Some nights, I just need something cozy and totally easy to throw together, and this Creamy Chicken Fajita Pasta has been a firm favorite for YEARS. It is one of those dinners that saves me on busy nights because it is simple, family-friendly, and packed with bold Tex-Mex flavors. It’s rich and comforting without being fussy, and you can tweak it with whatever you have on hand. I can’t tell you how much I love having easy recipes like this in my back pocket for when I need a quick win at dinnertime. 😉
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“This is incredible! My kids all loved it, I had to keep swatting their hands away from the chicken while I finished the sauce. Making it again less than a week later.”
Lisa
Easy Recipe for Chicken Fajita Pasta
This easy chicken fajita pasta is a fast fix that doesn’t need a long list of ingredients to be amazing. All you really need is some pasta, a juicy chicken breast, a bell pepper, an onion, fire-roasted tomatoes, spices, and a little cream cheese to pull it all together. If your spice cabinet is still a work in progress like mine once was, you can totally grab a packet of fajita seasoning at the store instead of mixing your own. It still gives you all those smoky, zesty flavors that remind me of my favorite oven chicken fajitas, just in a creamy pasta version!
Budget-Saving Tip
If you can’t find a good deal on chicken breasts, skinless, boneless chicken thighs are a great swap. They’re usually more affordable, stay super tender when cooked, and taste just as delicious. You can even use another type of meat, like pork chops if that’s what you have on hand.
Creamy Chicken Fajita Pasta
Servings 4Ingredients
FAJITA SPICE MIX
- 2 tsp chili powder* ($0.20)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika ($0.10)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp cumin ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp sugar ($0.01)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
CHICKEN PASTA
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
- 1 boneless skinless chicken breast (about 0.75 lb.) ($2.00)
- 1 (142g) green bell pepper, diced ($0.86)
- 1 (284g) yellow onion, diced ($0.70 )
- 15 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes ($1.29)
- 4 oz cream cheese ($0.88)
- 8 oz (227g) dried pasta (any shape) ($0.62)
- 2 green onions, sliced ($0.24)
Instructions
- Combine the spices for the fajita spice mix in a bowl and set aside. Dice the onion and bell pepper, and cut the chicken breast into 1/2-inch cubes.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Once boiling, add the pasta and continue to boil until tender (7-10 minutes, or according to the package directions). Drain the pasta in a colander and set it aside until ready to use.
- While waiting for the pasta to cook, heat 1 Tbsp cooking oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the cubed chicken and the fajita spice mix. Sauté the chicken and spices until the chicken is cooked through and slightly browned. Remove the chicken from the skillet to a clean bowl.
- Add the onion and bell pepper to the skillet and continue to sauté over medium heat just until they begin to soften slightly on the edges and have a little brown color. Add the canned tomatoes (with juices) and the cream cheese. Stir the mixture over medium heat until the cream cheese melts in and forms a creamy sauce with the tomatoes.
- Finally, add the cooked and drained pasta and cooked chicken back to the skillet. Stir until everything is evenly combined and coated in creamy sauce. Top with sliced green onions and serve.
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Equipment
- Large 12" skillet
- Large Pot
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Chicken Fajita Pasta Step-by-Step Photos
Prep your ingredients: Gather all of your ingredients. In a small bowl, stir together 2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/8 tsp cayenne, 1/2 tsp sugar, and 1/2 tsp salt to make your fajita seasoning mix.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Once boiling, add 8oz. pasta and cook according to the package directions. Once the pasta is cooked through, drain it in a colander and set it aside until ready to use. But while the pasta is cooking you can start the rest of the dish.
Slice the chicken: Cut one boneless, skinless chicken breast into 1/2-inch cubes. This was a fairly large chicken breast, at about 0.75 lb. You can also use boneless, skinless chicken thighs if that’s what you have available.
Cook the chicken: While the pasta is cooking, heat 1 Tbsp cooking oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the diced chicken and the prepared fajita spice mix. Sauté the chicken and spices until the chicken is slightly browned and cooked through. Remove the cooked chicken from the skillet and place it in a clean bowl.
