TacoCat (kinda) Cooks! #27: Yummy Pan Seared Chicken with Aglio Olio 🍝

Hey Hive!

We're back with more of our home cooking! If you're unfamiliar with this series, it's where I showcase some of the food we've been making at home since we've been cooking a lot nowadays! Also I'm running out of content so yeah gotta make the most of it!

So one recipe I've been wanting to try out is a mix between my aglio olio recipe and my pan seared chicken! I was actually inspired by one of my favourite videos by this ASMR youtuber - ASMR Darling! She's really sweet and her videos have been helping me especially with my insomnia. This is the video in question, where she prepares an Italian Chicken over Lemony Spaghetti provided by this US meal kit service called Hello Fresh!

Since I watched this video I've been really into Cooking ASMR. Just listening to the chopping and cooking is so relaxing.

Anyway, for my recipe I went with something more simple trying out different combinations of recipes I already know.

These were the ingredients I used:

frozen skinless chicken breasts (defrosted)
spaghetti
carrots
frozen cauliflower and broccoli
garlic
olive oil
salt
black pepper
paprika
cayenne pepper
chili flakes
mixed herbs

Step 1: Dice the carrots and boil them with the frozen vegetables.

Step 2: Once the vegetables are boiled, put in the spaghetti. Since we're preparing aglio olio, make sure to generously salt the water as well. Once the pasta is al dente, take it off the stove and put it aside.

Step 3: Wash and dry the chicken breasts with paper towels

Step 4: Season the chicken breasts with salt, black pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper and herbs.

Step 5: In a pan on medium-high heat, drizzle olive oil and carefully place the chicken breasts. Cook on both sides for about 5 minutes each.

Now full disclosure, this is where I screwed up the chicken the first time I tried this recipe. My chicken breasts were too thick and didn't cook the whole way through so it ended up being a little raw on the inside. So we ended up having to air-fry them after that which resulted in them being a bit dry. Quite unfortunate, but at least it was still edible and better than wasting the chicken.

So make sure your chicken breasts are less than 2cm thickness for even cooking and if you have a meat thermometer the internal temperature of the chicken should be at least 165°F or 75°C.

I did actually try this again with smaller chicken pieces and it worked a lot better. I did overcook it a little bit though so it wasn't as juicy as I would've liked but I just wanted to make sure it was cooked through. And it was also frozen chicken so it's not super juicy anyway.

Step 6: When the chicken is done, set it aside and let it rest while we prepare the aglio olio.

Step 7: Dice about 4-5 garlic cloves.

Step 8: In the same pan on medium heat, add a generous amount of olive oil and saute the red pepper flakes and garlic until they're lightly brown.

Step 9: Then add in the spaghetti and vegetables that we boiled earlier with 1 cup of pasta water and mix it with the garlic sauce.

When it's ready, time to serve!

So my second attempt at making this was a lot better and I actually air-fried the frozen vegetables instead to roast them since Sean likes that more than just boiling. It actually turned out really tasty and matched the chicken well!

The air-fried vegetables are really easy to make and I'll share that recipe next time since I haven't posted about it. It takes just a bit more time than just straight boiling it but since it's in the air fryer it's still really simple. And I personally like the roasted veggies better too!

Both meals turned out pretty yummy but the second one was definitely a lot better since the chicken was cooked, nicely seasoned and not too dry. The pasta was perfectly seasoned though, with the garlic and red pepper sauce. And it wasn't overly salty although I did put in a generous amount of salt. Sean actually loved this meal so much he finished his plate in about 5 minutes!

I think it's been too long since I've cooked pan seared chicken though. I feel like I've lost my touch on how long to cook it and all. At least Sean still likes it but the next time I make this it'll be even better!

Thanks so much for reading!