The Cheesecake Factory bills this main dish as “Parmesan-crusted chicken served over pasta with mushrooms, peppers and onions in a spicy New Orleans sauce.” Intrigued by the concept of “New Orleans sauce” and lured in by the tempting photos and almost guaranteed promise of comfort food, we decided to create our own copycat Cheesecake Factory recipe at home.
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Tips for Making Copycat Louisiana Chicken Pasta
As you can see, this copycat recipe has a lot of moving parts. That doesn’t mean it’s complicated, though, and I was to the finish line—okay, my seat at the dinner table—within 45 minutes. Here are a few pointers I learned along the way, and from our Test Kitchen after comparing notes with them later.
Pick a different protein. Speaking of steak or seafood, chicken is far from your only option to top this pasta. Consider using one-half chicken breast per serving, then round out the dish with 8 ounces of cooked shrimp or sliced andouille sausage. Or if you prefer to omit the chicken, use all shrimp, scallops, steak, or drained and rinsed white beans instead.
Go ahead and grill. If you like the concept of chicken breasts, but don’t want to fuss with breading and frying, you can absolutely bake butterflied chicken breasts instead. Spray both sides of butterflied chicken breasts with cooking spray or rub with a thin layer of oil and sprinkle with a dusting of Cajun seasoning—this will help boost the flavor since we’re leaving out the Parmesan breadcrumbs. Alternatively, bread the chicken, then bake instead of pan-fry. Bake at 400°F for 15 to 20 minutes or air fry at 400°F for 10 to 12 minutes, flipping halfway through, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
Be your own butcher. Many grocery stores sell chicken breasts already butterflied. Look for “boneless, skinless split chicken breasts” or “butterfly chicken breasts” on the package. If you can only find full chicken breasts, it’s a breeze to butterfly them yourself. Use a sharp chef’s knife to carefully slice a chicken breast in half down the middle, leaving a portion attached. Open it up like a book, then use a meat mallet to pound each chicken breast to an even thickness. (We’ll walk you through it in our Lemon Butter Chicken Breasts recipe).
Use your noodle. Farfalle is the Factory’s default setting, but any short or medium cut pasta would work nicely here. Feel free to swap in penne, cavatappi, fusilli, gemelli, or ziti.
Dining and Cooking