Chicken Tequila Fettuccine with creamy tequila jalapeño lime sauce, pasta, bell peppers and red onions is one of the most popular entrees at California Pizza Kitchen.
Chicken Tequila Fettuccine from California Pizza Kitchen is one of the most popular pasta recipes on the menu and for good reason! The creamy lime tequila sauce is AMAZING and the chicken and spinach fettuccine is a flavorful addition.It may seem like there are a lot of ingredients in the dish, but they’re essential to the perfect copycat since the recipe is actually straight from the restaurant itself!
In fact this is the third California Pizza Kitchen recipe I’ve created from the book. The first, CPK Best-Seller Kung Pao Chicken Spaghetti is one of our favorite special occasion meals we serve at home and the second is a menu item they don’t have anymore, their Thai Peanut Chicken Pasta which is one of the most popular pasta recipes on the blog!
I adjust a few ingredients and methods to make it more user friendly for the home kitchen, but the flavor ingredients are straight from the cookbook. You can of course serve the dish with shrimp instead of chicken or even serve it with browned butter scallops.
Looking for more pasta recipes?
- Cheesy Taco Pasta
- Bacon Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper
- Philly Cheesesteak Hamburger Helper
- Easy Thai Green Curry Noodles
- Bonefish Grill Bang Bang Shrimp (Copycat)
- Halal Cart Chicken and Rice (Copycat)
- KFC Original Recipe Chicken (Copycat)
- P.F. Chang’s Orange Peel Chicken (Copycat)
Tools Used in the making of this CPK Chicken Tequila Fettuccine:
Spinach Fettuccine: Easy to order online, organic and spinach flavored, perfect for this copycat recipe.
CPK Cookbook: Love this for authentic restaurant recipes from California Pizza Kitchen.
Better Than Bouillon: I almost never buy boxes of broth because I keep the beef, chicken and vegetable version of this Better Than Bouillon.
CPK Chicken Tequila Fettuccine
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons jalapeños minced
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons tequila
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 chicken breasts boneless and skinless
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 red onion sliced thinly
- 1/2 red bell pepper sliced thinly
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper sliced thinly
- 1/2 green bell pepper sliced thinly
- 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 pound spinach fettucini cooked and drained, not rinsed
Instructions
- Add the garlic and jalapeno in a small saucepan with the butter and cook over medium low heat.
- Add the chicken stock, tequila, lime juice and cook until it has the consistency of a glaze, then turn off the heat and whisk in the cream and soy sauce.
Add the vegetable oil to the pan, season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook on medium high heat, 3-4 minutes on each side or until cooked through.
Remove the chicken and add in the bell peppers and onions and cook for 2-3 minutes until just slightly crisp.
- Chop the chicken into cubes and add it back into the pan with the bell peppers and pasta.
- Add in the heavy cream mixture and cilantro.
Toss together and cook 1-2 minutes until thickened.
Easy to make and very delicious. Never had it at CPK but will definitely make it again.
Thanks for the 5 stars, Mark. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
It is absolutely UNREAL how GOOOOOOOD this recipe is! My wife loves this dish from CPK and had been craving it so I made it for her last night. I was shocked at how spot on it is from the restaurant’s version. I couldn’t find spinach fettuccine, so I used the regular noodles and it was just as incredible. Good Job Sabrina!
Yay!! Thanks for coming back to let me know, Patrick!
You can find it at Trader Joe’s!!!
It’s my first time trying this pasta at CPK…and we really liked it, I tasted like something Mexican on it and when we asked the waiter what’s on it she said chipotle sauce..so I was wondering if it’s true or not? Since I love cooking and I really wanna make it
Chipotle sauce isn’t included in their recipe so I don’t think she was correct.
There is no chipotle in this recipe. I used to be a manager there. It comes in the restaurant as a lime cilantro pesto mixture and is mixed with heavy cream and thats it. Add a tablespoon of sambal chili for a nice kick of heat.
What can I use instead of the tequila? Not really a big fan of it and I don’t want to buy one bottle for just this recipe.
You can add 1 more tablespoon of lime to make up for it or just leave it out all together.
Have you ever tried this over spaghetti squash rather than pasta? I’m tempted.
I haven’t but if you decide to try, I’d love to know how it turns out. Good luck!
This was delicious! I would definitely make it again. I had some reservations about adding 3 tablespoons of soy sauce so I only added 2. Also I didn’t have spinach fettuccine so I just added spinach! Such an easy recipe, why have I been driving 30mins away to get this dish! Thanks for a great recipe!
I’m so glad you decided to give it a try.
I made this recipe and I liked it. The only thing I’ll say to add is the time that everything takes to cook for example when adding the jalapeno and the garlic is 5 minutes until brown. I had to go to a youtube video to have a demonstration on how to cook. Also I do think with one jalapeno you are good. You don’t need two. It does add some spice to the pasta if the jalapenos are really spicy. And maybe add one whole lemon instead of lemon juice just my suggestion. Overall my family liked the pasta!
Hello,
We love this recipe. So yummy!! What’s the best way to cook the chicken? Do I cook the chicken in the pan with everything in it? I always overcook the chicken. Any tips?
Oh no! For next time, just add the vegetable oil to a pan and cook the chicken on medium high heat for around 3-4 minutes each side. Hope this helps! Glad you love this recipe so much.
I’ve made this twice now, second time I didn’t have the spinach fettuccini so I used wheat spaghetti and it was still really good. I always end up putting more frea fresh lime and salt at the end but it’s so good. I end up craving it.
I’m so glad you love it so much, Maria. Thanks for the 5 stars.
Thank you so much for this! It was so easy to make and everyone loved it at home! I will be sure to make this again ! (And a lot more) lol ! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Daisy! So glad you all enjoyed it!
Loved it!!!!
Didn’t have tequila, so I substituted with white wine. I love the sour taste, so I doubled on the lime and added asplash of white vinegar.
Thanks for the feedback for substitutions. So glad you enjoyed it!
Omg I am going to try to make this recipe this weekend, my 2 adult boys will love this and so does my husband. Thank you Sabrina.
You’re welcome! I hope you all enjoy it!
This is the ONLY dish my partner asks for again and again at home. It is the gold standard of my homemade fare, he even brags to his work buddies about it.
I use penne or whatever pasta we have on hand, and dried whole chiles instead of jalapenos (as these are only available canned in our part of the world). I can’t recommend this dish enough.
Thank you so much for the 5 star rating! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it!
If my husband saw the ingredients, he wouldn’t eat most of what I cook lol This is one of the one’s rated “great”. I didn’t tell him the recipe before he ate it lol (I got him back for his hitler ways and served him brains and eggs lol That was not a favorite lol ) I loved that it fed everyone to full, and I don’t have to worry about food in fridge going to waste. Great Great Great.
Thanks for dropping by to let me know! I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it!
This is a fantastic dish. I added portabella mushrooms and five seeded Tabasco peppers just because I needed to use them but can’t say enough about the favor. The sauce is Delicious.
Thank you so much! Your additions sound pretty amazing too!
I can’t wait to order that book because this pasta looks superb!
Thanks Abeer!
This looks so good…I have to try it!
Thank you!
Sounds delicious. Love the idea of scallops
I love a great copycat recipe, and I’m so intrigued by that tequila sauce!!
Thanks Amanda!
This looks delicious! Going to try adding a little extra lime to replace the tequila.
Let me know how it turns out. I’d like to make this without the tequila as well.
I made this tonight… without the tequlia. It came out soooo good. Mt 1 yr old and 4 yr old both ate it. My husband approved sooo there ya go.