Carmela's Chicken Rigatoni (Copycat Romano's Macaroni Grill)

"This is the actual Macaroni Grill recipe for Carmela's Chicken Rigatoni. At home, I use a combination of olive oil (2 T) and butter (4T) instead of butter flavored oil (less overall as well). In addition, I use Kittencal's recipe for caramelized onions http://www.food.com/recipe/kittencals-caramelized-onions-89007."
 
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photo by Probably This photo by Probably This
photo by Probably This
photo by Probably This photo by Probably This
photo by Probably This photo by Probably This
photo by JenDan72 photo by JenDan72
photo by kimitom photo by kimitom
Ready In:
35mins
Ingredients:
10
Serves:
4-6
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ingredients

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directions

  • In a hot sauté pan add butter flavored oil, mushrooms, chicken, basil, caramelized onions, salt and pepper and sauté for approximately 60 to 90 seconds.
  • Add the wine and sauté for 60 seconds. Add the heavy cream and bring to a boil over high heat. Dip pre-cooked pasta in boiling water for 10 seconds, drain thoroughly.
  • Put pasta in sauté pan and sauté until well incorporated. Toss briefly over fire, add parmesan cheese and continue to toss until cheese is completely incorporated.
  • Transfer to plate, garnish with parsley.

Questions & Replies

  1. I already have Pinot Grigio wine at home, will that work?
     
  2. What can I use to replace heavy cream. Thank you
     
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Reviews

  1. We love this recipe! I make only a few changes based on my experience with cooking this several times already. The first time I made it, I thought there was too much oil/butter so on subsequent occasions, I've reduced the "6 oz. butter flavored oil" to 2 oz. butter and 2 oz. extra virgin olive oil. The oil becomes a lot more noticeable with leftovers so you could reduce it even more if you don't plan on eating it all the day you make it. I only use 16 oz. rigatoni since that's the standard size package at the grocery store, and really, that is a lot. It's dinner for 4 plus leftovers for lunch for 2 people for 2 days. I also don't "precook" the pasta. I just boil it right before I start the first two steps of this recipe and I turn it off a minute or two before it's al dente so it can sit in the hot water and finish cooking until I'm ready to put it in with the rest of the ingredients. Other than these minor changes, I follow the recipe exactly. I use Rrs Caramelized Onions (recipe #209735) and Marsala cooking wine for this dish and it tastes great! The last time I only had about 4 oz. Marsala so I filled in with 2 oz. Cooking Sherry and it was great then too. As a time saver, I use the frozen grilled chicken strips from Costco that I weigh out on my kitchen scale for 12 oz. and I defrost in the microwave for about 4 minutes before cutting up and adding to the sautee. I've used both fresh and canned mushrooms and they both work great. The recipe doesn't specify if the basil should be fresh or dried, but I've used the full 2 tsp dried and I don't think it's too much. I like basil though so you might want to experiment with that. The only real time consuming part of this recipe is the caramelized onions, which can be made ahead of course, so this can be a fast, easy and very tasty weeknight dish with a little planning ahead. Thanks so much for sharing this WONDERFUL recipe!
     
  2. OMG!!! I worked at the Mac Shack for 3 years and this was always one of my many favorite dishes! Now that I've moved out to booneyville the closest M.G. is 1.5 hours away and I get cravings! I was skeptical but excited when I found this recipe, so my husband and I decided to whip it up. We added sundried tomatos and garlic which I highly reccommend. It turned out fan-freakin-tastic! Just like good ole' M.G.!
     
  3. This turned out as a 5-star recipe, but I have to take off a star for the excessive oil and the suggestion to use popcorn oil and "cooking" wine. With some tweaks, it was delicious. Like others, I used a combo of butter and oil, cut down to only 3 T of butter and about 1/4 c olive oil. I also used Marsala wine. I used No Spoon Necessary's Oven Caramelized Onion Recipe. I also cut down the heavy cream to 10 oz instead of 20 and a 16 oz box of rigatoni. It tasted exactly like what I always order at Macaroni Grill.
     
  4. This is a good recipe that got me started. Like other reviewers, I used butter oil in place of the butter flavored oil. I used Marsala for the cooking wine. I caramelized some white onion using a little brown sugar, a splash of balsamic vinegar and a splash of Marsala. Yum! Thanks for posting.
     
  5. A super simple and delicious recipe that would be perfect for a weeknight dinner. I paired it with a light pinot noir, which complemented it perfectly.
     
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Tweaks

  1. never EVER use cooking wine!!!!! use regular table wine. theres a saying amongst cooks...."never use a wine in your food that you wouldn't drink". other than that, great recipe!
     
  2. Use Lombardo Dry Marsala Wine in this recipe. That is what isnysed at the restaurant!
     
  3. Hi ty for the recipe..This would be best with Marsala Dry Wine as stated by another tweak. From the pic this dish looks dry. I believe garlic is missing. In addition if I want a little extra sauce and would not want to add more wine or more cream, I would use a chicken or beef stock and a flour slurry to thicken slightly.
     
  4. Use Lombardi DRY Marsala wine in this recipe!
     
  5. I made this last night and it tasted just like the real thing. I will definitely be making it again!<br/>(To lighten it up a bit, I used normal cream instead of heavy and instead of 6oz butter flavored oil, I used 2oz butter and 2oz olive oil).
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I am originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota and moved to Ohio in 1978. It was quite a culture shock going from the city to living next to the Amish. I spend most of my time cooking, cleaning and caring for my four kids. I have abandoned cookbooks and now cook from favorite, wilted recipe pages and the internet. I fell in love with my Italian family recipes (Scavo, Rotella, Scalzo, Micelli, Grande, Gigliotti) and my Mom's homecooked meals.
 
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