Twisty Sauce Pasta is an incredible pasta dish with bite size pieces of seasoned chicken breast, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms, with parmigiano and coated in a wonderful twisty bread sauce. The same sauce in fact, that is used for Dominos Twisty Bread, or at least it used to be. The only difference is instead of combining Garlic Butter & Pesto to create the twisty bread sauce. We use the Garlic butter to cook the mushrooms and chicken and add the pesto sauce very last off heat. The dish relies on the pan method of preparing pasta with pasta water and parmigiano to create the creamy base sauce.
Plus, any leftover Garlic Butter or Pesto can be used to make Twisty Bread Sticks, Bread Bites or Garlic Bread. These are also good to serve for this dish as a side.
This is a quick weeknight meal too, only taking about 30 minutes to make. Only about 20 minutes of cook time, about 15 minutes for the pasta and another 5 minutes to complete the dish.
Twisty Sauce Pasta Ingredients
Chicken Breast, Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Pasta, Garlic Butter, Cherry Tomatoes, Cremini Mushrooms, Parmigiano Reggiano, Pesto, Aleppo Chili Flakes, Parsley.
Chicken Breast
Use 1–2 Chicken Breast and fillet each breast to get 4 fillets. You can use 1 Chicken Breast for a lighter meal or to stretch the Chicken Breasts. Once you have your fillets, chop into bite size pieces.
Use 1/2 tsp Sea Salt & 1/4 tsp of Black Pepper for every 1 lb of Chicken Breast. Or about 1/4 tsp Sea Salt & 1/8 tsp of Black Pepper for each breast, thereabouts.
Omit the Chicken for a Vegetarian or Meatless Monday Meal.
Pasta
Any kind of Pasta can be used, either long or short pastas. For this dish, I really like Penne Pasta. Since this is called Twisty Sauce Pasta, perhaps a more fitting pasta would be Rotini or Cavatappi. Either way, whether you use a twisty pasta, another short pasta or long pastas, you’ll need about 1 lb (454g) worth. A little over or under is perfectly fine. With the 500g bag of Penne Rigate, I just use the whole thing. Which is enough to make 5–6 servings.
Boiling Pasta
Bring 16 C of Water plus 2 Tbl of Sea Salt to a Boil. Once boiling, add the pasta and cook until done. It will be scooped out with a spider and placed directly into a pan. At the same time the pasta is boiling, everything else will be prepared and cooked, so timing is crucial here. Make use of the oven timer.
Twisty Sauce
The Twisty Sauce is what brings it all together and is the same sauce that is used for Twisty Bread, hence the name Twisty Sauce Pasta. The Twisty Sauce itself is the combination Garlic Butter for this recipe and Pesto. However, we keep the Garlic Butter separate. Because Pesto sauce does not do well with heat. Therefore, the Pesto is added very last, while off heat to mix in.
Garlic Butter
The Garlic base of the Twisty Sauce for this recipe is Garlic Butter. The Garlic Butter is a bit more extensive but really delivers some flavor from the use of Aioli in it. It is initially used to cook the Mushrooms & bite size Chicken pieces, while the pasta is boiling.
Pesto
Keep the Pesto separate and add it last. This is because Pesto sauce does not do well with heat and really should be added to the Pasta very last and off heat to mix in. We also use twice the amount of Pesto, to make the dish more Herbal in flavor.
Parmigiano Reggiano
Authentic freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, this stuff is too good. Set it aside until ready to add with the pasta. More of it can be used as a garnish as well. For this recipe only a small amount is used about 21 g. You can certainly add in more or use more to garnish.
Vegetables
The vegetables added for this dish is Cherry or Grape Tomatoes and Cremini Mushrooms. Both of which works so beautifully with a Garlic Pesto Sauce. Wash both the Tomatoes & Mushrooms and slice the Tomatoes in half and the Mushrooms into thick slices.
While the Mushrooms are added very first to cook in the Garlic Butter. The Tomatoes are added towards the end to preserve the freshness and tartness. You want the tomatoes to still hold their shape, just a bit of heat.
Pan Twisty Sauce Pasta
Pan Pasta takes the Pasta straight out of the water when it is Al Dente and adds it directly to the pan with a bit of Pasta Water. This is mixed aggressively to rub off the starches that in turn will go creamy, further thickened with a bit of parmigiano. Pesto is added at the very end with the heat off to mix in right before serving.