Sauté the veggies: Add the onion and bell pepper to the skillet and sauté for about 5 minutes, or just until the edges soften and begin to turn brown.
Make the sauce: Add one 15oz. can of fire roasted diced tomatoes (with the juices) and 4oz. of cream cheese (cut into chunks) to the skillet. Stir and cook over medium heat until the cream cheese melts in and creates a creamy sauce with the tomatoes. Finally, add drained pasta and cooked chicken back to the skillet and stir until everything is coated in the creamy sauce.
Combine everything: Finally, add drained pasta and cooked chicken back to the skillet and stir until everything is coated in the creamy sauce.
Serve: Top with 2 sliced green onions, then serve. That’s one big skillet of goodness….I mean creamy chicken fajita pasta.
Can I Make this In One Pot?
This fajita pasta recipe is very similar to my one-pot cajun chicken pasta, so it’s easy to make it all in one pot if you want to save on dishes. After sautéing the chicken (just until browned), onion, and bell pepper, add the pasta, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, and 2 cups of chicken broth. The chicken doesn’t need to be cooked through yet because it’ll finish cooking as everything simmers. Let it bubble away until the pasta is tender and the chicken is cooked through, then stir in the cream cheese.
If you want your bell peppers to stay a little more crisp, just sauté them first, remove them from the pot, and then stir them back in at the very end with the cream cheese.
Recipe Success Tips!
- Make it vegetarian. This recipe is sooo easy to make vegetarian-friendly. You can leave out the chicken, and it’s automatically veggie, but I’d prefer to add in some extra ingredients to bulk it up. Sauté some mushrooms before adding the bell pepper and onion, add some canned red kidney beans, or use tempeh in place of the chicken.
- Use a big enough pan. I remember when I first made this recipe back in 2016, I only used a 10-inch cast iron skillet, and that was way too small. It was really full and difficult to stir without spillage. I recommend using a 12-inch skillet.
- Spice it up (or down). One of my favorite things about mixing my own fajita seasoning is how easy it is to make it just the way I like it. If I am craving extra heat, I just toss in a bit more cayenne. You can seriously tweak any of the seasonings in this recipe to fit your taste.
Serving Suggestions
If you want to take this recipe for chicken fajita pasta one step further and make it EXTRA indulgent, I suggest sprinkling pepper jack (or Monterrey jack) cheese on top before serving. A dollop of sour cream would also be delicious. I’d also add a few pickled red onions for some tang, and if you fancy something fresh, our street corn salad would be the perfect match.
sTORAGE & rEHEATING
Keep any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3–4 days. I usually just pop a bowl in the microwave for a super quick and easy lunch the next day. I don’t usually freeze this one since creamy sauces can sometimes separate after thawing, and pasta becomes mushy. If you don’t mind the texture, you could try freezing it for up to 3 months and thaw it in the fridge before reheating.
More Mexican-Inspired Recipes
Our Creamy Chicken Fajita Pasta recipe was originally published 6/28/16. It was retested, reworked, and republished to be better than ever 5/3/25.
Just finished eating this and had to leave a review right away! So delicious and simple to make. Definitely will be adding this to our regular rotation.
This was so easy and absolutely delicious! Young family with very picky eaters and everyone devoured it! Thank you!
Love your recipes! Do you think I could substitute Greek yogurt for cream cheese?
I think blended cottage cheese or cream would be a better sub for this one!
Hi Beth,
Do you think that rather than the 4-ounces of cream cheese, I could use 4-ounces of heavy cream?
I love cream cheese, but my family doesn’t. Thanks!
Hi Renee! I have the same question. Is cream an OK substitute for cream cheese? I have an aversion to cream cheese.
That would be fine! I would start with maybe 1/4 cup and see if you like the taste and consistency and then go from there!
I would start with maybe 1/4 cup and see if you like the taste and consistency and then go from there!
