Creamy Sazon Chicken Penne Pasta

Okay SOOO, I've been making a lot of chicken with sazon seasoning lately (a staple in Latin-American cooking) and I love the flavor. It's like the most perfect tasting seasoned salt. The other day, I had some chicken bits and seasoning left over in a skillet after making chicken and I dropped some buttered pasta into the skillet as I was transferring it to a bowl and a lightbulb went off in my head!! Love when recipe creations are happy accidents!

I kept things pretty simple but I think this dish would be REALLY good with mushrooms and or spinach also mixed into it. Maybe bacon too?? Can you tell that I'm laying in bed writing up this recipe right now and I'm soooo hungry? Lol. If you try and and add stuff to customize, let me know how it goes!

What you need:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 chicken breasts or 4-6 chicken tenders
• 1 tbsp sazon seasoning
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2-4 garlic cloves minced
• 1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
• optional: 1 tsp red pepper flakes for spice
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• a handful of roughly chopped fresh basil 
• optional: a handful of spinach
• optional: 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

What to do:

1. Heat the oil in a skillet until hot - medium/high heat setting. Coat the raw chicken in the seasoning and fry on each side until golden brown, but not blackened. (Check to make sure the center is not pink!)
2. While the chicken is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the penne pasta according to packaging instructions.
3. Once the chicken is done, reduce the heat to low and remove it from the skillet, let the chicken cool and chop it into bite sized pieces. Do not rinse out the skillet, you'll want those browned chicken bits and leftover seasoning in the oil!
4. Add in the butter, garlic, pepper, optional red pepper flakes to the skillet and cook until fragrant. (About 5 minutes - if the garlic starts to burn your heat is still too high and you need to hurry up to step 3!)
5. Add the heavy whipping cream, 1/2 cup at a time while whisking to combine it with the other sauce ingredients. Bring the cream to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer setting and let it thicken up as the pasta finishes cooking.
6. Add the cooked pasta and optional parmesan cheese to the sauce and mix. If the sauce needs it, add a few spoonfuls of that starchy pasta water to loosen up the texture and make the sauce a little extra glossy.
7. Top with more fresh basil and parmesan before serving!