This easy Chicken Alfredo recipe includes golden pan-fried seasoned chicken breasts and tender noodles, coated in the most dreamy cream sauce ever. A showstopper meal and it’s all done in just over 30 minutes!
Looking for other easy creamy pasta dishes? You will love our Shrimp Alfredo, Spaghetti Carbonara, and Chicken Tetrazzini.
Talk about comfort food! Mama Mia, you guys. We put our amazing Homemade Alfredo Sauce to perfect use in this Chicken Alfredo recipe. Wonderfully seasoned chicken with a crispy golden exterior, on top of tender pasta that’s coated with a velvety garlic and Parmesan cream sauce. What’s more, it looks and tastes like a gourmet meal, but it’s incredibly easy to make. Trust me, your entire family will love it!
Chicken Alfredo Recipe
For Chicken Alfredo Pasta, you have 3 main components, all of which are delicious on their own and even more amazing once combined:
- Chicken: Chicken breasts are seasoned and pan seared in olive oil and butter until moist on the inside, with a golden crust on the outside. We keep the seasonings simple with just salt, pepper, and our homemade Italian seasoning blend, since so much additional flavor comes from the cream sauce.
- Pasta: Pasta is cooked in salted water until al dente, which is the bed of this dish. A long, flat noodle like Fettuccine is perfect here, providing more surface area for the sauce to cling to. Linguini is another great choice, or penne which is able to catch the sauce in its ridges. Honestly though, any pasta works.
- Alfredo Sauce: We used our favorite Alfredo Sauce recipe for this dish. Butter, heavy whipping cream, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, garlic, and seasonings come together in a matter of minutes for the most incredible white sauce that coats the cooked pasta. Heaven!
How to Make Chicken Alfredo
This dish comes together fast, so have everything ready to go. Here’s a summary:
*Don’t miss the complete printable recipe and video tutorial below.
- Boil the noodles: Cook the Fettuccine al dente, according to package instructions.
- Cook the chicken: Season the chicken, then pan-fry in oil and butter, for 6 minutes a side, or until an internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest for a few minutes, then cut into 1/2-inch thick slices. Tent with foil, while you prepare the sauce.
- Make the Alfredo sauce: Using the same pan you used to cook the chicken, the cream, butter, and seasonings are incorporated and simmered on medium-low heat until thickened, then the Parmesan is added in until melted and smooth.
- Assemble: Drain the pasta, reserving some of the liquid to loosen the sauce (only if necessary.) Toss immediately with the Alfredo sauce. Divide the pasta among serving bowls and top with a few slices of cooked chicken. Garnish with parsley, more Parmesan, and black pepper if desired.
Important Recipe Notes
- Avoid pre-shredded cheese. For best results, use real Parmigiano-Reggiano right off the block. Pre-grated cheeses don’t melt properly, making your sauce grainy. And they simply don’t taste nearly as good.
- Don’t over-cook the chicken. Take the guesswork out of knowing when the chicken is done cooking by using an instant-read thermometer. Chicken is safe to eat when it reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees F (and keep in mind it will continue to cook a bit more as it rests.)
- Have everything ready before you start: The list of ingredients is somewhat long, but it comes together fast – similar to a stir fry. So have everything prepped and ready to go before you start cooking.
- Sauce too thin? We think the consistency of the sauce is on point, but if you find it too thin, no worries. You can either simmer for a few extra minutes or take it off the heat and let it sit for a minute or two before tossing with the pasta. It will thicken up. Alternatively, if you find it too thick, you can stir in a bit of the reserved pasta water to loosen it up.
- Want to lighten it up? Let’s not kid ourselves – this is a rich, creamy, high calorie meal. But you can cut back a little by using half-n-half or whole milk instead of the heavy whipping cream. Just keep in mind that the lower the fat content, the thinner the sauce.
Proper Storage
Make Ahead: Chicken Alfredo is ideally made and served right away, however the chicken can be cooked up to 1 day in advance. I don’t recommend making the sauce ahead of time.
Leftovers: Any leftovers should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will keep up to 3 days.
How to reheat Chicken Alfredo: Reheat on the stovetop, gently over low heat until it’s incorporated again, keeping in mind the sauce will probably separate.
