Love to order Chicken Broccoli Ziti in restaurants? Wondering what the secret is to the perfectly browned chicken and smooth creamy sauce? Stay tuned because today I'm giving the recipe!
This recipe was originally published in 2014 and re-published in 2021. The recipe has not changed; photos & text have been updated.
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I have been making this pasta dish for years and years. As a matter of fact, I started making it for friends over 20 years ago. I've tweaked it a tiny bit here and there but overall, it has been the same tried and true chicken broccoli ziti recipe for a long time.
Related: Restaurant Recipes Chicken Valdostana & Whole Wheat Pasta Aglio e Olio
I love recreating restaurant meals at home, copycat recipes if that's what you want to call them for 2 reasons. The Cost & Control of Ingredients.
Cost Of Recipe
I'm not going to break down the exact cost of the recipe because I'm sure we shop in different areas and prices vary. What I am going to tell you is that it is substantially cheaper to prepare this recipe at home. For example, I spent about $15-$20 total to prepare this dish that will feed my entire family with enough leftovers for the next day. The restaurants that are local to me, range from $19 from the so-so places, to about $28 for the better type restaurants for one serving. If you want a catering dish full of it, which is about the size of my recipes, it will run about $65.
Ingredients
I'm not going to list all the ingredients here, skip down to the recipe card if you want for that. I do want to mention a few of the ingredients with specific points about them.
- Butter - The combo of butter and olive oil is magic
- Chicken - I find it easiest to dice up boneless chicken tenders but you can just use boneless chicken breasts if that's what you have on hand
- Heavy Cream - again, don't skip or substitute. I mean, you can but it won't be the same and if you do, don't go leaving me a bad review because it didn't turn out awesome
- Parmesan Cheese - freshly grated is best
- Ziti - this is one ingredient where substitutions are okay. I make this dish with several different tube pastas but have always kept the same name and called it ziti, even though most of the time it's penne or ziti rigate. Sometimes I even use bowties.
Secret Ingredient
And the ingredient that sets this recipe apart from others is :
Cornstarch - this is the magic ingredient that gives chicken the velvety texture and helps it brown perfectly.
Cream Sauce or White Wine Sauce
Typically in restaurants you have two options when it comes to chicken broccoli ziti, white wine garlic sauce or a cream sauce. My version is a little bit of both. We are reducing down some white wine and adding garlic but we're also adding in the heavy cream. I would not call this an alfredo sauce but a cream sauce.
How to reheat leftovers
Add your leftovers to a skillet over medium-low heat with about a quarter of a cup of chicken stock and cover it. Let it cook a few minutes, stir and re-cover. After just another minute or two, remove the cover and add a splash of heavy cream. Cook that on low for just about a minute and then serve. It will be just like new!
I would not recommend just popping it in the microwave, you might end up with dry pasta and uneven re-heating.
How can I cut some of the calories
Sure, this is a calorie-heavy dish. So what? We have to splurge every now and then. As I mentioned before, I would not recommend subbing out the heavy cream. What you can do to save a few calories is skip adding the butter to the end. The butter does finish it off for a velvety smooth finish but I have skipped it on occasion and it doesn't totally take away from the dish.
Love broccoli? Want more? Check out these BROCCOLI RECIPES on Parade.com.
Printable Recipe Card
Printable Recipe Card
Restaurant Style Chicken Broccoli Ziti
Ingredients
- 1.5 pound boneless chicken cut into bite size pieces (breast or tenders)
- 2 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper freshly cracked
- 3 Tablespoon butter ,divided
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ⅔ Cup heavy cream
- ½ Cup chicken stock
- ½ Cup white wine
- 1 pound broccoli florets
- ½ Cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated
- 1 pound ziti or other tube pasta
Instructions
- Bring large pot of water to boil. Season generously with salt and add pasta. During last 4 minutes of cooking, add broccoli to pot. Drain - reserve ½ C cooking water and set aside. Return pasta and broccoli back to pot.
- Season cornstarch with salt and pepper. Toss the chicken in the cornstarch.
- Heat oil and 1 T butter over medium/high heat. Add chicken (work in batches as to not overcrowd the pan) and cook a few minutes until browned. Turn over and brown the other side. Remove chicken from pan and set aside on a plate. Repeat until chicken is all browned.
- Return pan back to burner. Pour in wine and stock and allow to reduce by about half (should take about 5 minutes). Stir to loosen the brown bits from bottom of pan (they're full of flavor). Add garlic, cook 1-2 minutes.
- Return chicken back to pan and allow the chicken to cook through, another 4-5 minutes. Stir in heavy cream and reduce heat to medium low, cook about 2 minutes.
- Pour chicken cream sauce into pot with pasta and broccoli. Stir in cheese. If sauce seems too thick, add reserved cooking water a little at a time. Add remaining 2 T butter and mix well before serving.
- Serve with additional cheese
Notes
Nutrition
Marjory @ Dinner-Mom says
Looks divine! Sometimes you just gotta make the real thing with no short cuts!
foodyschmoody says
Thanks Marjory.
foodyschmoody says
🙂
Cindy @ Hun... What's for Dinner? says
What a great looking pasta. My kids would love it.
Platter Talk says
What a beautiful presentation of pasta a broccoli, the chicken is a bonus! Love this one, very nicely done!
Ginny McMeans says
I think broccoli and ziti were made for each other. Looks wonderful!
Ashley @ Wishes and Dishes says
I love making restaurant dishes at home - feels good to save the money!!! Great recipe.
Brenda@Sugar-Free Mom says
I love me some heavy cream and Parmesan in recipes!!
foodyschmoody says
Ha! sometimes a girl just has to splurge with the calories!
