These creamy garlic noodles are delicious yet so easy and clean-up is a snap. No creams or large amounts of butter, making this meal a winner all-around!
These one pot (well.. technically one ‘pan’) skinny creamy garlic noodles are a HUGE hit with my family. We have made them about at least a month for the last several months using all sorts of variations. My kids are crazy about them and request them all the time (and I am happy to oblige because they are SO easy)! This recipe doesn’t use heavy cream or large amounts of butter, but it tastes JUST as good as recipes that do.
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Cooking the noodles in the chicken broth and milk is like magic. No draining and only ONE POT to clean! A total win-win.
Adding Chicken:
To make this a full meal, just add a little chicken. I love adding grilled chicken but you can add baked, shredded, or pan-fried. To keep it a true “one pot” meal, pan frying the chicken is the way to go. First, season the chicken with Italian seasoning and cook it up in the same skillet you want to cook the noodles in (before cooking the noodles). Then, sauté the chicken until it is cooked most of the way through and remove from the pan, place on a plate, and cover. Wipe the pan out (be careful because the pan will be hot) and make the noodles as per the recipe below. Lastly, add the chicken after a few minutes into the noodles simmering and follow the rest of the recipe as directed.
Adding Vegetables:
If you want to add vegetables, add them 10 minutes or so before serving. You can add veggies like broccoli, peas, asparagus… you get the picture. You can make these noodles as a full meal or as an easy side dish– totally up to you!
One Pot Skinny Creamy Garlic Noodles
- 4 Tbsp. butter divided
- 4-5 cloves garlic minced
- 28 oz chicken broth (3 3/4 cups)
- 2 1/2 c. milk add more if needed
- 1 lb. linguini
- kosher salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 tsp. basil
- 2/3 c. Parmesan cheese
- 4 c. broccoli optional
- 2 chicken breasts grilled and cut into strips (optional. See notes above on how to make chicken part of the "one-pot" meal if you don't want to grill)
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In a large, 5-6 quart skillet, heat 2 Tbsp. butter over medium heat. If you don't have a large skillet, a stock-pot works well, too. Add garlic and cook for about a minute.
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Add chicken broth, milk, remaining 2 Tbsp. butter, pasta noodles, salt and pepper, and basil. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer stirring occasionally for 16-20 minutes or until noodles have cooked through.
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If you are wanting to add broccoli, add it after about 10 minutes into the simmering process. Stir in Parmesan when noodles are finished cooking and add a little milk if necessary if necessary to reach your desired consistency.
Love One-Pot meals? Try these delicious One-Pot recipes!
- One Pot Chicken Teriyaki Bowls: Chicken, vegetables, and rice cooked in a delicious teriyaki sauce.
- One Pot Jambalaya Pasta: All of the flavors and seasonings of Jambalaya combined with pasta.
- One Pot Thai Peanut Pasta: This features shrimp or chicken, noodles, vegetables, seasonings, and peanuts all cooked together in a light, creamy peanut sauce.
- Creamy One Pot Tortellini with Sausage: A flavorful meal that can be made in under 30 minutes. The sauce is amazing!
This recipe is adapted from Yellow Bliss Road – check her out!
Liz says
Sounds nice. Thank you and have a great weekend.
Jane says
At What point is the chicken added?
karen k says
taken from paragraph above recipe.
If you want to add chicken but don’t have a grill or don’t want to bother with grilling, you can season the chicken with Italian seasoning and cook it up in the same skillet you want to cook the noodles in (before cooking the noodles). Just saute the chicken until it is cooked most of the way through and remove from the pan, place on a plate, and cover. Wipe the pan out (be careful because the pan will be hot) and make the noodles as per the recipe below. Add the chicken after a few minutes into the noodles simmering and follow the rest of the recipe as directed.
Ori says
Thank you
Lynda M. says
Looks delicious. Is the chicken added right before serving or before that? Thanks.
