Chicken Mushroom Pasta
This pasta swaps store-bought mince for chicken thighs blitzed fresh in the food processor, which makes a genuinely different sauce — richer, more flavourful, and it holds up far better over a few days in the fridge than lean breast mince ever does.
Mushrooms are browned properly, the sauce is built straight in the same pan with stock and reduced until glossy, then finished with lemon, parmesan and chives off the heat so nothing loses its brightness.
Forty minutes total, and it reheats well through the week — full storage details are in the Chef’s Tips below.
Chicken Mushroom Pasta
CHICKEN · DINNER · EASY
Blitzed Chicken Thighs Change the Whole Dish
Blitzing your own chicken thighs instead of using store-bought mince keeps enough fat in the mix that the meat stays moist and full of flavour, even a few days into the fridge. It's a small extra step that changes the entire result.
Leaving the mushrooms undisturbed in the pan is what gets them properly golden instead of grey and steamed — they need those few minutes of contact with the pan to lose their moisture and actually brown.
Lemon zest, juice and chives go in right at the end, off the heat, so the sauce stays bright rather than flat. Finished with plenty of freshly grated parmesan, this is comfort food that still tastes sharp and fresh.
Chicken & Mushroom Pasta
Ingredients
Chicken & Mushroom Sauce
- 1 kg Chicken Thigh Fillets, Boneless & Skinless Minced
- 400 g Swiss Brown (Cremini) Mushrooms Chopped
- 1 Brown (Yellow) Onion Diced
- 6 Garlic Cloves Grated
- 15 ml Olive Oil
- 1-2 Chicken Stock Pots
- 500 ml Chicken Stock
- 1 Lemon Zest & Juiced
- 20 g Chives Sliced
- 80 g Parmesan Cheese Grated
- Salt & Pepper To Taste
Pasta
- 450 g Spaghetti
- Reserved Pasta Water As Needed
Method
- Bring a large pot of well-salted water to the boil.
- Blitz the chicken thigh fillets in a food processor until minced. Season generously with cracked black pepper and set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a large wide pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken mince and cook undisturbed for 3-4 minutes until a golden crust forms. Break it up and continue cooking until well coloured all the way through, no longer pink, and reaching an internal temperature of 74°C (165°F). Remove and set aside.
- In the same pan, add the mushrooms in a single layer and leave undisturbed for 3-4 minutes until deeply golden on one side. Stir and cook until all moisture has evaporated and the mushrooms are well coloured. Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Return the chicken to the pan, add the stock pots, and pour in the chicken stock. Stir to dissolve as the liquid simmers. Reduce by half (5-6 minutes) until the sauce is thickened and glossy.
- Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water according to packet instructions. Reserve a generous amount of pasta water before draining.
- Add the drained spaghetti directly into the sauce. Add pasta water a little at a time, tossing constantly until silky and coating every strand. Remove from heat and toss through the parmesan, lemon zest, lemon juice and chives until the cheese has fully melted. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Divide between meal prep containers and finish with extra parmesan and chives.