How to make Twisty Sauce Pasta
Start by adding the pasta to the boiling salted water (16 C water & 2 Tbl Sea Salt) and mix. Cover the pot to bring the water to a boil faster and set the timer for 15 minutes. It’s going to take 15 minutes to boil penne pasta. During which you will heat the pan, cook the mushrooms, followed by the chicken and done by the time the pasta is ready.
When 13 minutes remain, give the pasta a stir and leave boil uncovered. Place a very large skillet over medium heat and let it heat up for 3 minutes. When 10 minutes remain, add the Garlic Butter and immediately follow with Mushrooms. Cook the Mushrooms for 5 minutes.
When 5 minutes remain, add the seasoned Chicken Breast and leave for a minute. Then mix it around until no longer pink which will take about 5 minutes. If you see pieces that are still pink, flip them over to touch the pan.
Scoop the Pasta out of the pot and add directly to the pan, don’t worry about any excess water being carried over. Then add 1 Cup of Pasta Water. Mix very aggressively to rub the starches off the pasta and thicken the sauce a bit. Once it is creamy looking, add the Tomatoes & Parmigiano to mix aggressively again. The sauce should become a bit thicker. Push the pasta aside to check the consistency of the sauce and add more Pasta water if needed. This whole process should take about 5 minutes.
Shut the heat off and add Pesto to mix aggressively again. This should further thicken the sauce.
Move the pasta aside to check the sauce consistency and mix again if needed, else serve it right away.
Garnishing
Aleppo Chili Flakes not only add red to the pasta which makes the dish pop, along with any tomatoes. But it is a very subtle heat, much less than red chili flakes. It also has a fruity tomato taste that is very complimentary. Red Chili Flakes can be used instead for more heat. More parmigiano can be served on top as well.
Ingredients
- 1 lb Penne Rigate Pasta - 454g to 500g
- 21 g Parmigiano Reggiano - Finely grated
- 1/2 C Pesto
- 1/2 lb Cherry Tomatoes - Sliced in half
- 1/2 lb Cremini Mushrooms - Sliced
- 1/4 C Garlic Butter
- 1 C Pasta Water - or more to adjust the consistency of the Sauce
- As Desired Aleppo for Garnishing - or Red Chili Flakes for more heat
- As Desired Parsley for Garnishing - or Fresh Basil Leaves tossed in with the Pasta
Pasta Water
- 16 C Water
- 2 Tbl Sea Salt
Seasoned Chicken
- 1-2 Chicken Breast - Filleted and chopped into bite size pieces
- 1/2 tsp Salt - or 1/4 tsp per breast
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper - or 1/8 tsp per breast
Instructions
- Prep: Bring a pot filled with 16 c of Water and 2 Tbl of Sea Salt to a boil. Meanwhile, wash and slice the Tomatoes and Mushrooms. Prepare the Garlic Butter as well.Add the Pasta to the pot, mix and cover. Set the timer to 15 minutes.
- Heat the Pan: Once the timer hits 13 minutes, give the pasta a stir and leave uncovered. Place a large skillet over medium heat and let it get hot for 3 minutes.
- Mushrooms: At the 10-minute mark, give the pasta another stir and add the Garlic Butter to the pan and immediately follow with the mushrooms and stir. Leave for about 1 minute each time, then stir again for a total of 5 minutes.
- Chicken: At the 5-minute mark, give the pasta another stir, add the Chicken Breast in with the mushrooms and again, mix and leave for a minute and repeat until the chicken is no longer pink.
- Pan Pasta: When the Timer hits 0, add all the pasta straight to the pan from the pot, any carry over water doesn't matter. Add 1 Cup of the pasta water and set the timer to 5 minutes. Mix very aggressively to rub the starches off the pasta to thicken the pasta water for about 3 minutes. Once it is creamy looking, add the Tomatoes & Parmigiano. Repeat mixing aggressively to thicken the sauce. Add more pasta water if needed. Once the sauce has thickened and is creamy, shut the heat off and add the pesto. Repeat, mixing aggressively to thicken the sauce and serve right away.