Brown Butter Chicken Pasta

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Who’s been to Florence, Italy?? If you have, and you followed my guide, then you probably remember that incredible Browned Butter Chicken!?! Well… I’m bringing it to your kitchen with this Brown Butter Chicken Pasta!!

Brown Butter Chicken Pasta from www.whatsgabycooking.com (@whatsgabycookin)

Let’s take it back a few years, shall we. For my birthday 2 years ago, Thomas and I hightailed it out of LA and went to Italy. We were on a mission to eat and drink our way through the country and try all of the incredible food it has to offer. It was quite possibly the most glorious mission of all times and we were incredibly successful.

Our first leg of the trip was in Florence. We went to a small restaurant that was only a few blocks from our hotel and all we were told was we needed to bring cash and to order the chicken. Other than that, we were going in blind. So we went; brought cash, ordered a ton of pasta, an assortment of vegetable side dishes, and the chicken. And I’m here to tell you that it was truly the best chicken of my entire life. Brown Buttered Chicken be still my heart.

Brown Butter Chicken Pasta from www.whatsgabycooking.com (@whatsgabycookin)

Naturally, I wanted to re-create the recipe in my kitchen but put my own spin on it. In Florence they serve it as a whole chicken breast in a cute little skillet. I thought it would be a little more approachable to do it cut up with pasta and ALL THE BROWNED BUTTER. I pulled out my most favorite butter, Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter, and went to town. It’s truly one of the best recipes to ever come out of my kitchen and you should absolutely recreate it in your kitchen. If you’re going to opt for the Salted Land O Lakes® Butter, that’s totally fine too. Just watch the amount of salt you add into the recipe so you don’t overpower the brown butter flavor!! Have at it….

Brown Butter Chicken Pasta from www.whatsgabycooking.com (@whatsgabycookin)

Brown Butter Chicken Pasta

4.8 from 5 votes
After having what was truly the best chicken of my entire life in Florence I knew I had to recreate it, but with lots of browned butter and pasta!
Course Dinner
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 6 tablespoons Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter divided
  • 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into pieces
  • Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 shallots thinly sliced
  • 3 cups sliced mushrooms
  • 8 garlic cloves minced or pressed
  • 3/4 cup dry white wine or chicken stock
  • 1/2 pound long pasta
  • 2/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese + more for topping
  • freshly chopped parsley or scallions for topping

Instructions
 

  • Heat a small saucepan over medium heat and add 3 tablespoons of butter. Whisk constantly until butter has brown bits on the bottom, then immediately remove from heat. Set aside.
  • Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of butter. Pat chicken dry with a paper towel then toss with salt, pepper and flour. Add the chicken to the skillet and brown on all sides, cooking for about 10-12 minutes total. Remove and set aside in a bowl. Turn heat down to low and add the last 2 tablespoons butter. Add the sliced mushrooms and shallots with a pinch of salt while stirring occasionally. Cook until softened – about 15 minutes.
  • Cook the pasta according to the package directions.
  • Once the mushrooms and shallots are caramelized, add garlic and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. Increase the heat to medium and add wine. Let the wine bubble and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken and pasta both to the skillet, tossing multiple times to coat. Turn off heat and stir in grated cheese. Drizzle brown butter (make sure you get the brown bits!) over top, tossing to coat a few more times. Serve with additional cheese and chopped parsley.

Photo by Matt Armendariz / Food Styling by Adam Pearson / Recipe by What’s Gaby Cooking

** This post is brought to you by Land O’Lakes. All content, ideas, and words are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that allow me to create new and special content like this for What’s Gaby Cooking**

30 Comments

  1. I love your user friendly site and recipes… this one look great! I especially like meals that can be prepared in advance so I’m not putting things together at the last minute. I’ll leave the grilling and saute’ed fish to someone else unless it is just my husband and myself or very casual family where everyone is in the kitchen doing something.

    1. hahahahaha yes! You could just skip the mushrooms entirely and I think that would be equally as delish!

  2. Made this last night for a special dinner with my youngest son to celebrate our early Christmas together. It was fantastic. I used 1/4 lb more pasta to make sure I had enough for everyone as I have some hearty eaters. I didn’t change any other quantities and it worked out fine. -thanks for another great recipe Gaby.

  3. Made this tonight with Pappardelle. Very good. I added peas as I didn’t want to make another side. We all liked it, kids didn’t love the chicken thighs though.

  4. I made this recipe last night and it was delicious. I don’t know why I didn’t have brown bits in the butter. I finally stopped whisking when the butter looked nearly black. Although I followed the recipe to the letter my mushroom and shallot mixture didn’t look like yours in the photo. The low heat didn’t seem to carmelize.them but they were very tasty. It says a lot about this recipe that it came out so good despite my two hiccups. Can you tell me where I went wrong?

  5. 5 stars
    This was really good and not difficult to make. The next time I make it I will add in some crushed red pepper flakes right before the onions go in the skillet!

  6. do you have a preference between the white wine or chicken stock for this recipe? i have both on-hand, and curious if there’s a dramatic difference in flavor. thanks!

  7. 5 stars
    Huge hit with a picky eater! I used stock vs wine and added a little red pepper flakes. I omitted the shallots and used onion and garlic powder because that’s what I had on hand.
    I don’t normally comment on recipes but this one was good and easy. Time is a bit deceiving because you have to cut the chicken thighs!

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