00743 11 40 C 11 55. 007431 69 40 69 C 47. Creamy Chicken Pesto Basil pesto pasta sauce is a great choice for a simple weeknight dinner.
The recipe uses basic everyday ingredients and is perfect for family meals. You can use homemade or store-bought basil pesto. Chicken Pesto Pasta – versatile and easily adjustable recipe This chicken pesto pasta is one of those recipes that you can easily adapt to what you have on hand. Basil pesto always goes well with tomatoes, so I highly recommend that you incorporate fresh tomatoes in this recipe. You might also like this pesto chicken pasta with mushrooms or pesto chicken tortellini. Use thinly sliced chicken breasts – this will shorten the cooking time considerably. 5 lb chicken which usually equates to 2 large chicken breasts.
Slice each one in half horizontally before searing. Sear the chicken in olive oil, seasoned with paprika, salt, and pepper, on medium-high heat until it’s no longer pink in the center. When the chicken is done, remove it to a plate and slice it thinly. Cook the pasta in boiling water according to package instructions. That usually means 10 or 15 minutes. Make the sauce by adding basil pesto and cream, to the pan. Roast cherry tomatoes tossed in olive oil and minced garlic while you prepare the chicken pesto pasta.
Assemble the pasta adding sliced cooked chicken and roasted cherry tomatoes on top of pasta with pesto sauce. A side salad, such as this simple spinach salad or arugula salad with pine nuts. Just throw it together with the pasta, heat it through, and serve! The heavy cream adds creaminess to the sauce and also balances out the basil pesto flavor which can be quite strong. However, you can omit the cream altogether. Either version of the pasta will be delicious!
You can add freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top of chicken pesto pasta. Add pine nuts as a topping. Since basil pesto is usually made with pine nuts, it’s only logical to use whole pine nuts as topping for the pesto pasta, if you wish. I did, and they added an amazing extra flavor touch! Tomatoes roasted in olive oil and garlic are a great addition to chicken pesto pasta. Add red pepper flakes if you would like to make your pasta spicy.