Rasta Pasta โ a Jamaican-inspired one-pot dish with creamy cheesy pasta tossed with with jerk chicken and bell peppers. Creamy, cheesy and spicy!
This post is sponsored by Cafรฉ Appliances. Customizable appliances for modern day cooks. Design your appliances around your style.
I hope this decadent one-pot pasta meal here will be enough to officially welcome the spring season. With its beautiful colors at first glance, you can truly say that this dish here means serious business โ serious in getting you to drool! ๐
A couple of my girl friends from other parts of the U.S. drove to LA and endured the brutal LA traffic just to visit me. Arenโt they sweet? And one of them brought along with her this Rasta Pasta recipe that she got from her Jamaican mom. But this time, I put my own little spin to it.
Our Cafรฉ Appliances Kitchen
While Iโd love to think that Iโm the best cook among our group (sorry, ladies ๐ ), but these gals can roll up their sleeves and nail some dishes, too. But the star of the show on that day were my upgraded kitchen from @CafeAppliances.
My kitchen experience gets a lot more exciting as I discover new features from our kitchen appliances every day. Iโve talked a bit about my Cafรฉ Appliances Wall Oven and French Door Refrigerator with the Hot Water Dispenser HERE. They are all amazing so far!
I remember going through the process of planning my dream kitchen with my kitchen mood board back in December, before I decided to go with a Matte Black finish and Brushed Copper accents for my appliances. They fit neatly into my kitchen with its built-in look their customizable knobs and handles. And you can easily change these accents too, to match your jewelry or go with your interior and your current mood.
Oh how I couldโve captured those impressed looks from my girl friends and all the โooohsโ and โaaahhsโ every time my son kinda show off some of the appliancesโ modern features. Believe me, it still makes me giddy when I think about it. ๐
Convection Over-the-Range Microwave Oven
Now letโs talk about this over-the-range microwave oven which we havenโt used that much until recently. We rarely used our old microwave, but with this new one, weโve been using it more often for popcorn (Hello Friday movie night!) and steamed veggies (hubby sure loves this one). Now take note of this, it automatically adjusts the time and power for perfectly cooked dishes every time, especially when reheating dishes. It delivers dishes as good as those baked in the oven with its full-width removable cooking rack that also allows for cooking simultaneously.
Built-In Gas Cooktop with 5 Burners
Well, honestly, I could dedicate an entire blog post about this exciting cooktop. I swear! Our old cooktop was slightly bigger than this one but it only had 4 burners. This baby right here has FIVE (5) burners with Tri-Ring burners that are perfect for searing and sautรฉing. Delicate food are evenly heated on this cooktop even on low heat. And not only that, it also has heavy duty STYLISH knobs with LED backlight (gorgeous, right?) that glimmers when its in use. How AMAZING is that?
But what I do love most about it is that it has an extra large integrated cooktop griddle which makes perfectly cooked pancakes (which my son loves), eggs, patties, and pressed sandwiches. Just imagine thisโฆI can boil the pasta and sear the chicken on the cooktop at the same time while I prepare the crab cakes on the cast-iron griddle. Lastly, with its sealed cooktop burners, it contains any mess or spills during cooking, and make cleaning up so quick and easy. The heavy-duty grates are dishwasher-safe, too! Cooking and entertaining has never been this easy!
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What is Rasta Pasta?
Rasta, in short for Rastafari or Rastafarianism, is a belief and lifestyle that originated in Jamaica during the 1930s and they have since spread throughout the Caribbean and even to the rest of the world.
This Jamaican-inspired one-pot meal Rasta Pasta is a simple yet decadent dish thatโs great as a family weeknight meal or for entertaining. Over the years, it has evolved from a simple pasta veggie dish with coconut-milk based sauce to a creamy, cheesy, pasta veggies with jerk chicken and/or shrimps.
But even without the meat, Rasta Pasta alone is a decadent meal with its creamy sauce.
Other than the name, what makes this dish more Jamaican-inspired is by seasoning the chicken with my homemade jerk seasoning which brings depth of flavor to the meat. You can make this jerk-seasoned chicken ahead of time and just toss it over the pasta. Or you can serve it on the side if you want to.
What ingredients are in a Rasta Pasta?
