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5 from 1 vote

Chicken Spaghetti Recipe with olives, sun-dried tomatoes, raisins and almonds

Quick and easy to make, great when it's hot and leftovers are fab for lunch the next day
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time25 minutes
Course: Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 4
Calories: 376kcal
Author: Thrifty Lesley
Cost: 56p

Equipment

  • saucepan
  • mixing bowl
  • small sharp knife
  • digital weighing scales

Ingredients

  • 140 g chicken or a little more if uncooked
  • 20 olives black or green, stoned and chopped
  • 50 g raisins
  • 60 g almonds flaked, or whole nuts, chopped
  • 60 g sun-dried tomatoes chopped
  • 1 lemon
  • 160 g spaghetti wholemeal if you can, or whatever pasta you want to use

Instructions

The Pasta

  • Put the spaghetti into a saucepan. Pour over boiling water from the kettle, add a little salt and simmer until cooked through
    160 g spaghetti
  • Drain the pasta well. Reserve a cup of water

To Mix With The Pasta

  • If your chicken is already cooked, chop to pea sized pieces. If the chicken is still raw chop to pea sized pieces and fry until cooked through.
    140 g chicken
  • If you are using whole nuts, chop them quite finely
    60 g almonds
  • Put the olives, raisins, flaked almonds or chopped nuts, and chopped sundried tomatoes into a serving bowl.
    20 olives, 50 g raisins, 60 g sun-dried tomatoes
  • Zest and juice the lemon into the serving bowl.
    1 lemon
  • Tip the contents of the serving bowl into the hot spaghetti saucepan and leave for the mixture to warm through. Add a little pasta water if it needs it.
  • Mix everything together
  • Serve immediately while still hot, or enjoy at room temperature.

To Serve

  • Good with shredded lettuce and cucumber or chopped tomatoes

Notes

What changes can I make

  • Change the pasta to any shape. Value penne or spaghetti would work just fine.
  • No raisins? Any dried fruit gives a little pop of sweetness. Make sure any larger dried fruit, apricots for instance, are cut up small.
  • No olives / don't like them? Try gherkins or capers
  • The flaked almonds can be changed to whole almonds, chopped quite small, or any other kind of nut that you want to use.
  • If you like anchovies, 1 or 2 chopped ones would be great in this
  • Want to make it gluten free? Just change the pasta 
  • In fact all the ingredients can be changed around, substituted, omitted and swapped. What have you got?

This recipe is from a series - how to poach a chicken and feed your family all week with it

    1. Poached chicken
    2. Spaghetti with olives, sultanas and lemon140g chicken, this recipe
    3. Oaty, nutty, seedy chicken and mushroom crumble 140g chicken
    4. Chicken and rice salad - red peppers from a jar, peas, gherkins, raisins 140g chicken and some of the stock
    5. Chicken and something Pizza, sweetcorn, onion, red pepper, mozzarella and cheddar – 140g chicken
    6. Coronation Chicken Jacket Potato – 140g chicken
    7. Red Cabbage Waldorf with apple, walnut and dressing –  140g chicken
    8. Chicken Tart with Butternut Squash, Lemon Zest & Parmesan 140g chicken
    1. this comes out at a total of 28 portions, which is amazing!

How to make a roast chicken last the family 7 days

Adjusting the recipes to accommodate 977g chicken, each making 4 servings, I was able to stretch it to do the following:-
  1. Roast chicken, 400g chicken, gravy, with stuffing, 4 portions
  2. Risotto, 140g chicken, onion, half the the stock, some vegetables butter and parmesan, 4 portions
  3. Pizza, 117g chicken, tomato sauce, maybe some stuffing, 4 portions
  4. Spicy Pasta Bake, white sauce, 120g chicken, onion, spices, stuffing, 4 portions
  5. Tart, 100g chicken, onions, sweetcorn, couple of eggs, no cheese, stuffing, 4 portions
  6. Pie, 100g chicken, some of the gravy, onion, maybe some sweetcorn or mushrooms, maybe some stuffing, 4 portions
  7. Soup with the remaining half of the stock, red lentils, onion, spices, 4 portions
this comes out at a total of 28 portions, which I think is pretty good!
This means that 1 medium chicken can be used to make 7 different budget stretching chicken recipes and feed your family for a week – bargaintastic!

Nutrition

Serving: 0g | Calories: 376kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Cholesterol: 13mg | Sodium: 346mg | Potassium: 857mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 233IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 81mg | Iron: 3mg
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