Creamy Harissa Spiced Chicken Pasta with Peppers

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Creamy Harissa Spiced Chicken Pasta with Peppers is a healthy dinner recipe perfect for any weeknight meal. It is bursting with the flavors of a special hot sauce made with vegetables and chiles seasoned with coriander, caraway, and garlic; and tamed by the creaminess of greek yogurt.

Yum

Have you ever heard of harissa? If you haven’t, let me have the pleasure of introducing you to it in this post! If you like spicy food with a lot of flavor (and not just heat), you will love it like I do 🙂

From Amazon: Originally from Tunisia, this hot sauce made with vegetables and chiles seasoned with coriander, caraway, and garlic, is now produced in France, to meet the demand first among the French repatriated from Algeria and later among the many immigrants from northern Africa who have settled there. Unlike other hot sauces, harissa, due to the particular balance of flavors, must be mixed with a moist dish, typically couscous, for the full effect. This harissa is made by the French brand Dea. It is imported from France. This pack includes two 4.2oz tubes.

A little bit goes a long way with this harissa paste as it is pretty spicy!! So a tube of the paste will last you for quite a while. Of course, you know that I love the heat, but I really like how this hot sauce has so much flavor too 🙂

Adding a bit of greek yogurt, gives this sauce more of a creamy consistency. It tames the heat a bit and also bumps up the protein and nutrient level…DOUBLE BONUS!! My inspiration for this Harissa Spiced Chicken Pasta meal was this recipe and I just made use of what I had on hand, making it healthier (of course)  😉

Here is your recipe for Creamy Harissa Spiced Chicken Pasta with Peppers:

5.0 from 1 reviews

Creamy Harissa Spiced Chicken Pasta with Peppers

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

Author: Becky's Best Bites

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1 box (13.25 oz.) whole wheat penne pasta
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large, sweet, yellow onion; chopped
• 4 cloves fresh garlic, minced or pressed
• 3 small bell peppers, seeded and chopped (I used green bell peppers fresh from my garden)
• 1.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• I can (14.5 oz.) fire roasted tomatoes
• 2 tsp. harissa paste
• ½ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• ½ cup non-fat greek yogurt
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp. fresh chives, chopped

Instructions

1. Cook pasta to al-denté according to to package instructions. Reserved 1 cup starching cooking water, drain and return to hot pot. Keep warm.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Add onion, garlic and bell pepper and sauté for 3-4 minutes, or until the onions have softened and turned translucent.
4. Add chicken pieces and brown the chicken on all sides, approximately 5 minutes.
5. Add tomatoes, harissa paste, chicken broth and greek yogurt. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer.
6. In a small bowl or ramekin, dissolve cornstarch in a small amount of warm water. Pour into chicken mixture and stir to thicken sauce.
7. Add pasta and starchy cooking water and stir to combine.
8. Sprinkle with chives.
9. Enjoy 🙂

3.5.3208