Lauren @ Healthy Delicious says
yes! This is one of my favorite things to order when I feel like being relatively healthy and it's pretty much the ONLY way I can stand to eat broccoli.
Stephanie @ Back For Seconds says
I think I just found dinner 🙂
Lauren Kelly Nutrition says
This looks like awesome comfort food!
Nancy P.@thebittersideofsweet says
I think this looks better than what you might find in some restaurants! Yum!
foodyschmoody says
Oh, how sweet Nancy. Thank you!
Rebecca {foodie with family} says
I'm all about the heavy cream and real butter. THAT is what makes it TASTE GOOD! And this ziti looks great!
foodyschmoody says
Thanks Rebecca!
Patty Haxton Anderson says
As with all of us, your photos have improved immensely. The dish sounds great.
foodyschmoody says
Thanks so much Patty. I know, I feel like a whole big bunch of us have grown and learned w/ and from each other.
Linda (Meal Planning Maven) says
What a great dish for getting picky veggie eaters to eat broccoli. I am sending your recipe to my daughter to make for my grandkids!
foodyschmoody says
Yes Linda, my kids are the worst when it comes to eating! But I do manage to get them to eat this. The little one puts the ziti on her fingers, but I let it slide since she eats the broccoli! ha. I hope your grandkids love it!
Angie | Big Bears Wife says
Sweet Heavens! That's one of my favorite dishes!
nancy@skinnykitchen.com says
Looks so decadently delicious Christine!
foodyschmoody says
Thanks Nancy. It's definitely a "splurge" kind of meal
Kim Beaulieu says
This is comfort food at its finest. I could handle a huge bowl of this right now. Looks absolutely delicious.
Renee - Kudos Kitchen says
This is a dish I covet! Sometimes you just have to go all in and forget about the calories!
foodyschmoody says
Agreed Renee! Thanks.
Angela {Mind Over Batter} says
I can eat a whole pot of this! Do I care there's heavy cream and butter in this jammy? NOPE! BRING.IT.
B to the Bates says
Haha! Hey Bailey, made C, B & Z for the girls tonight (my own take), but as I was fishing for ideas, I came across the blog. Awesome stuff! Why don't you touch base with my better half and I'll make you guys din-din for a change???
foodyschmoody says
Thanks Brian. I know, it's been so long. Soon.
laurel says
I'd like to make this for a baby shower, but wonder if it can be made and then heated in oven prior to serving.
foodyschmoody says
I think it would be fine to make ahead. My suggestion however would be to have some extra heavy cream on hand and add a little extra in just before baking to avoid drying out. The reason being is that as pasta sits in liquid it soaks it in, so if it's sitting for a long period of time it may dry a bit. Just be prepared with the extra cream and you should be good to go!
Toni Gattie says
I added chicken Broth instead of more heavy cream. Worked well!
foodyschmoody says
Oh, and I would re-heat it covered too.
Jeff says
I plan to try this recipe tonight using fresh broccoli from my garden. However, I plan to cut it back 1.5 Lbs. of Broccoli flowerets would be enough to feed 10 people alone. And a pound of the Zita is also too much. I will cut back a bit on the chicken but everything else looks good including the sauce. I also have some very nice raw milk parmessan style cheese to use.
foodyschmoody says
I agree that the recipe as read makes a large quantity. This is one of the few recipes that my family will eat over and over again because we love it so much, so I always make enough to have left overs. I really hope you enjoy it, it's one of my most popular recipes from the blog!
Abbie Rennie says
Good recipe but definitely double the sauce. My liquid reduced really well so I added additional wine and stock. Delish!
foodyschmoody says
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I do think the sauce depends a lot on the kind of wine used and how well it reduces. Real wine reduces great but I've noticed that store bought no alcohol in it stuff doesn't reduce great. I'm glad you worked around it to make it right for you. One of my favorite meals!
Kristan says
I made this and it was yumtastic!
foodyschmoody says
So glad to hear it! It's one of my family's absolute favorites. It's tied w/ my Eggplant Parmesan recipe. Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know. It always makes my day to hear someone has enjoyed a recipe!!!
Anna says
This recipe looks delicious and I can't wait to try it... How many people does recipe feed? I am hosting a gathering and would love to serve this dish....
foodyschmoody says
It feeds the 4 of us with plenty of leftovers, so I'd say at least 6 as an entree.
Angel says
Do u recommend a good white wine ?
foodyschmoody says
I'm not much of a white wine drinker. I usually try to use whatever someone has brought to my house. You want something dry rather than sweet so I would suggest a sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio.
Jim says
Wanted to surprise my wife - decided to cook her dinner. I'm no cook, that's for sure. Saw this recipe. Seemed easy enough. Tried it. Amazing! Just like the local Italian restaurant!!
Thanks so much. Easy, quick.....yummy. Came out super!
foodyschmoody says
So glad you (and she) enjoyed it and how nice of you to surprise her with dinner!
Ann Pulsifer says
Hi. I made this for dinner the other night. It was so good. My other half who loves my cooking lol said he wants this every week. I showed him where I got the recipe, this page obviously, and he said to say thank you . We on occasion get this from a local Italian restaurant but they call it chicken broccoli sauté. No cream but delicious. Unfortunately they haven’t been able to make it this past month due to not having an ingredient and they’re still waiting. So he is thrilled. So guys you should try this recipe. One thing I did do was double the sauce only because I like extra sauce.
foodyschmoody says
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! The downfall of this recipe is that I never order it out anymore because I just like my recipe better
Adele says
Can this dish be frozen and reheated?
foodyschmoody says
I haven't tried to freeze this recipe so I couldn't say with any certainty.