Chicken Pesto Pasta (Quick Pantry Dinner)
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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.
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
- 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.
1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until it’s no longer pink. 2. Stir the garlic and red pepper flakes into the pan and cook until fragrant.
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. 4. Add the cooked pasta and cheese to the skillet. 5. Remove from the heat and toss everything well.
Chicken Pesto Pasta (Quick Pantry Dinner)
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.
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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Transfer the pasta to a serving bowl. Serve hot, with the nuts sprinkled over, and additional grated cheese alongside.
Karen’s Notes and Tips
- 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.
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.
Hey, I’m Karen
Creator of Familystyle Food
I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.
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This was delicious but it did take WAY more than 10 minutes. I prepped everything in advance (chopped the chicken, minced the garlic) and it still took at least half hour not counting that prep, which is not bad, just not the super quick busy weeknight meal I may try again with leftover cooked chicken to speed it up.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Kat. The cook time is accurate, at about 10 minutes, but the approximate time to complete the dish, noted in the Total Time section, is 20 minutes. Using pre-cooked chicken will cut that time in half, for sure!
Excellent. Made the recipe exactly as written and it was perfect!
When do you add the nuts? It doesn’t mention the nuts in the instructions.
Hi Denise – I just edited the instructions. The nuts go over the pasta along with the cheese as a garnish. Thank you for letting me know, and I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Very good. I added cherry tomatoes and some pasta water when I added the garlic.
This is one of the BEST chicken dishes yet- and with my homemade pesto – I “wowed” my guests! I also added, “fresh shredded Asiago cheese” ( along with the regular amount of fresh Parmesan) as well as the 1/2 cup cut (small skinny pieces ) of sundried tomato to it !! It is simply the best dish I have found yet for my pesto-a MUST to try and also very simple!!!! Thank you so much! (I even laminated the printed recipe for my favorites book) lol! Erin
Erin, that’s amazing! Thanks for sharing your tips (I love the idea of sundried tomatoes with this recipe!)
Yes, it is absolutely delicious! Thanks again! 🙂
Yum! Super easy and fast!
Hubby says, “5 Stars!” I used Barilla Bucatini (thick spaghetti with a hole in it) and would recommend a substantial pasta (e.g. bow tie) rather than a delicate pasta (e.g. thin spaghetti). We had a rotisserie chicken stewing down in the crockpot, so I used some of that rather than raw chicken. We used Rao’s pesto, and Frigo fresh shredded parmesan. We used brazil nuts we had on hand. Delish! Very filling. For the two of us, I made a half recipe and have a “lunch” left over (as expected). Great with a piece of garlic toast. A fresh salad would be an excellent side dish.
I really love pasta. All I know to to cook is the common recipe for it. Thanks,to Karen I will learn a lot more recipe for pasta…
I’m happy you love pasta too!
I made this tonight and it was absolutely amazing. I used barilla brand Pesto which does not contain pine nuts. This is easy and 5 stars for sure.
So glad you enjoyed it! Next time try my recipe for homemade pesto where you can use whatever nuts you like (or none at all)
I actually used Classico pesto!! I will try making your Pesto next time. Thank you.