Cheddars New Orleans Pasta is a favorite Cajun-style pasta dish. It is so easy to make, and you can put together this dish at home. It’s the perfect way to feed a large gathering.
If you have never been to Cheddar’s, the restaurant is amazing. They do scratch cooking, and their food is such a great value.
It’s the perfect place to go out with a gathering of friends or even to take the whole family. Their menu is diverse, you can find something for everyone at Cheddars.
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Table of Contents
New Orleans Pasta
One of the most-loved dishes is the Cheddars New Orleans Pasta. This pasta dish is a medley of flavors, shrimp, chicken, smoked sausage, peppers, onions, and penne pasta tossed in homemade Cajun Alfredo sauce.
This complex tasting dish is perfect for a weeknight dinner, as it can really feed a crowd of people. You may even want to pair this pasta dish with garlic bread for the restaurant experience.
This recipe features a spicy homemade Alfredo sauce, and it has sausage, chicken, shrimp, and an assortment of fresh vegetables.
Ingredients
Here’s a list of what you need:
- Chicken breast
- Italian dressing
- Penne pasta
- Butter
- All-purpose flour
- Heavy cream
- Shredded parmesan cheese
- Shredded mozzarella
- Salsa
- Smoked sausage
- Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
- Shrimp (medium-sized) peeled and deveined
- Green bell pepper
- White onion
How to Make New Orleans Pasta
- Marinate chicken for about an hour in the Italian dressing then discard the marinade.
- Cook pasta according to box directions.
- Melt butter in a large pot.
- Add flour, stir, and cook for about 1 minute or until the roux begins to smell nutty.
- Add cream, parmesan cheese, mozzarella, and salsa. Stir to combine.
- Once the sauce thickens, reduce heat to simmer.
- Add oil into a large skillet over medium heat.
- Cook chicken for 5 to 7 minutes on both sides, or until done.
- Remove chicken from the skillet.
- Add the sliced sausage to the skillet and sear. Remove sausage and wipe out skillet.
- Sprinkle Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning on the shrimp.
- Add another tablespoon of oil to the skillet and cook shrimp just until pink.
- Remove shrimp from the skillet.
- Add oil to the skillet if necessary and sauté onion and green bell pepper until tender.
Recipe Notes
You could modify the recipe by omitting shrimp and simply add additional sausage or chicken.
If you didn’t want to make the Alfredo sauce from scratch you could use a jar of Alfredo sauce. It’s completely up to you.
This dish reheats well the second day so it is perfect to bring to lunch if you desire.
Love Cheddar’s? Try these copycat recipes!
Popular Cajun and Creole Recipes
Favorite Pasta Recipes
Be sure to check out more of my easy pasta recipes and the best restaurant copycat recipes here on CopyKat.com!
Cheddars New Orleans Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 cup Italian dressing
- 16 ounces penne pasta
- 4 ounces butter
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
- 1 1/2 cup salsa
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
- 8 ounces smoked sausage sliced
- 8 ounces shrimp (medium sized) peeled and deveined
- 1 sliced green bell pepper
- 1 white onion, sliced
Instructions
- Marinate chicken for about 1 hour in the Italian dressing. Discard the marinade after the marinate has completed.
- Cook pasta according to package directions.
- In a large pot, heat butter. When the butter melts add the flour. Stir and cook for about 1 minute or until the roux begins to smell nutty.
- Add cream, parmesan cheese, mozzarella, and salsa. Stir to combine, and once the sauce thickens simmer until the sauce is needed.
- Add 1 tablespoon of oil into a large skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken for 5 to 7 minutes, or until done. Remove chicken from the skillet.
- Add sliced sausage to the skillet and sear. Remove sausage and wipe out the skillet.
- Sprinkle Tony Chachere seasoning on the shrimp.
- Add another tablespoon of oil to the skillet and cook shrimp just until pink. Remove shrimp from the skillet.
- Add oil to the skillet if necessary and sauté onion and green bell pepper until the vegetables are tender.
- To assemble, combine pasta, meats, cooked vegetables with the sauce. Serve immediately.
Sierra
This pasta dish was AMAZING!!! I was a little hesitant at first when I saw salsa as an ingredient but it tastes amazing!! This is definitely a recipe I’ll be keeping!
MARK A FAHRENHOLZ
I’ve got to hand it to you, Stephanie, this is really, really close to Cheddar’s dish. Well Done! It’s delicious. Making it tonight for a local family. The mother has cancer and the community has been supplying dinners. A lot of folks give gift cards or go to restaurants and pick up food. Tonight they’re getting your recipe (doubled). I like it with garlic bread, and sometimes I use Slap Ya Mama cajun seasoning in lieu of creole seasoning for a little more kick. 6 Stars out of 5!
Stephanie Manley
Aww, I hope your mother recovers soon!
C. Brown
This recipe is great, also good with old bay in place of creole. I also use a little more of each meat. Personal preference.
Gabriela Ramos
Hands down best recipe thank you!!!
Julie
It looks like you sprinkle spice on top of the dish to finish at the end, but nothing was mentioned in the direction. Is that the creole spice the red seasoning on top or what is it?
Stephanie
I would sprinkle on the creole seasoning.