Erica says
If you do grilled chicken you will add it right before serving. If you cook the chicken in the skillet you will put it in before that (a few minutes into the simmering process)
Cathy discianno says
Instead of using cloves of garlic why can’t I use the minced garlic in the jar. How much is equivalent to 4-5 cloves of garlic. I want to make this sounds really good.
Erica says
I don’t typically use the minced garlic in a jar so you will have to check on the label to see how it converts. You can definitely use the kind in the jar, it just might not taste as fresh
K. Skinn says
Minced garlic in a jar converts to 1t. = 1 clove.
Mistarella says
Made it all one pot. Since I didn’t have enough broccoli, I also added left-over green beans and frozen peas and carrots. It was kind of bland so I also added a half-can of cream of chicken soup. I didn’t have linguine pasta, so I used large egg noodles that were over-cooked but edible. Next time I would add the egg noodles about halfway through instead of at the beginning. Was actually pretty tasty after I added the c of c soup.
Erica says
Glad you liked it! If you decide to use a different kind of noodle you will definitely need to alter the cooking times. Just keep testing the noodles until they are just done. Thanks for the comment!
Rose wise says
Could I use canned tuna instead of chicken? TY
Erica says
I guess you COULD.. I can’t promise that it will taste very good though :S but I’m not a huge fan of canned tuna
dru says
I don’t like tuna…the smell of it turns my stomach…but I bet you could add canned chicken
Kathy B says
Made for dinner last night, cut the recipe in 1/2… as it makes quite lot. Used Italian sausage and broccoli. It was amazing. Creamy, but very light. Used whole wheat pasta and the directions were perfect.
Can’t wait to share this with every busy mom/dad/kid I know. A great weeknight dinner!
Erica says
So glad you liked it!!! Italian sausage is a great idea.. same with whole wheat pasta! Thanks for the suggestions!
Jordan says
Just made this for dinner! It was delicious!! 🙂
Lizz says
Have you ever frozen this after you’ve cooked it?
Erica says
They usually don’t last long enough that we would need to freeze. Because there is some dairy in it, it probably won’t freeze great but you can definitely try it!
Jennifer white says
I used graded garlic n butter fried the chicken..set aside..cooked broccoli a lil with garlic powder butter n olive oil, oyster sauce and dill..added Romano cheese at the end amd used multigrain linguine..was amazing!! Tks for the recipe…
Erica says
Great ideas for add-ins! Glad you liked it!
Aurora says
Thank you, I make this tonight and man was it delish, next time adding mushrooms and bell peppers. Thank you again
Erica says
Oooh those are great add-in ideas! So glad you liked it! 😀
carol Tomkosky says
I’ve made this, it’s fantastic,
Kia says
Just made this, but with bowtie pasta!!! Delisj!!!!
Annette says
Should I use whole milk in this, or will my 2% work? And also, would crumbled bacon be a good add in?
Erica says
Bacon would be delicious! 2% totally works. I actually used 1% in the video.
Annette says
The bacon was awesome! And instead of grilling the chicken, I cut them into bite sized pieces, lightly floured and cooked them in them bacon grease! This meal passed the picky 9 year old boy test! I went ahead and used whole milk, next time will definitely use my 2%! It was delicious
Chelsea says
Its just my husband and me, how many servings does this recipe yield?
Erica says
It will probably feed 3-4– but it re-heats great if you save any for leftovers. Just add a little milk when re-heating
Chelsea says
Great, thank you!!
mary campbell says
in the recipe you say to add the cheese when the noodles have cooked, but in the video it shows you adding the broth, milk and cheese all at the same time….which is correct?
Erica says
I have done it both ways and both ways turn out great. Typically I will add it at the end so it is a little thicker but if I am in a hurry and want to just throw it all in– I will just throw it all in at the first
Lori Scott says
What about for people with dairy allergies? What would you suggest as a subsitute?
Erica says
I’m not sure what to suggest because we haven’t made it any other way. Using Lactaid might work but I honestly have no idea. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful!
