Pan pasta cooking

[lindatooo]

I want to cook penne pasta along with chicken breasts in one pan...how much fluid to I need to add to cook the pasta?

TIA

 

[Andy M.]

Not sure, Linda. You might need 2.5 to 3 times the liquid as you have pasta. e.g. 1 cup of pasta to 2.5 to 3 cups of liquid.

 

[Katie H]

Just out of curiosity....why one pan?

 

[Callisto in NC]

It takes a lot of liquid and a short time to cook pasta compared to how long it takes to cook chicken. You might want to reconsider trying to cook it all in one pan.

 

[lindatooo]

The reason is I'm being a bit lazy. I remember making Goulash (not an authentic dish at all) but I didn't cook the pasta before I added it to the dish. My memory is old, though, and I don't remember how much liquid I added. Would it be the same ratio as to rice?

 

[Callisto in NC]

No to the rice. Rice absorbs it's liquid far more than pasta. Was your goulash made with egg noodles?

 

[Michael in FtW]

I'm thinking Andy M. was probably close when he said 2.5-3 times the amount of liquid as the pasta. It might be as little as 2x - depends on the pasta.

Don't worry Linda - you're not totally crazy looking at cooking this way. You cook your chicken until almost done, add the noodles, let simmer till the noodles are done .... sounds like a chicken version of Hamburger Helper to me!

 

[spiders]

Unless you want to make chicken soup, your best choice is to add the liquid a little at a time and cook the pasta something like risotto. That way you can control exactly how much liquid you end up with.