The Only Chicken Riggie Recipe You’ll Ever Need

If you’ve never had chicken riggies before, you’re seriously missing out. This Central New York classic is the kind of dish that makes people go back for seconds and then ask for the recipe before they leave. Rich, a little spicy, creamy in all the right places, and packed with tender chicken and rigatoni pasta, it’s pure comfort food with a personality.

I first tried this dish at a small Italian-American spot in Utica, and honestly, it changed how I thought about pasta. The chicken riggie recipe I’m sharing today is my take on that same soul-warming bowl tested many times over, tweaked until it felt just right.

What Makes This Dish So Special

Chicken riggies come from Utica, New York, and they have a cult following for good reason. Unlike your typical pasta dish, this one brings together a savory tomato cream sauce with a kick of heat, sweet cherry peppers, and rigatoni that catches every drop of that sauce. It’s bold, it’s satisfying, and once you make it, it becomes a regular in your rotation.

The beauty of this dish is that it feels restaurant-worthy but comes together in a single skillet. No complicated technique, no hard-to-find tools. Just good ingredients treated well.

What You’ll Need — The Riggies Ingredients

The riggies ingredients are straightforward, but quality matters here.

For the pasta and protein:

• 1 lb rigatoni pasta
• 1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
• Salt, black pepper, and garlic powder for seasoning

For the sauce:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ cup sliced hot cherry peppers (jarred, with some of the brine)
• ½ cup roasted red peppers, sliced
• 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
• ½ cup chicken broth
• ¾ cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (adjust to taste)
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh parsley and grated Pecorino Romano for serving

How to Make Chicken Riggie Recipe

Start with your pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook your rigatoni until just under al dente about a minute less than the package says. It’ll finish cooking in the sauce. Reserve about a cup of pasta water before draining.

Season and sear the chicken. Pat your chicken pieces dry, season generously, and cook them in olive oil over medium-high heat until golden on the outside. They don’t need to be fully cooked through yet. Remove them from the pan and set aside.

Build the sauce in the same pan. Reduce heat to medium, add the butter, and sauté the onion until soft, around four minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute until fragrant. Then toss in the cherry peppers and roasted red peppers, letting them warm through and release their flavor into the oil.

Pour in the crushed tomatoes and chicken broth. Stir everything together, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom that’s flavor you don’t want to lose. Let the sauce simmer for about ten minutes so it thickens slightly.

Add the cream and return the chicken. Pour in the heavy cream, stir, and nestle the chicken back into the sauce. Simmer on low for another eight to ten minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has a deep, slightly orange hue.

Finish with pasta. Add the drained rigatoni directly to the skillet and toss to coat. If the sauce looks too thick, splash in some of that reserved pasta water. Let everything come together for two to three minutes over low heat.

Serve immediately with Pecorino Romano and fresh parsley. That’s it.

Tips That Actually Make a Difference

One thing that elevates this dish more than anything is using the cherry pepper brine. Just a tablespoon or two stirred into the sauce at the end adds this tangy, spicy brightness that really wakes everything up. Don’t skip it.

Also, thighs work better than breasts here if you want more flavor and juicier chicken. Breasts are fine, but thighs hold up better in the sauce without drying out.

For a creamy riggies texture, don’t rush the cream stage. Let it reduce slowly and you’ll get that silky, clingy sauce that coats every piece of pasta perfectly.

Can You Make It Ahead?

Absolutely. The sauce actually gets better overnight as the flavors deepen. Store the sauce and pasta separately if you’re planning ahead pasta sitting in sauce gets too soft. Reheat the sauce on the stovetop with a splash of broth or water, then add freshly cooked pasta when ready to serve.

Leftovers keep in the fridge for up to four days. This is also one of those dishes that freezes surprisingly well — freeze just the sauce in portions, and cook fresh pasta when you’re ready to eat.

A Few Easy Variations

If you want to keep things simple riggies style without the heat, just skip the red pepper flakes and cut down on the cherry peppers. You’ll still get incredible flavor just a milder version that’s great for kids or anyone sensitive to spice.

Some versions, like the famous riggies Pastabilities style, add mushrooms and a touch of vodka to the sauce. It’s worth trying if you want a more restaurant-style depth.

You can also swap Pecorino for Parmesan, or add a handful of fresh basil at the end for a brighter finish.

Worth Every Bite

Honestly, once you make this, you’ll understand why people from Utica talk about it the way they do. It’s not just pasta it’s a whole experience. The combination of spicy peppers, tender chicken, and that luscious tomato cream sauce hitting a perfectly cooked rigatoni is just unbeatable.

This chicken riggie recipe is the kind of thing that earns you a reputation as a cook. Make it once, and people will be requesting it every time they come over.