Ashli says
Hi there, I know this question is a couple months old but as the mom of a toddler with serious daily allergies I thought I might have an answer for you! I’ve made dishes similar to this and in place of the butter I use earth balance whipped dairy free butter spread and I use original UNSWEETENED coconut milk as my milk substitute. I haven’t made this particular dish but that combo seems to go well with any savory dish. You can’t really taste the coconut and most people can’t even tell that it’s dairy free.
Hope that helps a little. ????
Laura P Raymond says
Thanks! I have a milk allergy and was planning to use Ripple, which has a higher protein content than coconut milk. It’s really reassuring to hear that this works with coconut milk, because then I KNOW it will with Ripple and non-dairy subs for the Parmesan. Thank you!
b2 says
omg this is sooo cheap, easy and delicious! – thank you!!!
I’ve just moved out of home, and am on a pretty strict (self imposed) budget, so this was great, it yielded 6 (large) servings for me, a whole weeks dinner in one simple meal!
Erica says
Way to stretch it out! They heat up great, right? I always have to add a little splash of milk but I eat it for leftovers all the time 🙂
jeanne says
Calorie content?
Erica says
we don’t provide nutritional information, sorry! You will have to input the recipe on a nutritional calculator like FitBit or Livestrong.
Vanessa says
What if I don’t have Chicken stock? Can I use water?
Erica says
You can use water and salt (for seasoning) but it won’t taste quite as rich
Audrey says
My daughter was at a friends house and had creamy noodles. So I searched creamy noodles and found your recipe. So glad I did because they were a hit and I love the fact that it is a skinny recipe. I will make again and again. Just had a little trouble thickening it, so I added a teaspoon of cornstarch mixed in water.
Any suggestions?
Thank you,
Erica says
You can add some cream cheese if you would like it to be thicker. 🙂 hope this helps!
Sheryl says
Dried or fresh basil?
Erica says
I just used dried but fresh would be better 😉
Suzanne says
This looks delicious. Any chance you know the nutrition info for it?
Erica says
Unfortunately, we are not able to provide nutritional information at this time. You can plug the recipe into a nutritional calculator like livestrong.com and you should be able to get the information that way.
christina says
Frozen broccoli or fresh?
I want to make it tonight and am about to go to the store!
Erica says
Either one.. we used fresh but frozen is fine, too
Christi says
I’m drooling. If I’m cutting the recipe in half so as to cook for one, do you think something like a standard Dutch oven would work to use?
Erica says
Yes you can totally use a dutch oven, it would work just fine 🙂
Fany says
I made tonight I think I went wrong somewhere I substituted the cans of chicken brothe with chicken built on mixed in water l it has a lot of liquid and its taking longer than the recipe calls for ????????
I test tasted a noodle and it tastes soooo yummy so I’m bummed it’s not coming out right!!! Should I drain the extra juice!? ????
Erica says
It’s hard to know exactly what could have happened here. If the noodles are done and you have too much liquid, you can definitely drain some of it off (especially if it still tastes good). How much liquid are we talking about here?
Brandon Roberts says
What does (c.) respresent? Cups?
Erica says
Yes. c. = cups. Hope this helps!
Leah says
I love this recipe. I use whole wheat pasta and almond milk. Its easy and delicious!!
kimberly says
Do you use powder parm cheese or grated parm cheese?
Emily says
We used the powdered but you can use either for this recipe.
Sandy says
Can you use fresh pasta? How long would you cook the fresh pasta in the sauce then?
Erica says
I’m not sure if I would use fresh pasta, the times would be all wrong because fresh pasta cook up so much faster than regular pasta. It would be best to cook it separately and make a sauce to put over it. It won’t absorb the sauce as well as just regular boxed pasta.
Sherrie says
This is a “skinny” recipes, what is the nutrient information?
Erica says
It is “skinny” because it doesn’t use butter and creams like most alfredo-type recipes do. I will see if I can’t find some nutrition info for this recipe and get it added. Thanks for the heads up!
