My Easy Chicken Alfredo Recipe, featuring Ragu Classic Alfredo Sauce, is delicious and easy to make in about 30 minutes, using 5 main ingredients, plus a few seasonings you likely already have on hand.

Easy Chicken Alfredo
Quick and easy dinner dishes like this Chicken Alfredo recipe are the ones I rely on those nights where I’ve had a busy day, but want to put something tasty on the table for family dinner. It’s dishes like these that are staples in my house when it comes to mid week dinner planning.
What’s more is that there are no fancy ingredients in my Easy Chicken Alfredo recipe. It’s made using simple, inexpensive ingredients that most of us will have in our larder. I’ve also found a delicious dairy free alfredo sauce for those of you who need to eliminate the dairy.
Italian heritage:
My children are of Italian Heritage. Their great grandfather immigrated from Italy, and arrived at Ellis Island just a few decades ago. The remainder of the family remains in Italy to this day. Their grandfather lived with us for a while many years ago, and he really enjoyed having pasta dishes as often as possible. He would frequently give me Italian themed cookbooks (and let me know which recipes were as close as possible to authentic dishes ).
From those cookbooks, and dozens of meal preparations where we changed a few things here and there over the years, the Italian dishes I now prepare have evolved to suit the taste preferences of my family. For example, certain meat and spices are not available at an affordable price that fits within my budget.

What is Chicken Alfredo?
Chicken alfredo is a classic Italian dish that combines pasta with succulent pieces of chicken, all bound together in a creamy alfredo sauce.
Is Alfredo and Carbonara the same?
The sauces are different. An alfredo sauce is a basic cream based sauce which combines pasta with heavy cream, Parmesan cheese and parsley. A carbonara sauce is a little more complex and combines pasta and pancetta with a sauce made with raw eggs and some reserved pasta water.
Taking shortcuts!
Like most people these days, I like to take shortcuts when it comes to cooking. We simply don’t have hours to spend cooking on a daily basis. I’m under time constraints on many weeknights, because I’m always on the go with the kids and their activities.

There are some fantastic shortcut’s you can take. I use Ragu Pasta Sauce to make it easy and affordable to serve a hot meal in a reasonable amount of time, to my own family.
Assunta Cantisano is the founder of Ragu Pasta Sauce, was an immigrant from Italian heritage as well. To this day, Ragu remains committed to her high standards of affordability, fresh farm grown ingredients, and no artificial flavors, no artificial flavors and no high fructose corn syrup. Just like the homemade sauce I make when time allows, Ragu Pasta Sauce is slowly simmered to add layers of flavor, and stems from an old family recipe.
How to make Chicken Alfredo?
Gather all the ingredients ready to start preparing the food.
Start with boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
Place them in between two sheets of plastic wrap, on a cutting board, and pound them thin.
This makes this cook quicker and also helps tenderize them.
Season each chicken breast with salt, pepper, garlic powder and poultry seasoning.
Melt some butter in a skillet to brown the chicken in.
Place the chicken in the skillet, seasoned side down, over a medium/high heat.
Sprinkle the other side with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and poultry seasoning to your taste preferences.
Cook the chicken for 3-4 minutes until browned on one side, then flip it over and cook for another 3-4 minutes until the second side is browned, and the breast is cooked through.
Depending on the size of your skillet, you may be able to cook all of the chicken in one batch.
If not, remove the cooked chicken to a cutting board, and repeat the above steps with the second batch of chicken, and so on, until it’s all cooked.
Once the chicken has cooked, place it on a cutting board, use a sharp chef’s knife to dice it into bite sized pieces.

