Chicken Pesto Pasta
This post contains affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
Chicken and Broccolini Pasta is an easy weeknight dinner you’ll love. Packed with broccolini, tomatoes and pesto – it’s healthy and delicious!
This post was originally shared in 2017 and has since been updated.
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 a delicious and nutritious dinner that highlights fresh, seasonal produce! During the warmer months, broccolini and tomatoes are easy to find at farmers’ markets or in your own garden.
Pan seared chicken breasts are high in protein, and low in fat and calories. Broccolini and tomatoes are both nutrient-dense veggies, and pesto, made using fresh herbs and olive oil, adds flavor and healthy fats! The penne pasta rounds out the meal with grains and fiber, which help you feel full.
This pasta also reheats well, making it the perfect dinner to save for lunch tomorrow! If you enjoy meal prepping, we have tons of other meal prep ideas for you! One of our most popular is mustard maple chicken… be sure to check it out.
tyler’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. 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.
ingredients
Substitutions
Chicken: This pesto pasta recipe will work with any boneless cut of chicken, like thighs or tenderloins. You could even make it with cooked turkey breast (we love this crockpot turkey breast) center cut pork chops, or even slices of italian pork tenderloin.
Tomatoes: We use cherry tomatoes, but any small variety works well.
Vegetables: If you don’t want tomato and broccolini pasta, you can substitute with any quick cooking veggies you like.
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. Broccoli is a good substitute for broccolini, and mushrooms would be delicious with this meal, too.
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! You could also try a lemon sauce.
Pasta: We like farfalle pasta, but feel free to swap it for other medium sized pasta shapes like rotini, penne, or ziti. If you like long pasta, try our Greek Spaghetti.
Chicken Broth: You can substitute chicken broth with vegetable broth, or beef broth. Chicken stock and chicken broth can be used interchangeably.
How to Make Broccolini Pasta
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil, and sear 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. 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.
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.
Other healthy dinner recipes:
Looking for other easy meals? Check out these Healthy Pasta Recipes.. Click here to grab our free healthy 30 minute dinners cookbook.
Chicken Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cleaned and pounded into ⅓ inch thickness
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup chicken broth
- 2 cups farfalle pasta dry – 5.5 oz
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- ¼ cup minced onion
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes halved
- 8 oz broccolini cut into1 inch stalks – 2 cups 1 bunch
- ¼ cup basil pesto
- Optional: grated cheese + red pepper flakes for garnish
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.
Video
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!
Looks delicious! Since we do not like pesto, what can be substituted for it?
I’m really not sure since pesto is one of the main ingredients. It adds pretty much all the flavor to the dish. There are other types of pesto out there if you’re not a fan of basil you could try different ones.
Love this recipe! We will absolutely make regularly. I was so excited for leftovers!
My husband and I loved this. It was better each day it sat in the refrigerator. This is a definite keeper.
I used Raos basil pesto.
Really enjoyed this meal. Very simple to make. I would add more broccolini (maybe I didn’t quite add enough) as well as more garlic.
Would definitely make this again
This was really easy to make. I added mushrooms too because we had some in the fridge.