CHICKEN PESTO PASTA FREE

Add a drizzle of oil to a sauté pan (I like to use a cast iron casserole pan) and when it’s hot, cook the chicken, flipping halfway through until the chicken is done. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Pasta cooking water is perfect for creating a silky, glossy sauce! You’ll want to save a splash of pasta water before you drain the penne. Allow the pasta to cook for a minute or two less than the package directions so that you can finish cooking the pasta in the sauce at the end. Get a large pot of water going and make sure to salt the water generously when it boils. I just steam the broccoli in the microwave or in a steamer basket before adding it to the sauce at the end.

CHICKEN PESTO PASTA FREE

Feel free to omit the broccoli or use something else instead if you’d like. Broccoli florets: Broccoli adds color and an added serving of veggies to the pasta.If you aren’t a fan of basil pesto, you can also use my homemade spinach pesto for this recipe instead. It contains ingredients like fresh basil leaves, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, olive oil and garlic. Basil Pesto: is a condiment that is from the Liguarian region of Italy.It’s essentially just a 50:50 combination of whole milk and heavy cream. Half and half is a product sold here in the States.

Half and Half: adds creaminess to the sauce.

Chicken Stock: helps deglaze the pan once the onions and red pepper flakes have cooked in the butter.

You can also swap the flour, use a little less chicken stock, and use heavy cream in place of the half and half if you wanted this to be a bit more luxurious or if you want to skip the all-purpose flour all together. I usually prefer to use flour for this recipe so I can use half and half and still have a thick sauce that clings to the pasta.

Flour: You’ll need a tablespoon to create a roux along with the butter which will then help thicken the sauce.

I usually opt for around 3 cloves and it tends to be perfect for our taste. I suggest tasting the pesto to see how much garlic it has before you add garlic to the recipe. You can use as much or as little garlic as you’d like for this recipe.

Garlic: I like to use a garlic press or a grater to make the prep work extra quick for this recipe.

Butter: The butter is used to saute the garlic and is the base of the pesto cream sauce.

You can also use shell or bowties if you’d like.

Pasta: I like to use penne pasta for this recipe because the sauce clings to the ridges and gets inside the pasta and bursts with very bite.

You’ll also need red pepper flakes to season the creamy pesto sauce with.

Seasonings: You’ll need the usual – kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic powder to season the chicken with.

I usually use chicken tenders or chicken breasts, but you could also use chicken thighs as well.

Chicken: You can use any boneless, skinless chicken for this recipe.

What ingredient do you need to make creamy pesto pasta?

Chicken pesto pasta