This chicken pesto pasta recipe combines tender chunks of chicken breast with a basil pesto sauce, along with plenty of grated Parmesan cheese. I created this to be quick and simple to cook with ingredients straight from your pantry. It’s an Italian-style chicken pasta dinner that’s an absolute winner for busy nights.

Prepared pasta with pesto chicken sauce in a serving bowl, with a fork propped on the side of the bowl.

Pesto pasta one of my homemade pasta dinners you’ll want to make over and over. The best part is using basic pantry ingredients, hopefully saving a trip to the grocery store.

Karen’s tips

  • Instead of cream, I use a little of the starchy pasta cooking water to bind the sauce. It blends with the pesto and cheese so the pasta gets nicely coated without needing heavy cream. If you do want a creamy pesto chicken pasta, check the recipe notes for a few easy variations.
  • Don’t cook the pesto. Pesto loses its bright green color and fresh basil flavor if it’s heated too long, so I stir it into the pasta right at the end of cooking.

Key ingredrients

Ingredients for cooking pesto pasta with chicken, including chunks of raw chicken breast, dried pasta, pesto sauce, grated cheese, chopped nuts, garlic and red pepper.
  • Boneless skinless chicken breast: Cutting the chicken into bite-size chunks helps it cook quickly and evenly, without drying out before the pasta is ready. Swap them out with boneless, skinless chicken thighs if you like dark meat chicken.
  • Pesto sauce: A good basil pesto has garlic, cheese and olive oil, so it acts as both the sauce and seasoning base for the entire dish. If you have extra time and lots of fresh basil to use up, by all means make a batch of this quick pesto recipe with fresh basil. Otherwise choose a store-bought pesto that you enjoy.
  • Dried pasta: This recipe is super versatile, so go ahead and use whatever dried pasta shape you have in the pantry. I usually grab short pasta cuts like fusilli, penne or orecchiette because their ridges and curves capture the pesto sauce.

Let’s cook it:

  • Start by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the pasta water well — the cheese in pesto adds some salt, but properly seasoned pasta starts when it’s cooking.
  • Cubed chicken breast pieces cooking in a skillet with olive oil, salt and pepper.
    1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until it’s no longer pink.
  • Cooked chicken breast chunks in a pan, with crushed red pepper sprinkled on top and a wooden spatula on the side of the pan.
    2. Stir the garlic and red pepper flakes into the pan and cook until fragrant.
  • Cooking step for pesto chicken, showing cooked chicken pieces in a pan with with pesto sauce.
    3. Stir in the pesto and reserved pasta water over low heat. Takeaway: Emulsifying the pesto and Parmesan with starchy pasta water makes a sauce that coats the pasta without cream.
  • Cooked rigatoni pasta stirred into in a skillet with cooked chicken and pesto sauce.
    4. Add the cooked pasta and cheese to the skillet.
  • Pasta with chicken, pesto sauce and a wooden spoon in a pan.
    5. Remove from the heat and toss everything well.
Prepared pasta with pesto chicken sauce in a serving bowl, with sprigs of fresh basil and forks on the side.
4.97 from 27 ratings

Chicken Pesto Pasta (Quick Pantry Dinner)

Karen Tedesco
This chicken pesto pasta recipe combines tender chunks of chicken breast with basil pesto sauce, along with plenty of grated Parmesan cheese. I created this to be quick and simple to cook with ingredients straight from your pantry. It's an Italian-style chicken pasta dinner that's an absolute winner for busy nights.
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Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
 

  • 12 ounces (340 g) dried pasta
  • Kosher salt
  • 1 pound (450 g) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, (about 2 medium breast halves) sliced into 1 ½-inch chunks
  • 2 tablespoons (30 ml) extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons grated fresh garlic
  • ¼-½ teaspoon crushed red pepper, to taste
  • ½ cup basil pesto sauce
  • ⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • ¼ cup chopped nuts, such as pistachios, pine nuts, walnuts or almonds, preferably unsalted

Instructions
 

  1. Bring large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water generously (about 1 tablespoon kosher salt or 2 teaspoons table salt per quart). Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve about ½ cup of the cooking water before draining the pasta.
  2. While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook until it’s cooked through no longer pink, 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Add the garlic and red pepper to the pan, cooking just until the garlic smells good, about 30 seconds. Stir in the pesto and ¼ cup of the pasta water.
  4. Adjust the heat to low and add the cooked pasta and cheese to the pan, stirring to combine. If the sauce looks too thick, drizzle in a bit more pasta water to reach your desired consistency.
  5. Transfer the pasta to a serving bowl. Serve hot, with the nuts sprinkled over, and additional grated cheese alongside.

Notes

  • Stir in about 1/2 cup heavy cream with the pesto for a creamy sauce.
  • Substitute the chicken with sausage or shrimp, or leave it out for a vegetarian dish. Swap out chicken breasts for boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
  • Add about a cup of sliced cherry tomatoes or 1/2 cup sliced sun-dried tomatoes.
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Nutrition per serving

Calories: 397kcal Carbohydrates: 5g Protein: 29g Fat: 29g Sodium: 570mg Fiber: 1g Sugar: 1g

Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.

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