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 straightforward 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 substances.
Price range Tip: Add further pasta to stretch the meal additional.
Swaps: Make it a meatless meal and swap out the hen for blended veggies. Swap for rotisserie hen, shrimp, or roasted veggies for a full meal.

Substances 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 alternative for creamy pesto pasta. It cooks rapidly and holds simply the correct quantity of sauce in each chew. It retains the dish gentle and easy, and likelihood is you’ve already received some within the pantry! If you happen to’re out of spaghetti, linguine, fettuccine, and even penne work simply as properly.
Rooster: 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.
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 very best outcomes, prepare dinner the pasta to al dente since it can proceed to prepare dinner when added to the sauce. Make sure to reserve just a little pasta sauce in case it is advisable to thicken the sauce in Step 7.
Make sure that the hen items are lower into bite-sized items in order that they prepare dinner evenly and just a little 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 forestall the dairy from scalding.

Leftovers

Maintain 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 just a little milk added to loosen the sauce.

It’s not really useful to freeze this recipe as a result of excessive quantity of dairy, which is able to grow to be 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

Whole Time 40 minutes

Prepare dinner ModeStop your display from going darkish

In a big pot, prepare dinner spaghetti in line 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 prepare 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 prepare dinner 2-3 minutes.
Add half and half, heavy cream, and hen broth. Carry 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.

Vitamin info doesn’t embody garnish.
Maintain leftovers in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 3 days.

Vitamin info supplied is an estimate and can range based mostly on cooking strategies and types of substances used.

Course Rooster, 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 convey 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’re keen on!