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One-Pot Creamy Cajun Pasta

Stand by ingredients become stand out flavors in this one-pot pasta.

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Say cajun, and your mind immediately goes to the streets of New Orleans with garden patios set inside European-styled buildings, heat hanging heavy, and the smell of spiced, long stewed dishes wafting in the air. The classic NoLa cajun spice can make an appearance on your table without you having to stand over a stove. This One-Pot Creamy Cajun Pasta takes that Creole heat and pairs it with a creamy red sauce that coats fettuccine for an easy but flavorful dinner.

Cajun spice is seen as a distinctly American Southern flavor, but it’s the fusion of African, French, and Spanish cuisines. Herbs like oregano, thyme, and garlic come from the French, while onion and paprika came from the Spanish, and cayenne is found in East African dishes. The melting pot that was New Orleans saw this spice blend tossed into countless recipes and became known as Cajun spice.

Today cajun spice is just a pantry spice that no one bats an eye to, but there’s a way to turn up the volume on this now-common spice blend.

While sautéing two of New Orleans’s holy trinity — onions and green bell pepper — until soft, drop in the cajun spice mix and stir it with the oil. Cooking spices in oil is called blooming spices. The oil opens up the flavors of the spice, allowing the spices’ flavors to permeate more easily into the dish’s other ingredients. In addition to the cajun spice, garlic powder, and black pepper are added to the lot.

Then comes the saucy part — chicken stock starts the sauce’s base, followed by tomato sauce and heavy cream. This will sound like a lot of liquid, and the liquid will look sort of separated, but have no fear! Heating the three wet ingredients in the pan will help smooth the sauce and concentrate the flavor. After the sauce has simmered, everything will look blended, almost like a vodka sauce but with a much more exciting kick.

Here I used fettuccine pasta, but any long-strand pasta is fine. If you want to cook with angel hair, make sure to undercook it, as it’ll also cook quickly in the sauce.

This dish cooks up really quickly, so don’t turn your back on it.

The once-large pan of liquid gets absorbed by the pasta. You don’t need to cook the pasta for too long, you just want to heat the pasta and get the sauce clinging to it. If it starts to get too thick, ladle in some of the reserved pasta water.

It’s simple, easy, and packs a whole lot of flavor. The onion and green peppers, and garlic powder add that classic holy trinity backbone to the cajun-laced sauce. The tomato sauce gets a rich heaviness from the cream and the pasta water. No surface is left unseasoned. You could pair this pasta with a protein or side salad, but when you want immediate satisfaction and comfort this pasta needs no add-ons.

Yield(s): Serves 6 to 8

10m prep time

20m cook time

5.0
Rated by 1 reviewers

Allergens: Milk, Gluten

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Ingredients
  • 1 lb long pasta like spaghetti, fettuccine, or linguine
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 1/2 green bell pepper, finely diced
  • 2 teaspoons cajun seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 1 3/4 cups tomato sauce or puree
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Preparation
  1. Cook pasta according to package directions, strain but reserve some pasta water, about 1/2 cup.
  2. In a large saucepan, melt butter and sauté onion and bell pepper until softened and onions are translucent, about 5 to 6 minutes.
  3. Add cajun seasoning, garlic powder, and black pepper, stirring until spices become fragrant.
  4. Pour in stock, tomato sauce, and heavy cream. Don’t worry, the mixture will look broken, but this is fine. The sauce will come together as it cooks.
  5. Simmer sauce until smooth and creamy, about 8 minutes.
  6. Add in pasta, tossing to combine. If the sauce is too thick, add some of the reserved pasta water. Season with salt and pepper.
  7. Off the heat stir in parmesan cheese. Serve warm and enjoy.