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This Romesco Sauce Chicken Pasta Dinner recipe is a speedy gourmet dinner for you to pull up when you’re rushed, or when you need to impress. The Romesco sauce is a no cook flavor packed sauce that comes together using a blender or food processor, so all you need to do is cook the pasta in minutes.
The chicken grills in minutes and gets an extra drizzle of sauce to bring up the flavor and complete this fabulous dinner in a flash!
I have a confession, I love no cook sauces. It’s not like I don’t appreciate the cooked stuff, but more often than others I find myself too busy to enjoy cooking a long cooked sauce.
That’s when I pull out my no cook sauces—pure comfort and satisfaction in minutes! And today’s Romesco sauce is grandma approved so there you go.
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A couple of weeks ago, one of my best friends had a family emergency—which to her is a sudden dinner visit from family members. She called me asking for help to go out somewhere close, and when I suggested she make this Romesco sauce pasta chicken dinner recipe—she thought I was joking.
It took me a while to convince her, but guess what she gave up and went for it. I wish I could’ve photographed that dinner she made! It was perfect, delicious, enjoyed by everyone and became her go to recipe now for dinners, guests—I actually admit a few times I told her she needs to make something new lol
Alright let me tell you about this Spanish beauty called the Romesco sauce. It’s a love affair between sweet roasted peppers, roast tomatoes, sweet almonds, fresh basil and parsley, a spike of garlic, olive oil and a touch of spice.
All these flavors blend together into a creamy sweet sauce that can be used endlessly. In Spain it’s classically used as a dip (for calamari, seafood and tapas), it also makes a fabulous sauce over grilled meats and chicken, a super quick flavorful pasta sauce and a perfectly vegan sauce to dress up your sandwiches, veggies and goodies!
This Romesco Sauce Chicken Pasta is a Mediterranean dream right on your plate. You can play around with the herbs all you want to suit your taste, for me the basil and parsley do the trick with a touch of oregano.
I prefer using fresh herbs for his sauce since it’s a no cook sauce and relies on that fresh clean taste, but you can definitely use some dried herbs (specially the oregano can be easily substituted).
If you’re a creamy cream sauce kind of person like my mom, You can add a touch of fresh cream to the sauce (just 2 tablespoons), this touch transforms this classic fresh tasting Romesco into a decadent tasting Romesco sauce.
And hello some freshly grated Parmesan cheese can never hurt if you can afford to indulge here. I’ll admit I have days when I love the light fresh clean taste of this sauce, but oh man there are other days when I crave that velvety creamy sauce over my pasta too. Let your mood guide you —you can’t go wrong either way!
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So we’ve been talking too much about the sauce and pasta that we forgot to mention the grilled chicken. I love nothing overpowering here, because I love the Romesco sauce to shine.
So I just mix chicken strips with fresh garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper and some dried oregano—no marinade required. Then simply grill those strips for a couple of minutes per side on high heat till cooked.
Once ready, you can drizzle the chicken with some Romesco sauce or use it as a dip on the side. Feel free to use some sirloin strips or if you’re feeling fancy, some tenderloin strips 🙂
I love coiling the pasta in the shape of flowers like that. I used lasagna pasta—but any shape or size would work perfectly here. And for the record, store bought roast peppers work wonderfully in this recipe if you have no time to roast them yourselves.
And canned Roma tomatoes work great too. If you’re out of almonds, think pine nuts, walnut or even pecans. The nuts add a creamy feel to the sauce (minus the cream) and they also bind the sauce together.
- Romesco Sauce:
- 4 Roasted Red peppers (jarred or freshly roasted and peeled)
- 3 canned Roma Tomatoes (or freshly roasted and peeled)
- 1 large clove of garlic
- 2 tablespoons of slivered almonds (pine nuts, walnuts, cashews or pecans)
- ¼ cup of fresh basil and parsley leaves
- 1 Tablespoon of fresh oregano leaves
- pinch of salt
- 1 Tablespoon of olive oil
- pinch of red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
- For the chicken strips:
- 2 labs of boneless skinless chicken breasts cup up into strips
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons of dried oregano
- juice of 1 lemon
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- ¼ teaspoon of black pepper
- 1 teaspoon of olive oil
- Pasta:
- 1 box of lasagna pasta, boiled according to the box directions
- Preheat the grill pan to high. Mix the chicken ingredients together and start grilling it when the grill is ready.
- Place the chicken strips in a single layer and let them cook for 2 minutes without flipping. Then flip the chicken strips and lower the heat to medium high and continue cooking for a least 2 more minutes. Check if the chicken is done (depending on the thickness and size) and remove them from the grill or continue cooking them on the other side for a couple more minutes.
- Set the chicken aside.
- In a food processor, add all the Romesco sauce ingredients and process until smooth.
- Toss the pasta sauce with half the sauce and drizzle some on the chicken or leave it aside for dipping.
- Enjoy!
- Note**
- You can add 2 tablespoons of fresh cream and Parmesan cheese for extra flavor in the sauce, and extra cheese over the pasta if desired.