Cowboy Butter Chicken Pasta

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This Cowboy Butter Chicken Pasta is bold, buttery, and packed with flavor. A spicy garlic butter sauce coats tender chicken strips, peppers and pasta for the ultimate comfort food!

A close-up of creamy pasta with strips of chicken, sliced red and yellow bell peppers, and chopped parsley, all coated in a rich sauce. The dish appears flavorful and freshly prepared.

Cowboy butter is the garlicky, spicy, herby butter sauce blowing up online, and it turns out it’s phenomenal on pasta. Think garlic butter with a wild side—smoky paprika, mustard, chili flakes, fresh herbs, red pepper flakes and a tangy zing of lemon.

I recently made cowboy butter for my Air Fryer Filet Mignon (still can’t get over how amazing that was!). My leftover compound butter was begging me to use it and turns out it is chef’s kiss in this easy pasta dish!!

Two white plates of creamy pasta with chicken and peppers sit next to a pan of the same pasta. A small yellow bowl of grated cheese and red pepper flakes is nearby on a light, textured surface.

Creamy chicken pasta is a big hit at our place, but this cowboy butter version is seriously one of the most delicious ones I’ve ever whipped up! Let’s take a look at what you will need:

Top-down view of ingredients for a pasta dish: shallots, garlic, chicken, cowboy butter, paprika, salt, pepper, garlic powder, olive oil, lemon wedges, parsley, cream, grated parmesan, linguine, and sliced red peppers.

Make the cowboy butter

Two side-by-side images: on the left, chopped herbs and sauces are being mixed in a bowl; on the right, a hand whisks the blended dressing in a glass measuring cup.

Prepare the pasta

Split image: Left side shows uncooked spaghetti spreading out in boiling water. Right side shows a hand using a ladle to scoop some starchy pasta water into a green bowl over the pot.

Bring it all together

Four images show a sequence: raw seasoned chicken in a bowl, chicken and bell peppers cooking, cooked pasta added to the pan with cream, and the final creamy pasta dish mixed together.

A pan filled with creamy pasta and vegetables sits on a table beside two bowls of served pasta and a small dish of grated cheese with pepper flakes. A fork is twirling pasta in the pan.

If buttery pasta with a spicy kick sounds like your kind of comfort food, give this a go! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating if you loved it and tag me if you share—I’d love to see your cowboy pasta creations. Yeehaw!

For the Cowboy Butter

For the pasta

For the Pasta

Lower the heat a notch. Add the shallots, garlic and sliced peppers and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables have softened and chicken is cooked through.
1 large shallot, 1 cup (150g) sliced bell peppers, 4 cloves garlic
Stir in the cowboy butter and add the linguine, tossing to combine in the buttery sauce.
4 tbsp cowboy butter
Add the cream, grated Parmesan and chopped parsley and stir well to combine. Have a taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
½ cup (120ml) cream, 4 tbsp Parmesan, 2 tbsp parsley
Serve immediately with lemon wedges on the side and some extra Parmesan cheese and perhaps some garlic bread. Serious comfort food vibes!

Feel free to add more veggies to the cowboy butter sauce. Zucchini, fresh spinach, cherry tomatoes are all great options.
The pasta water goes a long way to create a silky sauce with velvety texture without too much cream. Although is there such a thing? Add as much or as little as you like!
Your chicken is cooked when it reaches an internal temperature 165°F (75°C) when checked with an instant read thermometer. Typically, the chicken strips will take approximately 8-10 minutes to cook over medium heat.
Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the refrigerator. Reheat in a pan or the microwave, adding a splash of water as needed.