This easy creamy garlic chicken pasta recipe is one of our favorite dishes to make especially in the summertime when the garlic scapes are in season. It combines roasted garlic scapes in a creamy garlic sauce with chicken, mushrooms and spinach for a comforting and delicious meal that will become a family favorite. We grow a decent sized market garden and raise a lot of garlic. So when the garlic scapes are ready to harvest in June, one of the first things we make is this creamy garlic chicken past. I make it using my own home canned chicken which makes it extra easy. You could make it using any kind of leftover chicken, or cook some up just so you can make this, it is so worth it. Don’t have garlic scapes? Just make it with regular garlic and it will have the same delicious flavor.

Why I Like This Creamy Garlic Parmesan Chicken Pasta Recipe…

Fast and Easy

This recipe is simple and easy and can be thrown together in 30 minutes or less. This makes it a great quick meal even on busy weeknights.

Inexpensive

I like to make this recipe using my own home canned chicken or turkey, and some veggies from the garden which makes this meal very inexpensive to make for my family.

Made with Ingredients from my homestead pantry

As long as I have spinach growing in the garden, I can make this about anytime with just the ingredients I have in my homestead pantry. I don’t have to go to the grocery store to make this meal.

What Are Garlic Scapes?

Garlic scapes are the flower bud of hard neck garlic plants. Garlic is typically planted in the fall similar to a flower bulb like a tulip, and is one of the first things growing in the early spring garden. As it grows, it gets bigger and produces more leaves and in early summer puts out this curly green stalk from the middle of the plant called a garlic scape. For a nice tender scape, harvest when still fairly small. You can harvest it by snapping it off where it joins the plant. If left to grow, these scapes will turn into a garlic flower to help the garlic plant reproduce.

Since we are most interested in harvesting a nice garlic bulb with good sized garlic cloves, we always make sure to pick off all the garlic scapes soon after they appear. This encourages it to put all of the plant’s energy into growing a large bulb. If you do not harvest the garlic scapes, the bulb of garlic will be small and not as useful for cooking or re-planting.

How To Use Garlic Scapes

I love garlic scapes so much, that if all I got out of growing garlic were the scapes, then I would be happy! They have a very mild garlic flavor and are amazing roasted or sauteed, in garlic scape pesto, pickled, dried into garlic powder, made into compound butter or used in cooking in place of regular garlic. When I harvest garlic scapes, I’m usually running low on my stored garlic from the previous years garden, and ready for something fresh. I use them in place of garlic until we harvest our garlic bulbs about 3-4 weeks after harvesting the scapes, usually in early July. Garlic scapes can be stored in a grocery bag in the refrigerator for at least 4 weeks. This is helpful because you don’t have to process right away after harvesting them.

Tips:

I like to serve this creamy garlic chicken over homemade sourdough pasta noodles. And it is especially good if you put some garlic oil in your noodles to give them a garlic flavor. (See video below). If you don’t want to take the time to make pasta, you can always just serve this over regular pasta noodles as well.
This tastes best with fresh garlic scapes, mushrooms and spinach from the garden. It’s a wonderful meal to make in June when most of those things can be sourced fresh from your garden or local farmers market.
If you don’t have home canned chicken, you should make plans to can some sometime as there are so many healthy convenience foods you can make from it like sourdough chicken melts or chicken and noodles. You can also use leftover chicken in this creamy garlic chicken pasta and it will be just as good.
Don’t be afraid to add more milk or cream to this luscious cream sauce to thin it down to the consistency you like.
Substitute 5-6 minced garlic cloves in place of garlic scapes if scapes are not in season.

Find more of our favorite sourdough pasta recipes here.

Tools You May Need:

Cast iron skillet – I think everything tastes better when cooked in cast iron

Pasta maker or kitchenaid pasta attachments – if making your own pasta

Ingredients:

Any kind of pasta – penne pasta or angel hair pasta are really good. I like to make sourdough linguini noodles for this comforting dish as well.

Fresh garlic scapes – from the garlic or local farmers market

Butter – I like to use my homemade butter

Mushrooms – fresh is best but you can also use canned

All purpose flour – to make a roux that will thicken the sauce

Cream – I use the cream from my Jersey cows, but you can use half and half or cream from the store also

Asiago or parmesan cheese – I use my homemade cheese that I make from the milk from my Jersey cows, but you can use whatever kind of cheese you have on hand.

Fresh Spinach – I like to use baby spinach straight from the garden

Garlic powder

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Salt and black pepper

How To Make Creamy Garlic Chicken Pasta

A few hours before you’re ready to make this creamy pasta dish, mix up your sourdough pasta dough (optional).

When ready to make your sauce:

Start the water for your pasta on medium-high heat. Roll out your pasta noodles if making sourdough pasta.

Preheat your cast iron skillet on medium heat and add butter.

Saute garlic scapes or regular garlic if you’re not using scapes for 2-3 minutes or until tender.

When garlic is tender, turn heat to medium low and add all purpose flour. Stir until thickened.

Start cooking your pasta noodles.

Add one quart jar of home canned chicken with the chicken broth

meat from one whole cooked chicken and 1/2 cup chicken stock.

Add garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Cook until chicken is warmed through.

Add heavy cream or whole milk. Feel free to use more to thin down the creamy sauce as it thickens if needed.

Turn the heat to low. Add cheese and fresh spinach.

Cover and allow spinach to wilt.

Check to see if you cooked pasta noodles are done, and strain through a colander.

Stir creamy garlic chicken well and remove from heat.

Serve over cooked al dente pasta with a side of garlic bread and a simple side salad for a complete and easy meal.

Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container for up to one week in the refrigerator.

I hope you enjoy this creamy chicken pasta as much as we do. If you do, please let us know in the comments below and give the recipe a 5-star rating. Thanks for following along as we teach you how to grow a simple, sustainable life.