What is the best Chicken Alfredo recipe?

What is the best Chicken Alfredo recipe?

I usually follow FoodWishes recipes but the Alfredo one is weird. He boils the chicke and doesn't even use butter.

Cmon guys someone reply.
It's almost lunchtime and I need to make chicken alfredo.

Season chicken with salt, pepper, and Italian herbs (ideally fresh, or you can just get a jar of generic "italian seasoning" from the supermarket). Saute it. Cut into chunks or strips to add to the dish later.

Sauce: Equal parts butter and heavy cream in the saucepan. Melt the butter then simmer for a while to drive off some of the moisture. Then whisk in finely grated parmagianno-reggiano cheese. Season with black pepper. You won't need salt because the cheese is already salty.

Toss the noodles in the sauce, plate, put chicken on top.

Why not cut the chicken into pieces before sauteing it?

Pleb mistake. You'll end up boiling your chicken in its own juices instead of browning the exterior.

Only if I overcrowd the pan, no?

Which you will. Diced pieces will take up more of the circumference of the pan over a single piece meaning boiling/steaming it is inevitable. Unless you're cooking in small batch rotations (which is stupid as fuck) the most efficient way to cook it is whole.

>boiling/steaming it is inevitable
That's not true at all.

One can easily brown 4 servings worth of diced chicken in a 12" saute pan or skillet without overcrowding.

Do you finish the chicken breast in the oven when cooking whole after you pan sear it?

I don't want it to remain raw in the middle.

You can either lower the heat and finish it in the pan, or you can finish in the oven.

Or, if you butterfly the breast first then it will probably be cooked through in about the same time as needed to get a good sear on both sides.

Either butterfly or pound the chicken so that it's thin enough to cook through while searing, this is the superior way to cook chicken as you get maximum browning as opposed to cooking a thicker piece and finishing in the oven. Especially for a dish like chicken alfredo, you want the flavor from the sear to contrast with the sauce.

I feel you man, I had the same issue trying to figure out how to get this right. I usually get up food wishes whenever I want to try something new because I can at least get a good idea of how the fish is supposed to be made, even if I want to change it up, but he only has that weird light alfredo recipe and that's not what I'm looking for. And looking into it, for some reason a simple alfredo sauce is hard as fuck to find good information on online, everyone wants to overcomplicate it for some reason.

It's really fucking easy though, heavy cream, butter (the amount is up to you, but mo butter=mo better), quality parmesan, and whatever seasoning you want to add. You simmer the cream and butter until thickened to your liking, kill the heat, and mix in the cheese until it melts and combines. After that it's as simple as adding your pasta and topping with your chicken, which to prepare to your liking (there's been a few good posts about how to do that already).

I like pairing this dish with broccoli, pan fried in a bit of oil until slightly charred but still firm.

it's perfectly simple to cook chicken cut into pieces in a pan without overcrowding it

seriously

Yeah but it's also both more work and a worse final product than just cooking the chicken and then cutting it into strips.

dumb question but doesn't cooking the chicken meat whole keep it more tender and juicy?

Yes.

Pan sear then bake for a superior chicken.

why yes, it does

use a thermometer
50 degrees C in the centre and your chicken is done

The alfredo will taste better if you use white pepper, mozarella, and paprika also. Alternatively, you could just use paprika on the chicken, but you can never use too much.

Nope.

Juiciness is a matter of how you cook it. Overcooked = dry. Cooked properly = juicy. It is easier to do this for noob cooks with a whole piece of chicken, which is why I recommend that earlier in the thread. But if you have the skills you can saute pieces and have them come out juicy--the thing is that the timing is a lot more difficult with smaller pieces because they go from properly cooked to overcooked in just a few seconds.

Paprika is tasty and all, but in Alfredo? Doesn't sound good to me. But hey, if you like it, go for it!

How is it more work? In either case you're cooking something in a pan and you're cutting it up. The number of steps hasn't changed, only their ordering.

Cooking it in small pieces will cook much faster than a whole breast.

Worse final product? That's all about the skill of the cook. I do admit it's trickier to cook the pieces without drying them out, but if you have the experience to do that well then it's no problem.