Creamy Chicken Riggies

This mouthful of creamy, slightly spicy, addicting Chicken Riggies is a recipe I will never forget. While it is almost like a vodka sauce (without the vodka), it has that heavy cream that makes this an indulgent but super delicious pasta meal!

Would you believe that I have lived in New York State pretty much all my life and never, until I moved to Albany, did I know that a delicious recipe such as this one existed? It is definitely an indulgent dish, but man oh man, it is ever yummy!

This post is a part of #FoodieFridays

When we first moved to Albany, we went to a neighbor’s house for a birthday party. They had chicken riggies there that had been bought in Utica (where the recipe hails from) and brought to home just for that party. I remember asking myself what on earth was so fabulous about this recipe that someone had to drive almost 2 hours just to get some? Then, I tried the riggies and realized that one day I would have to figure out how it was made. Four years later I am finally making it! When I read there was heavy cream in the recipe, I knew that was what made it so decadent. This is definitely not a recipe for dieters but is a great occasional treat to have for that special occasion.

I did a some web surfing and found recipes everywhere, from allrecipes.com to Food Network and all of them had different versions of the recipe. I ended up taking elements from a few different recipes to make this one. The recipe on Taste of Home called for you to marinate the chicken pieces in a sherry, oregano and garlic sauce. That was the only recipe I found that told you to do this. Rachel Ray’s recipe that uses roasted peppers. I really liked the idea of the roasted peppers so I decided that I would use the Taste of Home recipe as my base and instead of cooking the peppers on the stove, I would roast them as Rachel Ray suggested.

If you haven’t had Chicken Riggies before then it is a definite must try. You will not regret it. Yes, its a lot of calories, but make it a special occasion dish. Everyone will love you for it!

Creamy Chicken Riggies

Adapted from Taste of Home and Rachel Ray

Published 10/07/2014

Creamy tomato sauce with a slight heat from cherry peppers,

Ingredients

Marinade:

• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 1 tablespoons oil
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• Sauce:
• 1 red bell pepper, roasted
• 1 green bell pepper, roasted
• 3 cherry peppers, roasted
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 box rigatoni, cooked according to directions
• 2-15 ounce cans tomato sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1cup heavy cream
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions

Mix together 1/2 cup sherry, garlic, and oregano. Place chopped chicken in ziploc bag and pour marinade over top. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Place peppers on a large baking sheet lined with tinfoil. Spray peppers with cooking spray and place under broiler on high. Roast peppers until they begin to char. Turn peppers over and continue to roast until charred. Remove from oven and immediately place in a ziploc bag. Let cool.

Heat large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to hot skillet. Remove chicken from marinade and add with onion to skillet and cook until no longer pink.

In a large stock pot, while chicken is cooking, cook your macaroni according to directions. Drain and place back in stockpot.

Remove peppers from ziploc bag and remove skin and seeds. Slice peppers into bite sized strips.

Add peppers to chicken mixture along with tomato sauce, sherry, water, salt and pepper.

In a small saucepan over low heat, combine heavy cream and cream cheese and simmer and stir until cream cheese has melted into cream.

Add heavy cream mixture to chicken mixture and stir to combine well.

Pour chicken mixture over top of rigatoni and toss to coat. Serve.

Yield: 12 servings

Prep Time: 01 hrs. 30 mins.

Cook time: 00 hrs. 30 mins.

Total time: 1 hrs. 60 mins.

Tags: chicken, pasta, cream, tomato, Italian, peppers, skillet meal