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Rasta Pasta With Jerk Chicken
![Rasta Pasta With Jerk Chicken](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/02/11/dining/mp-rasta-pasta/merlin_183521775_ac3a7f41-6c1d-4955-aba2-661a693fb66b-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 45 minutes, plus marinating
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2tablespoons jerk seasoning
- 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1teaspoon garlic powder
- 1teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Kosher salt
- 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1pound penne pasta
- 3bell peppers, preferably a mix of colors, thinly sliced
- 4green onions, sliced, plus more for garnish
- 2garlic cloves, minced
- ¼cup jerk seasoning
- 2fresh thyme sprigs
- 1Scotch bonnet pepper, pierced, not sliced (optional)
- ½cup heavy cream
- ¼cup vegetable or chicken stock
- ½cup grated Parmesan
For the Chicken
For the Pasta
Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the chicken: In a medium bowl, combine jerk seasoning, 1 tablespoon olive oil, garlic powder and smoked paprika. Add chicken and toss to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator for 2 hours or up to 24 hours. Pull chicken out about 1 hour before cooking, so it comes to room temperature.
- Step 2
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium. Add the chicken to the skillet, and sear chicken on both sides until browned, about 3 minutes per side.
- Step 3
Once chicken is seared, transfer the skillet to the oven and roast chicken until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board, let rest for about 10 minutes, and slice on a bias.
- Step 4
As chicken roasts, prepare the pasta: Set a pot of well-salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta, and cook according to the package instructions. Drain and set aside.
- Step 5
Add 2 tablespoons oil to a heavy pot set over medium, and sauté bell peppers with green onions until peppers are barely softened, about 4 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook until it’s fragrant, about another minute.
- Step 6
Add the ¼ cup jerk seasoning to the pot and combine. Add the thyme and pierced pepper. Add heavy cream and vegetable stock and bring to a simmer. Mix in the Parmesan, then add pasta.
- Step 7
Top with the jerk chicken, and garnish with green onions. Serve hot.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
You can make your own jerk seasoning by combining allspice (of the utmost importance), ground coriander, ground ginger, dried thyme, and S P. I typically also add a little dark brown sugar, turmeric, smoked paprika, garlic powder and/or granulated onion.
I read through the recipe comments before I made this last night. Some changed the recommended breasts for thighs (I did). Some added an onion (I did, too). But otherwise, I didn’t see any suggestions that I needed to heed. A good one might have been: “Sample your Jamaican Jerk seasoning before beginning so you can maybe back off on the spice a little so you don’t die.” The chicken was delicious. The pasta will be next time when I use either a less spicy seasoning or less of the one I have.
I was introduced to the dish by the lovely young Jamaican woman who cared for my late mother. Her version includes a package of Knorr Parma Rosa mix added with coconut milk to yellow onions, peppers, and garlic sauteed with about a tablespoon of jerk seasoning. No heavy cream or stock. The richness comes from about two cups of shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese added at the end, just before the pasta. We absolutely love this dish, which is a favorite of my vegetarian daughter.
I make jerk something every week. Jerk seasoning is my standard marinade (I know try something new already) but I found the Walkerswood to be blah, even though it’s a big deal in Jamaica. Try Grace jerk seasoning, I use the “hot” version...it is hot, so be careful if you are not into heat. If you try this, taste your food for salt before adding salt as the Grace already has salt added. It’s sold in Walmart. But use it for a million times more real jerk taste.
I found this to be far too much pasta for the amount of chicken and sauce involved. Would use 8 oz pasta next time and should be fine as 4 servings still.
Used 1lb of boneless skinless chicken thighs (reduced oven time to 8 minutes and cut into bite sized pieces) and omitted scotch bonnet; cooked the peppers in the same skillet as the chicken with the leftover chicken fat (yum!). Next time, I would add a yellow onion with the peppers, and decrease the pasta to no more than 3/4lb - there was just a bit too much pasta for the sauce. Also needed some salt and pepper at the end. Definitely a solid meal - not too much prep time or cleanup!
Substituted chicken thighs for the breast.
