Chicken Pesto Pasta is an easy weeknight dinner you’ll love. Packed with broccolini, tomatoes and pesto – it’s healthy and delicious!
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Chicken pesto pasta with broccolini and blistered tomatoes is a simple pasta recipe that’s perfect for dinner any night of the week.
Especially in the summer, we love a simple pasta dish with loads of veggies. It’s light, but filling, and super easy to make!
In about 30 minutes, you can be serving up juicy, pan-seared chicken breast with healthy veggies and bright pesto sauce over tender pasta. It’s such a delicious dinner!
3 reasons to make chicken pesto pasta for dinner
Chicken, pesto, pasta… does it really need more of an explanation? This is one of our favorite dinners for so many reasons!
- Great way to enjoy seasonal fresh produce. Broccolini and tomatoes are both easy to grow in a garden, or they’re simple to find in stores and farmer’s markets during the warm months of summer.
- A nutritious and filling meal. Pan seared chicken breasts are high in protein, and low in fat and calories. Broccolini and tomatoes are both nutrient-dense veggies, and pesto is made using fresh herbs and olive oil, so it’s good for you, too! The penne pasta rounds out the meal with grains and fiber, which help you feel full.
- Perfect chicken meal prep idea!- This reheats really well so feel free to save extras for lunch tomorrow.
If you enjoy meal prepping, we have tons of other meal prep ideas for you! One of our most popular chicken meal prep recipes is mustard maple chicken… be sure to check it out.
ingredients in this chicken pasta recipe
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (you could also use chicken thighs!)
- Tomatoes – We use cherry tomatoes, but any small variety works well.
- Broccolini – In case you’re wondering, broccolini is not baby broccoli. Although they look similar, broccolini is a cross-breed of regular broccoli and Chinese broccoli. The stalks are much longer than traditional broccoli, and the florets are smaller.
- Olive Oil – we love this brand!
- Prepared pesto – Look for pesto in the condiments aisle of the grocery store. (This brand is our favorite) If you grow fresh basil or parsley and have a lot on hand, you could even make your own pesto. We have a recipe for nut-free pesto that is really easy to make!
- Farfalle pasta
- Chicken Broth – make your own or use a low/no salt version
To see substitutions for these ingredients, look in the green shaded box, below.
How to make:
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil, then sear salt and peppered chicken breast for 5-6 minutes on each side until golden brown. Set aside. Start to cook your pasta.
- Add onion and garlic to the same pan and saute for 1 minute, then add chicken broth to deglaze the pan, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Add broccolini to the pan, cover, and cook for 4 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, cover, and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Stir in cooked pasta, pesto, and sliced chicken to combine.
Liz’s tips for making chicken pesto pasta with veggies
Meal prep (or multitask!) to save time. Two ways to save some time are cutting the raw chicken breast into cubes and cooking the pasta ahead of time. Both of these tasks can be done 2-3 days before you cook the meal.
If you do these, just be sure to store them in separate containers in your fridge. To prevent the penne from sticking together and/or becoming too dry, toss it in a bit of olive oil before storing it.
Sauté the broccolini and tomatoes to al dente. Unless you like your pasta and veggies extra soft (and borderline mushy), avoid overcooking them. 5-7 minutes over medium heat should be enough time to sauté them.
INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTIONS
Chicken: This pesto pasta recipe will work with any boneless cut of chicken, like thighs or tenderloins. You could even make it with boneless turkey breast, center cut pork chops, or even slices of pork tenderloin.
Vegetables – If you don’t want tomato and broccolini pasta, you can substitute with any quick cooking veggies you like.
Broccoli is a good substitute for broccolini, and mushrooms would be delicious with this meal, too.
Pasta – We like farfalle pasta, but feel free to swap it for other medium sized pasta shapes like rotini, penne, or ziti.
what to serve with chicken pasta
With protein in the chicken, veggies from the broccolini/ tomatoes, and healthy carbs from the pasta, this meal is pretty complete on its own. But, most Italian meals are tastier with a fresh chopped salad and soft breadsticks on the side!
For dessert, we suggest serving healthy carrot cake or Italian cream pie. If you want something a bit lighter, fruit salad or this baked apples dessert are both delicious options!
How to Store
Storing: This will last in the refrigerator for up to 3 days in an airtight container
Can this meal be frozen? Technically, chicken pesto pasta can be frozen for 2 months. However, the freezing and thawing process does thin out pesto sauce, and it also changes the texture of the pasta (I think it’s too mushy!) Check out these healthy freezer meals instead!
Reheating: You can reheat this recipe in the microwave, toaster oven, oven or on the stove.
Chicken Pesto Pasta
Chicken Pesto Pasta is an easy weeknight dinner you’ll love. Packed with broccolini, tomatoes and pesto – it’s healthy and delicious!
Instructions
Clean and pound chicken. Place in between two pieces of saran wrap and pound with a meat mallet until tender. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.
In a large pan skillet, heat olive oil.
While the olive oil is heating, start a small pot of water to boil on the side for the pasta.
Sear chicken breast for 5-6 minutes on each side until golden brown. Set aside on a clean plate.
Add onion and garlic directly to the pan you seared the chicken in. (Don’t clean it, keep all those browned bits in for flavor!) Sauté onions/garlic for 1 minute, then add chicken broth to deglaze the pan. Scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan and stir as the onions and garlic saute.
Begin to cook your pasta according to the directions on the package.
After the onions and garlic have started to soften, add broccolini to the pan. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 4 minutes.
Add tomatoes to the pot, stir to combine, cover, and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
While the tomatoes are cooking, slice your chicken in small pieces.
Stir in cooked pasta, pesto and cooked chicken to the veggie mixture. Stir to combine.
Top with parmesan cheese.
Notes
- Sauté the broccolini and tomatoes to al dente. Unless you like your pasta and veggies extra soft (and borderline mushy), avoid overcooking them. 5-7 minutes over medium heat should be enough time to sauté them.
- Cut your chicken ahead of time – You can prep your chicken the day before to save time!
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition Facts
Chicken Pesto Pasta
Amount Per Serving (2 cups pasta, veggies and chicken)
Calories 371 Calories from Fat 117
% Daily Value*
Fat 13g20%
Saturated Fat 2g13%
Trans Fat 0.01g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 4g
Cholesterol 74mg25%
Sodium 454mg20%
Potassium 682mg19%
Carbohydrates 33g11%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 4g4%
Protein 32g64%
Vitamin A 1712IU34%
Vitamin C 72mg87%
Calcium 97mg10%
Iron 3mg17%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. This is an estimate and can vary pending your ingredients
