Ainsley Harriott’s chicken pasta with peas recipe

A simple healthy pasta dish with tender chicken, vibrant green peas and a secret ingredient: a hit of warming horseradish sauce.

If you're looking for a dish that doubles as a great lunch or dinner, this chicken pasta with peas is a great one to try. It packs well in sealed containers if you need to travel or take it to work. Once there, you can eat it cold, or quickly zapped in the office microwave. You can keep it packed in the fridge for a couple of days, too - a good batch meal. This is a great dish for novice cooks, students or youngsters starting to experiment with their own dishes. Plus at £1.25 a portion, it's one of our most affordable healthy chicken recipes (opens in new tab). Just follow Ainsley's fun video and you'll see how easy it is to create.

Ingredients

• 350g pasta shapes
• 175g frozen peas
• 175g piece of cooked chicken, chopped into cubes
• 1 tbsp creamed horseradish mixed with 1 tbsp low-fat crème fraîche
• 4 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
• Ground black pepper and salt

Method

1. Bring a large pan of water to a boil. Add salt to the water, then the pasta. Stir once and cook for 10–12 minutes, or according to the instructions on the packet, until the pasta is cooked but still slightly firm in the middle.
2. About 2 or 3 minutes before the pasta is done, add the peas to the pan.
3. Drain the mixture in a colander, then return to the pan. Add the chicken, horseradish mixture and parsley. Stir well to combine and season with pepper. Put the pan over a gentle heat until everything is just warmed through, then serve in bowls.

Top tips for making chicken pasta with peas

Swap the crème fraîche for low fat cream cheese like Phildelphia if that's what you have.

You can use any past shapes you like here. We used orecchiette ('little ears') because they match nicely with the size and shape of the peas.

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