Watch Chicken Alfredo Video
What Goes with Chicken Alfredo?
With chicken, pasta, and a cream sauce, this is high calorie, indulgent, and filling! But the following are great Alfredo side dishes:
- Homemade garlic bread (carbs on carbs on carbs, oh my!)
- Simple side salad
- Cucumber Tomato Salad
- Roasted Asparagus
I hope you love this delicious and simple recipe – be sure to give it a review below! Also don’t forget to follow Belly Full on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!
Chicken Alfredo
Ingredients
For the Noodles
- 16 ounces dry fettuccine pasta
For the Chicken
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
For the Sauce
- 1/2 cup butter , cut into large cubes or slices
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Make the noodles: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fettuccine and cook until al dente according to package directions, usually 10 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then drain well. Set aside.
- Make the chicken: Season chicken breasts with the Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
- Warm the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick skillet. Once it’s shimmering, swirl the pan to evenly distribute. Add the chicken and leave it undisturbed for 5-7 minutes, until the bottom is golden-brown. Flip over and add in 1 tablespoon of butter between them, picking up the pan to give it a gentle swirl to distribute. Continue cooking for another 5-7 minutes (or an internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.)
- Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let rest for 3 minutes. Cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Tent with foil while you prepare the sauce.
- Make the Alfredo sauce: In the same pan, over medium-low heat, add the butter and cream; whisk until butter has melted.
- Add in the minced garlic, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper; whisk until combined and smooth.
- Bring to a gentle simmer (do not boil) and cook for 3-4 minutes, whisking constantly, until it starts to thicken.
- Stir in the parmesan cheese just until melted and the sauce is smooth. (If the sauce ends up too thick, add some of the reserved pasta cooking water, a few tablespoons at a time, to thin it out.)
- Assemble: Take sauce off the heat and immediately toss with the cooked fettuccine noodles.
- Divide the pasta among serving bowls and top with a few slices of chicken. Garnish with parsley, more Parmesan, and black pepper if desired.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Other Notes
Wow! Can’t believe how good this is! My boyfriend is super picky and he said it tastes better than Olive Garden!
Hello from Sweden! Hubby and I made this tonight.
The family’s response to the question of “Will we be making this again?”
An almost unanimous “YES!” except for our 13 year old, who was too busy shoving it in his mouth to reply, lol!
We’ll take that as a yes, too, lol!
This was the best chicken alfredo I’ve made – so easy and tons of flavor. The chicken was perfectly moist. Family LOVED it!
We loved it! My fellas are begging me to fix it again tomorrow night! Thanks for sharing
This recipe was very easy to make. My picky husband and sons both loved it. I will make this again.
I loved this recipe so much!
I made this for the homeless guy who stands outside of the 7-11. He said it was good.
I’m not a big fan of Alfredo but this recipe just changed that. Awesome sauce!
I think it might be a sin to eat something this creamy flavorful and hearty. The chicken is seasoned to perfection with Italian flavors bursting through. The Alfredo Sauce was perfection. Using freshly grated Parmesan is key. I fed my family this on a lazy Saturday now everyone will be sleeping after dinner and I will have a peaceful hour to myself. Thank you!!
This was AMAZING! Better than restaurant quality, no lie!
I look forward to using this recipe. I’m sure it will be great.
I made this for my family. They were wondering why I didn’t add flour to thicken the sauce, making me doing the process, but I put my trust in and kept going! Hell ya it was amazing! Everyone loved it!
My family loved this recipe so much! It was 5 star and the best I ever tasted. Thank you!
Seriously, the best Alfredo sauce I’ve ever had. I used half salted Irish cream butter and half salted Land O Lakes butter for the sauce. I also added about a cup of the pasta water, and I used freshly grated parmesan cheese from the deli. Came out PHENOMENAL.
Came out wonderfully delicious. This one’s a family nite keeper. It was quick and easy. I substituted the pasta for Shirataki plant based pasta for low carbs. It was super!!!
Family loved it!!
This recipe is amazing. very fattening but oh so delicious. I added a bit more garlic and broccoli.
