only used the juice of one very small lemon and I omitted the zest, I’m not a fan of the taste.
After cooking the chicken I had high expectations for the recipe, the chicken tasted great before the sauce.
After I deglazed the pan I waited then added the butter then the fresh garlic at this point it was still okay but the lemon absolutely ruined it. I tried adding some chicken stock to dilute the lemon. The lemon is basically all you can taste. No garlic, no butter, no wine.
I added some corn starch to thicken the sauce a l little .,
I really wish I had never put the chicken in the sauce and through it out. And made a simple sauce for the spaghetti noodles and left the good tasting chicken alone.
Hi Laurie, I’m sorry to hear this recipe didn’t live up to your expectations and this one usually gets positive reviews. Was there anything different or changed in the recipe? Did you cook and simmer the sauce for the recommended times and add things in the order listed?
I have made a lot of your recipes and loved them all, but I can tell from your finished product that there is no way near enough sauce and looks way too lemony. Dry pasta is a bane, this needed more sauce. Also chicken tenders looked over cooked. needs some tweaking.
So easy but with so much flavor, this was enjoyed by all. Served this with Caesar Salad and French Bread.
Sounds delicious! So glad it was enjoyed. Thank you for the review.
The sauce came out VERY lemony which for me was fine but for my picky eaters was too much lemon. I would definitely make this again just with juice from one lemon rather than two!
This is one of my nephew’s favorite dishes – We love this dish! Easy to make and tastes great. He always makes sure to have garlic bread to complete the dinner.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Soudi!
Enjoyed a fresh dish this spring. I would omit the lemon juice and just use the zest next time – the lemon was too overpowering for this family. Since I love one pot meals, we added asparagus and mushrooms into. My husband found it bland so we’d add red pepper flakes for sure next time.