2.21.21 Substituted heavy cream for Grapeseed Vegenaise Used Spicy
i love this pasta. when it comes to jerk, busha browne is our brand. it's a wet rub, and it's hot, so i skip the scotch bonnet and use more like 1T in the sauce. but it's also full of flavor. the whole place smells delicious whenever we use it, & my partner eats it straight from the jar. anyway, time the pasta so you can add it directly to the sauce. i also stir in the sliced jerk chicken. i was frankly shocked to find it really is good left over - i've even enjoyed it cold from the fridge.
Used Walkerswood jerk seasoning and 1lb of chicken thighs instead of the 2 chicken breasts. Fusilli instead of penne. Used 1 tbsp of butter with 1 tbsp of olive oil to sauté the bell peppers, and at the end added a couple of splashes of pasta cooking water to bring everything together. Otherwise followed the recipe. And it was fantastic!
My 2.5 year old loves this- but I skipped the scotch bonnet and used Grace’s mild jerk.
Would be very helpful if NYT Cooking would make it possible to copy and paste any of the Cook's notes that especially appeal to the reader to add to our saved copy of a recipe.
Do you mean you would substitute almond milk for the cream? Or perhaps replace the cheese with nutritional yeast?
Use less spice in pasta. Skip scotch bonnet
Really bland and dry. Won’t make again. Doubled the seasoning, garlic and stock to try to salvage.
I love the comments section. After I save the recipe on my hard drive as a PDF, Acrobat has a tools menu where you can choose typewriter, click on the PDF and do a paste command and whatever you copied will show up! I'm on a Mac, but not sure if that matters.
I like my cream based pasta a little saucier, so I reduced the amount of penne to about 1/2 pound, which resulted in a well coated pasta. I also grilled the chicken, which added a nice smokiness that complimented the heavier cream based sauce. The only thing I would suggest is some type of acid (perhaps a touch of citrus) to even out this very rich dish.
I used bought jerk spices, but they were rather dull. So I added fresh ginger to the pan with the garlic. I also sprinkled fresh lime juice at the end with great results.
My poor husband's in shock with 3 pots AND a collander to clean up after this! Good thing it was tasty!
Really liked the flavors in this..made it pretty much as directed..I think the dish is adaptable to your heat preference so the next time I will increase the heat factor a bit more as my partner likes things a bit more *spicy* Didn't have a scotch bonnet subbed a pierced habanero..did the trick nicely! Thank you NYT!
We looked in the pantry for the chicken stock as we were cooking and discovered we were out. Red wine substitute to the rescue- it was delicious!
This was really delicious. I followed some advice and added two slices onions and scaled back the amount of pasta so there would be enough sauce and it was great. The jerk seasoning I used was plenty spicy so can’t even imagine how hot the scotch bonnet would make it. We prefer moderate spice so I’m glad I left it out. Watch the salt because the seasoning has some. I over-salted a bit but that was my fault.
I used boneless skinless chicken thighs and a can of coconut milk in lieu of the cream and broth. I also prepared the chicken entirely on the stovetop. Lastly, I threw in a sliced zucchini that was nearing end of life in my fridge. This was a great framework and will definitely go into a regular rotation at my house.
Would be very helpful if NYT Cooking would make it possible to copy and paste any of the Cook's notes that especially appeal to the reader to add to our saved copy of a recipe.
So since this is a NYT recipe & I want to fit in with NYT readers, I ignored the recipe altogether and substituted everything. I don't eat pasta, so instead of the penne, the rigatoni, or the fettuccine that was recommended, I used spaghetti squash. I don't like spicy, or even Caribbean food, so I swapped the jerk and the scotch bonnet pepper for miso. I used oat milk over coconut milk just for authenticity. Best Rasta Pasta I ever had, just like being on the islands... ;-)
This recipe is delicious. Instead of heavy cream, I cook cauliflower in the broth and then puree it with a hand blender. Thickens the sauce and is a healthful addition to this tasty, but somewhat heavy, dish. I keep homemade jerk seasoning on hand for this and other Jamaican dishes. The chicken is also good cooked on the grill instead of skillet and oven. I also agree with the comments about the amount of pasta. 1 lb. is too much.
Found it heavy the first time, so I used white wine to replace the chicken broth, added cherry tomatoes, used less than half the cream, no parm. Also swapped regular onion since I'm not a fan of scallions. Was great!
Use 1/2 and 1/2 hot and mild on chicken and all mild in the pasta. Serve with sour cream
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