I never leave reviews, but this recipe was simply amazing. I’ve made many different chicken Alfredo’s and none of them thickened up like they should nor did they have much flavor. My husband raved about this recipe and so did I. It thickened up beautifully and I only used 1 cup of grated Parmesan. The taste was phenomenal. This is my new & only go to chicken Alfredo recipe.
Just fantastic. Clean plates all around over here – my boys asked me to make it every week. HA!
Stay at home mom with 4 small kids and parents all living together! This recipe is my absolute favorite ever! Not just my favorite Alfredo recipe but my favorite recipe EVER!!! Even my older 2 kids love it. I love outback Alfredo…my go-to menu item. This tops even outback! Except that at outback I don’t have to cook it!! I have been making this every week I love it sooo much!
My whole family loves this recipe! I have to make it at least once a week now, which is no problem since it is fast and easy.
I’ve been using this recipe for years. The only thing I don’t add is the butter and it’s amazing. Although butter would probably be heavenly. My kids love this recipe and I can whip it up in a snap.
Followed it to a T. Only issues I ran across (and this would be true of ALL these alfredo recipes) is that it does NOT have the same consistency once it gets cold and has to be reheated! I thought I was being smart by making this ahead of time, fridging it, then pulling it out that evening to serve. It totally loses it’s velvety, creamy texture and the cheese separates slightly so you get oily (but still yummy) noodles with cheese. I won’t make that mistake again next time I’m preparing it for guests. :)
Hi Joy! Yep, this is actually mentioned in the article under proper storage. “Chicken Alfredo is ideally made and served right away, however the chicken can be cooked up to 1 day in advance. I don’t recommend making the sauce ahead of time.”
You can blend the sauce thinning it with a little milk to reach the smooth texture of the sauce again.
Fantastic recipe!! Clean plates over here.
Best Alfredo ever! My kids sucked it down. Husband loved it! I made a little extra sauce and about 2 pounds of chicken.
This recipe is incredibly easy to make and is delicious! I made it for the 1st time tonight and my husband loved it! Great for a large crowd. Just double it.
The best
Amy just an Update Our Team WON 47-0! I’m not taking all the Credit but a little YES, your Alfredo recipe contributed along with Great Coaching..
Made this recipe for our high school Football team. Coach wants this for them for every home game. You got 76 AWESOME reviews from our team.
This was an awesome meal! I airfryed my chicken. Easy peasy. Thank you belly full!
Fantastic recipe! Made as written. My entire family licked their plates clean LOL
This was insanely good!! Only thing I’d change is doubling the chicken. Maybe adding slightly more heavy cream and decreasing amount of parm. But all around super good!!
It was wonderful the best better then any restaurant we have had it at I am so happy with this recipe. My husband said it was the best he ever had
This was the best alfredo sauce I’ve made. We practically licked our bowls clean. LOL.
Hi Amy! Your Chicken Alfredo was so easy and delicious! Thank you for the tip about Melting the Parmesan cheese. I found a grated cheese at the specialty cheese area packaged by Sartori that was perfect!
BEST RECIPE EVER PLS MAKE IT IM BEGGING ALL OF YOU. if you are hesitant to use this one do it.
My boyfriend was in shock at how good it is! We both loved it!
Awesomeness
the sauce was extremely flavorful and delicious! The only thing I would change is coating the chicken in flour beforehand, that’s what I did and it turned out great!
This is absolutely delicious
An Awesome chicken Alfredo recipe. Much easier than other chicken Alfredo recipes I’ve tried, or created in the past. Five stars all the way, and thank you very much for posting it.
Great recipe! I would give it 10 starts if I could. Whole family loved it. Definitely a keeper.
I used half & half for this recipe and the sauce was amazing!! Will keep this one for sure!
This recipe is fantastic! Easy and so good on the comfort food scale.
This is the best Alfredo recipe I have ever tried yum yum yummy
Absolutely delicious & in a short amount of time!! Thank you!
Very good recipe I love it
Can you provide a few more details about making the chicken a day in advance and how to reheat it? Thank you!
Loved this recipe. Perfection
Omg! Best Alfredo pasta I’ve made. Yum!!
My kids and I loved this tonight! Very tasty! Will this be available on Yummly soon so I can save it with all my other recipes?
