Easy Chicken Bacon Pasta

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #EverydayEffortless#CollectiveBias

Raise your hand if you’re on the lookout for easy dinner ideas these days. I know I am! With the kids back in school, it means we also have piano lessons, basketball and homework to worry about. Plus I’m in school too! I’m taking 4 online classes and that time definitely adds up.

This Chicken Bacon Alfredo dish uses Barilla Pronto Pasta and Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken Strips–unbreaded and high in protein–so there’s not a whole lot of prep or wait time for this easy dinner solution.

Here’s the recipe:
4 strips cooked bacon, broken into “large crumbles”
Alfredo sauce (buy or make your favorite…I love this one from Our Best Bites–and it can be made ahead of time)
4 fresh basil leaves, torn
Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken Strips
Barilla Pronto Penne

You’ll find the chicken at Walmart in the freezer section and the “Pronto” right with the rest of the pasta.

Pour the box of Barilla Pronto into a large skillet and add 3 cups cold water, making sure the pasta is covered. Turn the heat to high and set timer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally while it’s cooking.

When the water is almost all boiled away, add  1/2 the bag of Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken Strips (I cut my strips into smaller chunks before adding). Cook for a couple of minutes and then add the alfredo sauce and keep stirring. When the sauce and chicken are hot, remove from heat and stir in bacon and basil and serve.

Not bad for a middle of the week meal, right? And so much easier than waiting for a giant pot of water to boil, and defrosting and grilling chicken breasts. Even clean up is easier! Now we can get back to that homework and music practice, and still have time to play a game before bed.

I’d love to hear what favorite dish you can speed up with Barilla Pronto Pasta and Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken Strips.

Check out more inspiration for #EverydayEffortless here.