Farfalle with chicken and roasted garlic (best copycat)

💙 Why you'll love it

• Packed with so much flavors - man, this flavorful dish is to die for, with a silky creamy Parmesan sauce, peas, crispy bacon, tender chicken, delicious sun-dried tomatoes... It's one of the best comfort food and trust me, you're gonna love it!
• Simple ingredients - all the ingredients in that recipe are easy to find and to use, making it a super easy recipe to make!
• Restaurant style - trust me, these Farfalle taste better than the Cheesecake Factory restaurant version. Just gorgeous!

🧀 Ingredients

These are the main ingredients, and the quantities are in the recipe card below.

• Garlic - if you want to choose your garlic carefully so as not to encourage the slavery of Chinese prisoners, read my Eco Tips on the subject.
• Olive oil - I recommend using good quality olive oil, such as extra virgin olive oil.
• Chicken breasts, boneless and skinless.
• Bacon - strip bacon, that you will chop. You can also you pancetta if you prefer.
• Yellow onion, which has a softer compared to red onion.
• Cremini mushrooms because they marry so well with the sauce and other ingredients.
• Sun-dried tomatoes - in summer, you can replace them with fresh cherry tomatoes if you want.
• Dry white wine - which is important for the taste of the dish.
• Farfalle pasta - which are the main ingredients of this recipe of course! You can find them in most supermarkets, they're also called bow-tie pasta.
• Heavy cream to create a silky creamy sauce.
• Parmesan cheese - I really recommend that you use Parmesan cheese in block and that you grate it at the last moment, when you need to use it.
• Green peas - for most of the year, I use frozen peas, which I put in the dish still frozen (they thaw over time). But in spring, you can use fresh peas. Just take care to cook them before adding them.
• Fresh basil leaves for garnish.

🍗 Variations

Feel free to change this recipe to go with your tastes. I suggest several options:

• Vegetarian - remove bacon and chicken from the recipe. And make sure to buy Parmesan without animal rennet.
• Vegan - use vegan bacon, plant-based chicken, vegan Parmesan and vegan heavy cream. And make sure your pasta are made with semolina.
• Proteins - you can replace chicken and bacon with shrimps.
• Spice it up with a pinch of ground Cayenne pepper or red chili flakes.
• More veggies - red peppers would go very well with the rest of the ingredients.

✨How to make these Farfalle ?

Recipe details and quantities are in the recipe card below.

• Cut off the top of the head of garlic but leave the skin and the gloves intact. Then add 1 tablespoon olive oil on it.
• Wrap it in aluminum foil. Close tightly with your hands and place it in the middle of the oven for 40 minutes.

• While the garlic is roasting, cut the chicken in 1-inches cubes. 
• Put 1 tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan and add the chicken cubes. 
• Let them cook for 2-3 minutes on each side on medium-high heat.

• Remove chicken from the pan, set aside and Add the bacon strips to the pan.
• Cook for 5-6 minutes, until it's golden brown and crispy.

• Remove pancetta and set aside (leave the pancetta fat in the pan). Add onions and mushrooms.
• Let them cook for 10 minutes.

• In another pan, put the sun-dried tomatoes and the white wine on medium-high heat and let them cook for 5 minutes, so the wine evaporates. Stir often so that it doesn't stick.
• Cook the bowtie pasta (Farfalle) following the instructions on the packaging and drain them.

• Add heavy cream, freshly grated Parmesan cheese (leave some for garnish), bacon strips, chicken, mushrooms, onion and peas in the pan.
• Let it cook for 3 more minutes.

• Add the cooked pasta, salt and pepper, and stir well. Serve the finished dish in plates, add the remaining Parmesan cheese and the fresh basil leaves. 
• Enjoy!

💡Frequently Asked Questions

❄️ Storage and freezing

Store - wait until the pasta is completely cold before putting it in an airtight container in the fridge. You'll be able to keep them for 2-3 days.

Reheat - Because of the refrigerator, the pasta may be a little less creamy when reheated. Feel free to add a tablespoon or two of water before reheating, to restore the creaminess of the recipe. I recommend reheating this dish in the microwave. If you don't have one, you can use a saucepan on low heat. 

Freezing - I recommend portioning your servings before freezing. Write the name and the date of the recipe on freezer bags and put one serving in each bag.

Defrosting - Because of the refrigerator, the pasta may be a little less creamy when defrosted. Feel free to add a tablespoon or two of water before defrosting, to restore the creaminess of the recipe. Use microwave to defrost those Farfalle.

😋 Other comforting recipes

• Creamy lemon and sage chicken
• Easy traditional French onion soup
• Chicken meatballs and creamy onion pasta
• Easy creamy spicy chicken pasta recipe