Really yummy and easy! For the sauce, I recommend just using 2 cloves of minced garlic instead of using 1 clove and garlic powder :)
I really like this recipe a bunch! To make it even better, I put a whole white onion in the pan, cooked until slightly browned, added the garlic and cooked until fragrant. Then, added a few tablespoons of white wine and scraped all the good bits off the bottom of the pan while the wine cooked off. Throw in the rest of the ingredients and finish it off with some parsley on top.
This was such a delicious recipe! I really loved the simple seasonings on the chicken. My picky preschooler ate it all up as well. This will be a staple in my kitchen!
I absolutely loved this recipe. Very quick and easy to make. Thankyou!
I am a beginner cook and am trying to find some amazing recipes to keep on making as I grow older and move out of my home and this is one of the best pastas I have made!
Really good! This one is a keeper!
This recipe is so good. Just a quick question though, after you cook the chicken do you clean the pan out before you add the sauce ingredients?
Nope! The pan drippings help flavor the sauce.
Can the whipping cream be substituted with cream cheese
So easy and delicious !! My family loved it :)
Just fantastic! Whole family gobbled it up. Going in my permanent recipe binder to make again and again, thank you for sharing!
GREAT RECIPE!
Definitely saving this one. Soooo good!
This recipe is amazing, I used to buy the boughten stuff but no more! I also tried other recipes, but this is the best I’ve found.
Made this recipe and it turned out so great! I love how creamy it was. Will use this recipe again for sure. :)
Excellent chicken Alfredo
Was amazingg
My family absolutely LOVED this recipe!
I love this recipe it’s so easy and delicious!
This was a great dinner for a cold winter night. Very tasty. Even my picky 11 year old enjoyed it.
This recipe was the best!! So delicious! I will make again :)
This is the best Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo recipe I have found. It is amazing!
delicious!!!!
This was delicious! 2 teen sons and hubby all gave it a 10. So much flavor in the chicken and alfredo sauce. I used angel hair pasta and used half n half instead of cream. Also only had 1 cup of parmesan on hand but it was so good!!!!!!!
I made the exact changes you did based on what I had at home! It was delicious!! Thanks!
This recipe was amazing!! I followed it exactly as it’s laid out and everyone in my home loved it.
Delicious and so easy!! Love this recipe. We also added steamed broccoli. We will definitely be having this dish again. Thank you!
This recipe is amazinggg. So easy and very delicious
The besttttttt alfredo I have ever made!!!! Thank you so delicious
this recipe was beautiful and tasty.
This recipe is definitely a keeper.
This recipe is so delicious! I added extra garlic and Parmesan cheese, it’s easy to make and looks as pictured! I will make this dish again!
All members of the clean plate club – we all loved this recipe SO much!
I never leave comments on recipes but this was REALLY good!! I added a red pepper flakes and chili powder to the chicken and alfredo sauce for a bit of kick, and it turned out amazing. I’ll definitely make it again
Was so damn delicious! Easy to follow recipe
This was awesome! Whole family loved it even my little ones.
Absolutely delicious!!
This was fantastic!!
Outstanding! I would give this 10 stars if possible!
The best chicken alfredo recipe!
Great Chicken Alfredo recipe. My kids and their friends said I should open a restaurant after tasting this!!
First time using this recipe, and I loved it! Super easy and DELICIOUS! Had my Hubbs try the Alfredo sauce and he compared it to Olive Garden! I was very surprised, I hadn’t tried it yet. Needless to say, he and our littles have some full bellies! Thanks!!!
Fantastic Recipe! I am not usually a fan of cooking but just made Chicken Alfredo for the first time using this recipe and it turned out wonderful! My husband and I both love it and it was a lot simpler than I thought it would be! Thank you so much for the great recipe and the boost of confidence to start cooking different dishes!
Made this for my family and everyone loved it! It makes for good leftovers as well. Would definitely make again.
My family said this was so good. I will definitely make it again. I thought it was easy to make.
First time on your site . . . and I’ll definitely be back! The Chicken Alfredo was delicious and so simple! I added some lightly steamed fresh broccoli to make it a one-dish meal. This will appear regularly on our dinner table!
It was good. First time making it.