Pesto Pasta - Spend With Pennies

Seasoned chunks of hen breast are simmered in a creamy basil pesto sauce with tender spaghetti. It’s a full meal that’s simple to make any day of the week!

creamy pesto pasta in a white serving bowl garnished with basil

Taste: Creamy, tacky pesto sauce with tender bites of hen and pasta.
Ability Degree: This recipe comes collectively quick utilizing ready-made pesto and primary pantry components.
Finances Tip: Add additional pasta to stretch the meal additional.
Swaps: Make it a meatless meal and swap out the hen for combined veggies. Swap for rotisserie hen, shrimp, or roasted veggies for a full meal.

Elements Suggestions for Pesto Pasta

Creamy Pesto Sauce: Jarred pesto makes this dish a cinch. But when your backyard is brimming with basil, make a homemade model and have heaps left over.
Pasta: Spaghetti is a good selection for creamy pesto pasta. It cooks rapidly and holds simply the correct quantity of sauce in each chunk. It retains the dish mild and easy, and likelihood is you’ve already received some within the pantry! In case you’re out of spaghetti, linguine, fettuccine, and even penne work simply as nicely.
Hen: Use recent boneless, skinless hen breasts, cutlets, or, if time is brief, toss in a bag of frozen hen meatballs in Step 7 and warmth by means of.
Variations: Be at liberty so as to add diced zucchini, sliced mushrooms, asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, or chopped spinach or kale.

creamy pesto pasta in a cooking dish with a wooden fork

For the most effective outcomes, cook dinner the pasta to al dente since it can proceed to cook dinner when added to the sauce. You should definitely reserve a bit of pasta sauce in case it’s good to thicken the sauce in Step 7.
Be certain that the hen items are lower into bite-sized items so that they cook dinner evenly and a bit of little bit of every part will get onto each forkful.
Take away the skillet from the warmth in Step 6 to stir within the parmesan cheese and pesto to stop the dairy from scalding.

Leftovers

Preserve leftover hen pesto pasta in a lined container within the fridge for as much as 3 days. Get pleasure from it chilled for a straightforward workday lunch or reheat within the microwave with a bit of milk added to loosen the sauce.

It’s not really helpful to freeze this recipe as a result of excessive quantity of dairy, which can develop into grainy as soon as thawed.

Serve Pesto Pasta With…

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Creamy Pesto Pasta

Creamy pesto pasta combines tender spaghetti and juicy hen in a deliciously wealthy creamy pesto sauce for the proper household meal.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Prepare dinner Time 20 minutes

Complete Time 40 minutes

Prepare dinner ModeForestall your display screen from going darkish

In a big pot, cook dinner spaghetti in keeping with bundle instructions. Drain and reserve 1 cup pasta water.
In a frying pan, warmth olive oil over medium warmth. Season hen with dried basil, oregano, salt, and pepper.
Add hen to the pan and cook dinner till no pink stays, about 5-6 minutes. Take away from pan and put aside.
In the identical pan, add the butter and flour. Stir till easy and cook dinner 2-3 minutes.
Add half and half, heavy cream, and hen broth. Deliver to a simmer over medium warmth and permit to simmer for 2-3 minutes or till barely thickened.
Take away from warmth, and stir in parmesan cheese and pesto.
Add cooked pasta to the pesto sauce and toss. Add further pasta water as wanted to succeed in desired consistency. Return the hen to the pan.
Garnish with basil, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese if desired.

Diet info doesn’t embrace garnish.
Preserve leftovers in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 3 days.

Diet info supplied is an estimate and can range primarily based on cooking strategies and types of components used.

Course Hen, Dinner, Pasta

Delicacies American

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This scrumptious dish is sponsored by Walmart and SheKnows Media.

I’m excited to have partnered with Walmart & SheKnows Media to deliver you this pesto pasta recipe. Whereas I used to be compensated, all ideas and opinions are my very own. Working with nice manufacturers I like permits me to maintain bringing you the good recipes you like!