Joanna says
I added all calories doing linguine, 16 oz chicken breast sauteed in olive oil, broccoli, and 3 cups 2% milk as well as all other ingredients listed as measured and the total came to be about 3,313 (Fitness Pal) so depending on how many servings this yields you could divide by that and get an estimate of calories per serving. I am calorie counting so I was curious as well. If you guestimate servings by the pasta it would make about 8 servings so 3,313/8 would be about 414 calories, but that is either not very much or too good to be true…lol oh well…I tried…I’ll enter it as best I can in my fitness pal and hope I’m not too far off.
Echo says
Thank you, Joanna! This is very helpful!
Amanda says
Just made this tonight and it was delicious! My normally picky kids loved it as well. My 4 year old kept saying “This is the best super I ever had!” ????
Amanda says
Oops, I meant to say “supper”.
Favorite Family Recipes says
So glad they liked it! My kids love it too 🙂 They will even eat the broccoli!
Emma says
Can I use almond milk in this recipie?
Favorite Family Recipes says
Yes, almond milk will work just fine. Thanks for asking!
casey says
Do you know how many calories per serving in this recipe?
Favorite Family Recipes says
We are currently working on getting the calorie counts on our recipes. Keep checking back for updates! Thanks!
Ann says
Just made this with a few modifications:
– Used rotini instead of linguine
– I used ~ 1.75c of milk plus the listed amount of chicken broth and I still had to take out almost 2c of extra liquid once the rotini was done cooking! I’ll save it to use when I reheat the leftovers.
– Used only 2 tbsp of butter (in the beginning, to saute the garlic)
– Added roasted broccoli and grilled chicken
Great base recipe, it was very delicious and definitely a keeper!
Debbie Sharp says
Delisious! Boyfriend says “this is really good Deb, guess what I’m taking for lunch tomorrow.” This skinny alfredo recipe will be my go to! Thank you
Favorite Family Recipes says
Haha lunch date for the win! So glad he (and you) liked it!
Rachel says
This was delicious! Made it baby led weaning friendly (8M baby & 2 year old toddler) by using bow tie pasta noodles, salt reduced chicken stock, adding cheddar cheese not Parmesan (except to the adults) & not adding salt. We did peas and red pepper along with the broccoli. Added salt and pepper to my husband & mine once serving.
It Made a huge batch and froze mini meals for the kids, along with lunch for my husband the next day.
Yum! Just discovered your website so excited to try something new next week.
Favorite Family Recipes says
We are so excited that you discovered us too! We hope you will keep coming back for more recipes 😀 we have lots of recipes that are toddler and baby-friendly 😉
Tanya says
This was delicious! Even my picky daughter loved this. And my husband had 3 helpings.
Favorite Family Recipes says
So glad you guys liked it! 😀
Haley says
I loved this recipe!! I changed up a few thing; I used plant based protein penne, rice milk, and Gouda cheese instead of Parmesan. I added broccoli and lastly I sprinkled paleo friendly bacon on top of the dish instead of adding chicken. Delicious!!!
Joy says
Hi. So, I really was hoping this would be yummy, but I something went wrong. I made it the same as the video, but the milk or the cheese curdled. 🙁 and the broccoli took forever to cook and the pasta got overcooked. Sad times over here.
Favorite Family Recipes says
Oh no! I don’t know what could have gone wrong. The milk will separate if it gets too hot. It only needs to be at a low simmer. I’m not sure why the broccoli took so long. Were you able to access the recipe and follow the instructions there or could you just access the video?
Kaitlynn says
How many calories is this meal??
Favorite Family Recipes says
We don’t have calorie counts on our site yet but you can plug the recipe into a nutrition calculator online and you should be able to find it easily. Hope this helps!
Kathleen Carter says
Just made this recipe. My husband said, “I wish everything you cooked off Pinterest tasted this good.” Enough said 😊
Favorite Family Recipes says
Wow! What a compliment! Thank you (and your husband)! 😀
Susan says
Does the lid stay on after you add the Broccoli ? Do not want it too watery so thought I would check.
Favorite Family Recipes says
Actually, I don’t use a lid at all for this recipe. I let it simmer uncovered so it doesn’t get watery and the sauce gets nice and thick. Hope this helps!