Chicken and vegetable pasta means one thing for us: a sauce in the mixing bowl that is ready in 40 minutes, while the pasta cooks alongside on the hob. The chicken goes straight into the hot tomato and stock base and cooks through in 15 minutes, without us needing a frying pan.
We have been making this dish regularly for years. The children love the creamy sauce, and we appreciate that everything happens in one pot. The Thermomix® takes care of the steaming, cooking, and thickening. We only need to chop the vegetables and meat.
Chicken and Vegetable Pasta, Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 18 ✓
- 1 onion
- 5 g ginger
- 20 g olive oil
- 1 tin chopped tinned tomatoes
- 200 g chicken stock
- 170 g tinned mushrooms drained weight
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 250 g red pepper
- 250 g courgette
- 600 g chicken breast fillet
- 500 g mafaldine pasta or another type of your choice
- 20 g cornflour
- 100 g double cream
- 100 g soured cream
Instructions 0 / 7
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1
Chop onion and ginger.
Peel the onion and ginger, halve them, place in the mixing bowl, and chop for 5 sec / speed 5. Scrape down with the spatula.
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2
Steam the vegetables.
Add the oil and steam for 3 min / Varoma / speed 1.
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3
Cook the sauce.
Add the tomatoes, stock, mushrooms, salt, pepper, paprika, oregano, and thyme, and cook for 5 min / 120°C (TM31 Varoma) / reverse direction / speed 1.
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4
Prepare pepper and courgette.
Meanwhile, wash and trim the pepper and courgette, then cut into bite-sized pieces. Wash the chicken breast, pat dry with kitchen paper, and cut into cubes.
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5
Cook the chicken.
Add the chicken breast and vegetables to the mixing bowl, fold in with the spatula, and cook for 15 min / 100°C / reverse direction / speed 1.
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6
Cook the pasta.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a pot of well-salted water according to the packet instructions.
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7
Bring the sauce to the boil.
Stir the cornflour into the double cream until smooth, then add together with the soured cream to the chicken and vegetable mixture and bring to the boil for 3 min / 120°C (TM31 Varoma) / reverse direction / speed 1. Serve with the mafaldine pasta.
Tip: If you prefer the meat less shredded, simply leave it to steam in the Varoma in step 4 and fold it in with the spatula at the end.
Nutrition per serving
Reverse direction keeps the chicken from falling apart
We cook the chicken on reverse direction at speed 1. This means the blade rotates slowly anti-clockwise, rather than pushing the ingredients into the blades. The meat stays in whole cubes instead of shredding. If you cook this dish without reverse direction, the chicken breaks into fibres and the sauce turns cloudy.
If you prefer to treat the meat even more gently, you can steam it in the Varoma above the sauce, as described in the recipe note. It stays more compact that way, though the sauce loses the depth of flavour that direct cooking provides.
Cornflour only thickens when it is cooked
The cornflour goes into the sauce right at the end, stirred into the double cream. Important: it needs 3 minutes at 120°C to bind the sauce. If you just stir it in without heat, the sauce stays thin and the starch sinks to the bottom. Reverse direction prevents the sauce from splattering or catching.
The soured cream goes in at the same time as the cream and cornflour mixture. It brings a slight tang and makes the sauce velvety. If you use only double cream, the freshness is missing.
Pepper and courgette need to be bite-sized
We cut both vegetables into cubes of around 2 cm. That is the size that cooks through in 15 minutes at 100°C without turning mushy. Larger pieces stay firm, smaller ones fall apart. The pepper loses its colour if you add it to the hot sauce too early, so it goes in together with the chicken, not when softening the onion.
Cook the pasta separately on the hob, not in the Varoma
We cook the pasta separately on the hob, not in the Varoma above the Thermomix®. The reason: pasta needs a lot of water and space. In the Varoma it would stick together and cook unevenly. A large pot of vigorously boiling salted water is always the better choice for pasta.
Mafaldine works well because of its wide, wavy shape. It catches the creamy tomato and soured cream mixture between the ridges. Penne or rigatoni work just as well. Rice cooked in the Thermomix® also goes nicely with this dish.
Tinned mushrooms or fresh?
We use tinned mushrooms (170 g drained weight). They are already cooked and give the sauce an earthy depth, without any cleaning or chopping. Fresh mushrooms would release more water and thin the sauce, meaning you would need more cornflour or a longer reduction.
Ginger adds warmth, not a dominant flavour
5 g of ginger is a small amount, roughly the size of a thumbnail. It gives the sauce a gentle background warmth without being noticeable as a distinct taste. If you use more, the sauce takes on an Asian character and no longer sits comfortably alongside the pepper, oregano, and thyme.
Leftovers in the fridge or freeze for later
Goes well with: Parmesan.
The dish keeps for 3 days in the fridge in a sealed container. When reheating, loosen the sauce with 2 to 3 tbsp of water, as the starch thickens further on cooling. Freezing works well: portion into freezer-safe containers, keeps for 3 months. Freeze the pasta separately and cook fresh when reheating, as thawed pasta turns mushy.
More family dishes with the Thermomix®: Vegetable platter with rice and herb sauce (steamed entirely in the Varoma), colourful salad as a crisp side dish, and quick orange Tiramisu for dessert.
