This Creamy Bacon Mushrooms Pasta is the perfect meal for the whole family. This comfort food meal is full of flavor with a delightful cream sauce, plus plenty of protein and veggies. Make it for date nights, or an easy weeknight meal.
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This creamy chicken pasta is loaded with flavor. Crispy bacon, cooked chicken, mushrooms, and spinach in a creamy sauce packed with the flavors of white wine, parmesan cheese, cream, onions, and garlic. What more could you want? This recipe is a favorite among friends, and we've made it many times over the years.
If you're looking for more pasta recipes, make sure to check out this cheesy chicken and broccoli pasta bake, this cajun chicken alfredo, this creamy chicken garlic parmesan pasta, this cajun shrimp and sausage pasta, or this delicious southern baked mac and cheese!
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❤️Why we love this recipe
- Hearty and filling - You will definitely be satiated with a bowl of this pasta! There's tons of protein in this dish, plus the creamy mushroom chicken bacon sauce has plenty of fat to help you stay full for longer.
- Lots of flavor - We never skimp on flavor, and this creamy chicken dish is packed full of it!
- Suitable for various diet types - This recipe is easy to customize for keto, low carb, gluten free, and even dairy free, so you can find the best fit for you! You can find out suggestions for substitutions near the end of the post.
🧅Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you will need to make this pasta.
✏️Ingredient notes
Here are the ingredients we used to make this creamy chicken mushroom pasta with bacon. You can see the recipe card for quantities.
- Pasta - You can use whatever type of pasta you want and prefer to suit your needs. We like spaghetti to hold up to the hearty proteins.
- Pasta water - Reserved from cooking your pasta.
- Bacon - We cut some slices of bacon up to cook and render out the fat, then use bacon fat to cook our chicken in for extra flavor. You can use pre-cooked bacon bits.
- Unsalted butter - Or olive oil. We recommend using unsalted butter to control the salt content easier.
- Boneless, skinless chicken breast - We like to cook it, then cut the chicken into small pieces and add it back to the sauce. You could also use chicken thighs, or even leftover rotisserie chicken.
- Lemon - Fresh lemon juice adds some great acidity and brightness to the otherwise very rich sauce.
- Yellow onion - Diced. You can substitute for onion powder if you prefer.
- Mushrooms - Our top suggestions are white button mushrooms, or baby bella mushrooms, cremini mushrooms, or shitake mushrooms. Fresh is your best bet here, but you can used canned if you like.
- Fresh spinach - Frozen spinach can be used as well. Just make sure to thaw and drain in before adding it to the sauce.
- Garlic - Fresh minced garlic is the best option, but you can use garlic powder instead if you prefer.
- Dry white wine - Choose something light, dry, and crisp that's not very sweet. Also avoid oaky chardonnays. If you don't have (or use) white wine you can use chicken stock or chicken broth.
- Half and half & heavy whipping cream - A creamy, dreamy combo. You could use all half and half or all heavy cream if you prefer.
- Shredded parmesan cheese
- Seasonings - This pasta is pretty flavorful, so we keep it simple with just some kosher salt, black pepper, and oregano.
📖Instructions
Prepare your noodle substitute of choice and set it aside. Make sure to reserve some of the pasta water in case you need to thin the sauce with it. *If using zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash, prepare those now as well, but we can substitute pasta water with regular water or broth if need be.
While the pasta cooks heat a large skillet over medium-heat high, add the bacon pieces, and cook until fat is rendered out, and bacon is cooked completely. Remove bacon and set aside, and leave bacon grease in the skillet.
Dry chicken off really well with paper towels. In a bowl, season the chicken fillets liberally with salt, pepper, and oregano on both sides, saving some seasonings for later.
In a hot skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Sear the chicken until it is browned on both sides and cooked through completely. A quick read thermometer should read 165°F. Remove chicken from the skillet, and leave browned bits in the bottom of the pan.
Allow to rest for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, chop chicken into bite-sized pieces and set them aside.
Add 2 more tablespoons of butter to the skillet, followed by onions and mushrooms. Cook until beginning to soften, about 3-5 minutes, then season with a pinch of salt and remove from the skillet and set aside.
Add the remaining two tablespoons of butter, followed by garlic and oregano to the skillet. Cook until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds, then immediately pour in the white wine to deglaze the pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes to cook off the alcohol.
After the sauce has simmered for a few minutes, then add in heavy cream, half and half, lemon juice, and parmesan cheese. Stir continuously to melt the parmesan cheese.
