How to Make It
Thanks to frozen fire roasted corn, you can simply pop it in the microwave and all the corn you need for this pasta will be good to go. Half goes in a blended cheesy corn pasta sauce, and the other half goes in at the end along with some pickled jalapeño and honey sauced ground chicken breast.
Be sure to reserve some pasta water to help bring everything together at the end. This is a key step to achieving a super creamy pasta without any added heavy cream or high-fat ingredients.
As for the ground chicken, I experimented with other proteins like air fried and chopped chicken breast, rotisserie chicken, and salsa verde pulled chicken. Honestly, I had a tough time choosing which was my favorite. I ultimately settled on ground chicken because of the honey jalapeño sauce. It’s so good with the creamy corn sauce!
That being said, feel free to experiment with other proteins.
At the Risk of Sounding Corny
Just wanted to say thank you for being here and supporting a small husband and wife run food blog. This is our tenth year working on Kinda Healthy Recipes. We’re proud to say there’s no generative AI content around here, and every recipe is extensively tested.
If you like this recipe, reviews are always helpful. You’ll also probably enjoy some of my other protein pastas like Calabrian chicken and broccolini and balsamic beef and bell pepper.
Again, thanks for reading and cooking with us!
Creamy Corn Pasta
Ingredients
- 12 oz Protein Pasta, I used Brami radiatori
- 1 ½ cup Reserved Pasta Water
- 2 ½ cups (350g) Frozen Fire Roasted Corn
- 1 large Jalapeño Peppers, seeds removed and diced
For the Sauce
- ½ cup (110g) Low Fat Cottage Cheese
- ½ cup (56g) Cotija Cheese, crumbled (or parmesan)
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ¼ cup Water
For the Chicken
- 16 oz Ground Chicken Breast
- 2 Tablespoons (42g) Honey
- 3 Tablespoons (45g) Pickled Jalapeño Peppers, + 2 Tablespoons of the brine
- 2 Tablespoons Water
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
- ½ teaspoon Ground Cumin
- ½ teaspoon Ground Coriander
Garnishes (optional)
- Cotija Cheese
- Salsa Macha
- Cilantro
Instructions
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.
- Add the frozen corn to a bowl and microwave for 5 minutes. Add ½ (175g) to a blender along with the cottage cheese, cotija cheese, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ cup of water. Blend until completely smooth and set aside. Set the other half of the corn aside to add at the end.
- Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook for 10 minutes or until just shy of al dente.
- While the pasta cooks, make the chicken. Heat a pan over medium-high heat with cooking spray or a drizzle of olive oil before adding the ground chicken. Cook on one side for 2-3 minutes until golden brown before breaking apart and fully cooking.
- While the chicken cooks, mix together the honey, pickled jalapeño peppers and brine, spices, and 2 tablespoons of water. Add the sauce to the cooked chicken and stir everything together. Cook until the sauce thickens and begins to caramelize on the bottom, about 1-2 minutes.
- Once the pasta is ready, reserve 1 ½ cup of the pasta water and drain the rest.
- Add the blended sauce and about ½ cup of the reserved pasta water. Stir together until smooth before adding the other ½ of the corn, about ⅔ of the chicken, and ½ of the freshly diced jalapeño. Fold everything together, adding more pasta water as needed to keep the sauce smooth and creamy.
- Add the remaining chicken on top of the pasta and garnish with extra cotija cheese, diced jalapeño, cilantro, and salsa macha, if desired.