Classic Rasta Pasta would use coconut milk as a base for the sauce, however, since I want that chicken flavor to linger more in the pasta, I decided to use heavy cream to go along with the chicken stock. Personally, Parmesan cheese pairs well with a heavy cream-based sauce than that of a coconut milk.
Furthermore, since not all of our readers here can easily access Parma Rosa sauce mix (another ingredient in a classic Rasta Pasta), I left it out and adjusted the sauce to somehow mirror that cheesy, creamy sauce with a hint of heat. And it turned out great! Everybody loved it and itโs even approved by my Jamaican friend.
You may add shrimp into this or even sliced oxtails! As always, adjust the creaminess and heat based on your preference.
Ever since that little gathering, Iโve been making this easy and amazing Rasta Pasta dish almost every other day and I donโt think Iโll be stopping soon. It quickly flies off the table and is just as appealing to the little ones. Now I have more reasons to host gatherings more often; Now I have a crowd-pleasing recipe and a set of customizable and efficient kitchen appliances.
Enjoy!
ChiChi O says
GIRL! So I found you like a month ago looking for seasoned rice โ this weekend I was craving jerk chicken. And Iโve never had rasta pasta before because I canโt have dairy but I grew up in Trinidad lol. So I decided to try following your instructions โ the jerk paste recipe??? Banging! I used mandarins instead of mango because thatโs what I had on hand. I said โokay lemme see if she has a rasta pasta recipeโ and Baba God said yes!
I subbed Daiyaโs Alfredo Cheezy sauce (like half of the packet?) for the parmesan cheese and bulddogโs tonkatsu sauce for worcestshire because tonkatsu sauce is life and-
oh my goodness??? *chefโs kiss* thank you so much for the inspo! this is amazing!
Imma says
Hahaha Baba God said yes!! Thank you for the wonderful feedback ChiChi :)!!
ChiChi O says
GIRL! So I found you like a month ago looking for seasoned rice โ this weekend I was craving jerk chicken. And Iโve never had rasta pasta before because I canโt have dairy but I grew up in Trinidad lol. So I decided to try following your instructions โ the jerk paste recipe??? Banging! I used mandarins instead of mango because thatโs what I had on hand. I said โokay lemme see if she has a rasta pasta recipeโ and Baba God said yes!
I subbed Daiyaโs Alfredo Cheezy sauce (like half of the packet?) for the parmesan cheese and bulddogโs tonkatsu sauce for worcestshire because tonkatsu sauce is life and-
oh my goodness??? *chefโs kiss* thank you so much for the inspo! this is amazing!
KB says
It was exactly what I wanted. Didnโt have to deviate much, just a pinch of chicken bullion powder, literally a pinch. And a thin slice of habanero, because we love heat. It was gorgeous!!
Imma says
Amazing!!!!! That looks absolutely delicious!! Glad you loved it. Looking forward to you trying more of my recipes.
chrissy says
I use coconut milk instead of heavy cream delish
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! Thanks for the feedback.
Natalie Johnson says
I made this today my family loved it. I added a teaspoon of creole seasoning at the end. Thank you for all your recipes.
imma africanbites says
Thank you for sharing that tip. Have a lovely day!
Marcia says
I just made this, very good! I used what I had, only had 2 peppers, so I added cut up fresh asparagus just to fill the void. So very good!! Also used more chicken since Iโm feeding 4 hungry teen/young adults and 2 others. Used more of the stock and heavy cream. I love your recipes! Thank you so much!
Janece says
This is my 2nd time cooking this. The first was a hit. My daughter asked when I was going to make it again, so I made it today.
imma africanbites says
Yaaay! Thank you for letting me know. And what a great dish to make on Motherโs Day. Happy Motherโs Day, Janece!
Janece says
Thank you. I love your recipes.
ro says
Rasta are โ ital is โ vegetarian
imma africanbites says
This version here has my personal twist to the recipe. You may skip the meat if you want to and replace chicken stock with the vegetable one.
Carrie Ladson says
Will try tonight. Look very tasty.
Deidre Martin says
Giving this a try tonight!
Droena says
Can you please publish the old vegetable version of Rasta Pasta with coconut milk?
Thank you.
imma africanbites says
Will add that on my list. Thank you!