Once the sauce has formed, add the spinach to the cream sauce and allow it to wilt.
Add the onions, mushrooms, chicken, and bacon to the skillet to warm through and finish the sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings, add pasta water to thin the sauce if desired.
Serve over pasta. Garnish with parmesan cheese, fresh cracked black pepper, and optional minced parsley.
✨Substitutions & variations
- Craving a hint of spice? Add some red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper for more flavor!
- Don't have heavy cream or half and half? You could use softened cream cheese or ricotta cheese.
- Italian - Want some Italian flair? Add Italian seasoning, fresh basil, and tomatoes!
- Dairy free - Believe it or not, you can make this pasta dairy free by replacing the butter with vegan butter. Substitute the parmesan cheese with a vegan substitute, and sub the half and half and heavy cream for your favorite plant based milk or full fat coconut milk.
🍝Pasta options
- Low carb noodles- Our favorite options are soybean pasta (we get ours at Aldi) or Great Low Carb Company's noodles (affiliate link)! Great Low Carb is not gluten free, so please be aware of that.
- Veggie "noodles" - Our favorite options are zucchini noodles and spaghetti squash noodles! We also enjoy hearts of palm noodles.
- Keto & gluten free - Our top choice for noodles that are both keto friendly and gluten free with more of a "noodle" feel are shirataki noodles.
- Anything else - Feel free to use your favorite noodles to suit your needs! 🙂
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🥣Storage and reheating
Store in air-tight containers in the fridge for up to 5 days. Freezing all together is not recommended, but you can freeze the sauce, and thaw them in the fridge 24 hours before consuming. Make pasta fresh when you're ready to serve.
This dish reheats well the next day! Simply reheat gently in the microwave, or over low heat on the stovetop.
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This recipe has been improved, updated for clarity and the photos have been reshot since it was originally posted in January 2020.
📖 Recipe
Chicken Bacon Mushroom Pasta with Spinach
Ingredients
- 275 grams bacon (about 8 slices of thick cut)
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 2.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt (to taste)
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- 8 ounces fresh spinach
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 ounces dry white wine
- 4 ounces half and half
- 8 ounces heavy whipping cream
- 1.5 ounces fresh lemon juice (about 1.5 lemons)
- 5 ounces shredded parmesan cheese, divided
- ½ - 1 cup pasta water* (if needed to thin the sauce)
- 8 ounces spaghetti or any pasta you like
Instructions
- Prepare your pasta of choice and set aside. Make sure to reserve some of the pasta water in case you need to thin the sauce with it.
- While the pasta cooks heat a large skillet over medium-heat high, add the bacon pieces, and cook until fat is rendered out, and bacon is cooked completely. Remove bacon and set aside, and leave bacon grease in the skillet.
- Dry chicken off really well with paper towels. In a bowl, season the chicken fillets liberally with salt, pepper, and oregano on both sides, saving some seasonings for later.
- In a hot skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Sear the chicken until it is browned on both sides and cooked through completely. A quick read thermometer should read 165°F. Remove chicken from the skillet, and leave browned bits in the bottom of the pan. Allow to rest for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, chop chicken into bite-sized pieces and set them aside.
- Add 2 more tablespoons of butter to the skillet, followed by onions and mushrooms. Cook until beginning to soften, about 3-5 minutes, then season with a pinch of salt and remove from the skillet and set aside.
- Add the remaining two tablespoons of butter, followed by garlic and oregano to the skillet. Cook until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds, then immediately pour in the white wine to deglaze the pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes to cook off the alcohol.
- After the sauce has simmered for a few minutes, then add in heavy cream, half and half, lemon juice, and parmesan cheese. Stir continuously to melt the parmesan cheese. Once the sauce has formed, add the spinach to the cream sauce and allow it to wilt.
- Add the onions, mushrooms, chicken, and bacon to the skillet to warm through and finish the sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings, add pasta water to thin the sauce if desired.
- Serve over pasta. Garnish with parmesan cheese, fresh cracked black pepper, and optional minced parsley.
- Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
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Notes
- Wine can be substituted for chicken broth or stock.
- You can use bacon bits in place of raw bacon if you prefer.
- Chicken breasts can be substituted for chicken thighs or even precooked chicken.
Kathy says
Why do you add both half n half and the cream? I was curious and cut recipe down for 2 servings. I had alot of dairy left. It's really good. But I think it's a little over the top with prices today.