My suggestion for anyone making this the first time, bump up the cumin to 1/2 tsp, add a little black pepper. If you remove the cayenne, add a little more smoked paprika. You can also add a little oregano if you like.
I actually prefer to make this recipe following the directions for another very similar recipe here, the one pot creamy cajun chicken. I use the spices from this recipe, and brown the chicken first (not worry about cooking all the way), then add the bell pepper (I use yellow in this case) and onion (I use white onions because yellow onions are far too large to use a whole one to me, wish the website gave weights for this). I removed the chicken while cooking the pepper and onion then add back in with the uncooked pasta, fire roasted tomatoes, and chicken stock from the cajun recipe and cooked according to that. Mind you, I don’t use any of the dairy in either of these recipes, but I find cooking the pasta with at least some broth has a far better result, just pick your preferred spice mix of the two and follow the cajun steps instead lol.
Hi Beth, Recipe is really good and fast. I made it just as per your recipe except I used half red and half green peppers for color.
I’m not sure where you live or shop, but the prices you quote are 2 to 3 times higher where I live for things like chicken breasts and cream cheese.
This recipe is from 2016, so the prices are definitely a bit different. Unfortunately, because food prices change on a day to day basis, it’s impossible to have all of the recipes reflect current prices. Rather than looking at the total or individual prices, it can be helpful to look at the ratio of the prices. Which ingredients add the most to the total cost and which are the least costly (but most bulky). That helps you recognize which ingredients you can cut back on or increase in your recipes to adjust the volume and price to make them more budget-friendly, no matter what the current prices are. :)
This was great! I’d love to try and do it all in one pan like the cream Cajun chicken pasta – any tips for that? I’d worry about the onions and peppers getting too mushy but maybe I’d do those first, take them out, add everything else (and broth for cooking noodles) and put the peppers and onions back in with the cream cheese?
I think your intuition is spot on! Take the peppers and onions out and add them back in toward the end. :)
This was good. Used leftover chicken fajita; didn’t have cream cheese or roasted tomatoes (google said I could use sour cream and any canned tomatoes with smoke paprika…). Added more spices in this recipe and siracha cuz the pasta and tomatoes dulled the flavour.
My husband and I love this pasta and it’s a regular in our meal rotation. Today I turned it into a soup…left out the pasta, added black beans and frozen corn, then added 32oz of chicken broth and doubled the cream cheese. It’s everything you could dream of and more. Oh and I added some cilantro and lime when serving.Â
The first time I made this, the cayenne made it a bit spicy for my kids. I made it tonight without the cayenne, using boneless chicken thighs and regular diced tomatoes. The kids and I loved it. I’m doing keto, so I put the pasta in last, and put my portion of the chicken on a bed of lettuce and mixed it up, rather than on pasta. Excellent that way.
This was a miss for us. The flavor was just bland, overall. It lacked depth. The tomatoes still had their bright/raw flavor and that detracted from the intended warmth of the spices.
I ended up adding some additional sour cream and cheese to dry and bring up the flavor, in addition to some prepared salsa after I’d tasted it and didn’t like it. We’ve got a ton of leftovers and those will get so,e additional treatment upon reheat.Â
Just a question how much is 8 oz of dry pasta in grams, do I really only use 100 grams of pasta?
When I enter it into an ounce to grams calculator I get 8 oz. = 227 grams.
Dude this is so good! I added two bell peppers (green and red) and a diced jalapeño. I also used diced tomatoes with jalapeños instead of fire roasted bc that’s what I had. I increased the seasoning a bit since I had a lot more veggies and I probably will increase it a little more next time. But it is so so good.Â
Made this for the 507,000th time today, and it’s still delicious. It’s also forgiving—I add half a can of leftover corn, and it was still perfect. I like to add some chopped cilantro, when I have it. This recipe is a gift for all of us who keep a stocked pantry and appreciate a delicious weeknight meal. Thanks, Beth!
Hey how many servings is this total?
I get about four servings out of this, but your servings will vary depending on how much you tend to eat.