Add all of the chicken back into the skillet once it’s diced, and pour in your jar of Ragu Classic Alfredo Sauce.
Place a lid on your skillet, and let it simmer about 20 minutes on medium/low heat.
Meanwhile, boil a pot of water for the pasta and start cooking the pasta according to the package instructions, drain it in a colander once done.
Remove the lid, and give it a good stir.
Add in the cooked and strained pasta, and 1 cup of the shredded Italian Cheeses.
Mix it up, and let it simmer together for another 5 minutes.
Recipe Variations:
- PASTA: I have used farfalle pasta, but you can use any variety of pasta that your family enjoy eating. This creamy chicken alfredo is often served with fettuccini, but would also work with linguini; penne or fusilli so use what you have in the larder.
- PROTEIN: Chicken is the protein I have used for my best chicken alfredo sauce, but you can substitute the chicken with bacon; shrimp or even leftover roast chicken.
- ALFREDO SAUCE: I use Ragu Classic Alfredo Sauce as it is a good quality, flavorful sauce. However, you can substitute with another jarred sauce of you choice or even make a Homemade Alfredo Sauce.
- CHEESE: I like to stir through a combination of Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese. You could also use Grana Padano; Pecorino Romano; Asiago or Cotija cheeses.
- VEGETABLES: I haven’t added in any extra veggies to my pasta dish, but if you are looking to increase your 5-a-day then no problem. You could stir through some garden peas; sweetcorn; broccoli; zucchini; tomato or spinach into this versatile sauce.
Recipe Tips:
- Cook the pasta to al-dente, so that it has a little bite and the pasta sauce will coat it nicely. Don’t overcook the pasta otherwise it becomes wet and soggy and absorbs too much of the sauce.
- Save some pasta cooking water and use this to loosen the sauce a little if you think it needs it.
- This recipe is easily doubled up if you are serving a large group.
Serving Suggestions:
There is so much flavor in my chicken alfredo sauce that I like to keep any side dishes simple. Here are some easy suggestions for you:
- grate over a little Parmesan cheese before serving
- dressed green salad
- some garlic ciabatta or crusty focaccia to mop up any sauce
Can I make Chicken Alfredo ahead of time?
This is such a quick meal to pull together that I like to serve it freshly cooked. However, if you want to make it ahead of time, make a baked chicken alfredo version instead. Cook the pasta and combine it with the sauce and place it into an oven-proof dish and allow it to cool completely before storing in the refrigerator.
When ready to enjoy, remove the dish from the refrigerator, top with some shredded Italian cheese (eg parmesan and mozzarella) and pop it in the oven at 350F to warm through for 30 minutes before serving.
How to store leftover Chicken Alfredo:
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. When ready to eat, heat up gently, adding a little water or chicken broth to loosen the sauce if it needs it.
How to freeze leftover Chicken Alfredo:
Allow leftovers to cool. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 months. When ready to enjoy defrost thoroughly and heat up gently to warm through, adding a little water or chicken broth if the sauce is too thick.
Love pasta? Then don’t miss these great tasting pasta dishes:
- Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo Bake
- Chicken Tenderloins & Garlic Pasta
- Ravioli with Homemade Tomato Sauce
- One Pot Italian Sausage Pasta
- Taco Pasta Bake
- Chicken Fajita Pasta
- Lemon Basil Orzo Pasta Salad
- Chicken Carbonara
- Manicotti
Chicken Alfredo Recipe, featuring Ragu Classic Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients
- 1 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
- 4 tablespoons butter (Amount may vary depending on size of skillet, and # of batches of chicken cooked)
- Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder , Poultry Seasoning to taste. I lightly sprinkle.
- 1 box (12 oz) pasta of choice. I used Bow Tie (also known as Farfalle). Penne, Ziti, etc would work fine as well.
- 1 jar Ragu Classic Alfredo Sauce
- 1 cup shredded Italian Cheese (I use a Parmesan/Mozzarella mixture)
Instructions
Pound chicken breasts between plastic wrap to tenderize and flatten
Sprinkle top side with salt & pepper, garlic powder, and poultry seasoning to your taste
Melt 2 tbsp butter in skillet over medium high
Start water boiling for pasta
Place chicken seasoned side down and saute until brown, about 3-4 minutes.
Season top of chicken
Flip chicken and saute other side, about 3-4 minutes.
*Cooking time may vary depending on size of burner, skillet, and other conditions. Please make sure chicken is completely cooked through.
Remove from heat, and cook next batch, if needed
Dice cooked chicken on a cutting board
Return chicken to skillet and add jar of Ragu Classic Alfredo Sauce and 1 cup of shredded Italian Cheese. Stir well.
Lower to med low heat
Cover and cook for 20 minutes
Cook pasta according to package instructions, drain, and set aside
Stir chicken and sauce well, then add in pasta
Let the pasta, chicken, and sauce simmer for about 5 minutes.
Plate the food, and top with leftover shredded Italian cheese, if desired.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 518Total Fat: 35gSaturated Fat: 20gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 154mgSodium: 752mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 35g
Trisha McKee
Wednesday 2nd of May 2018
My daughter is so picky, but she loves one restaurant's chicken alfredo. I would love to make this for her. I think it is such a great opportunity that you worked with your children's grandfather in creating authentic Italian dishes! That is great!
Michelle Catallo
Wednesday 2nd of May 2018
Ragu definitely makes pasta dishes easy and delicious! Chicken alfredo is one of my kids' favorite dishes! YUM!
Stacey A Smith
Wednesday 2nd of May 2018
that looks tasty your making me hungry. thanks for the dinner idea.
Gina Ferrell
Wednesday 2nd of May 2018
This recipe looks so delicious! I definitely need to give this recipe a try.
Katie Bellamy
Wednesday 2nd of May 2018
Looks like an easy and delicious recipe!