This is a tasty, Italian chicken pasta dish is made with tender chicken, pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, pasta, and toasted pine nuts which give it a yummy, nutty flavor. This EASY delicious meal is ready in 20 minutes with onlya handful of ingredients and minimal prep making it a quick dinner for busy weeknights.
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This pasta dish is perfect for parties because it’s the kind of pasta that can be served hot or cold. Make it without the chicken and it becomes a delicious pasta side dish. It’s a great way to use up leftover chicken.
Plus, it tastes good the next day. I use boneless skinless chicken breasts for this recipe, but you can use store-bought rotisserie chicken instead.
I love finding easy pasta dishes to make for parties and this is certainly one of them. My Italian cousin (who lives in Italy) introduced me to this yummy dish. Her recipe doesn’t include chicken but, I thought it made a great protein addition to this pasta dish. It becomes an easy, yummy dinner.
Below, I’ll show you how to toast pine nuts. It’s quick and easy but, you need to stay near the stove because they burn quickly.
Make this pasta dish with homemade pesto ro really make it super flavorful!
Doesn’t it look delicious?
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Ingredients
*The full, printable recipe is in the recipe card below.
- medium sized pasta shells or penne pasta
- cooked chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
- pesto
- jarred sun dried tomatoes in oil
- pine nuts
- grated parmesan cheese
- black pepper and salt to taste
Instructions Summary
*The full, printable recipe is in the recipe card below.
First, begin to cook pasta al dente.
Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts and set aside.
Then, add the hot, drained cooked pasta back into the pot in which the pasta was cooked along with the cooked chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, toasted pine nuts, and grated parmesan cheese. Then, salt and black pepper to taste.
Add red pepper flakes for a little spice, if you desire.
If you need to cook chicken first, that’s easy enough. Just put one skinless boneless chicken breast cut in half in a small pot of water and boil on your stove top for about 15 minutes.
Chicken Pesto Pasta with Sun Dried Tomatoes
This chicken pesto pasta dish is filling and delicious. Try giving it to your picky eater. If they like pesto, you just might find a win here.
Making a homemade version of pesto is easy but, sometimes you just want to get dinner on the table a.s.a.p. So, I keep a jar of pesto in my pantry. It comes in handy when I a want to do minimal cooking and clean up.
You can use them to make pesto sauce too so, you can definitely use pine nuts for more than just this pasta recipe.
How do you use pesto in a jar?
Jarred pesto is ready-to-use. Add it to hot, drained pasta and that’s it! The hot pasta will heat up the pesto. Plus, you can control how much pesto you want in your pasta so, it’s a great pantry item to keep on hand.
What do you eat with pesto pasta?
Chicken, whether grilled or roasted, is great main dish to eat with pesto pasta but, so is Italian sausage. Those are the two meats that I think taste best alongside pesto pasta.
What to do with sun dried tomatoes?
You may have leftover sun-dried tomatoes after making this recipe. Spread goat cheese or cream cheese on on Italian bread and top that with sun dried tomatoes (from oil.) You can also mix it into cream cheese or Marscapone cheese with chopped fresh rosemary for a tasty appetizer.
How to Toast Pine Nuts
- First, put pine nuts in a small frying pan on medium-high heat.
- Next, wait until they turn golden brown as shown in image below. They can easily burn so, don’t walk away from heat.
For microwave and oven toasting methods, click here.
Make this delicious chicken pesto pasta dish with just a handful of ingredients. As I’ve mentioned above it’s a great way to use up leftover cooked chicken and feed your family a wholesome meal.
Plus, it makes a versatile pasta salad for parties because you can omit the chicken to make it a vegetarian side dish! Make one one bowl with chicken and one without. It’s simply delicious!
You may also like:
Puff Pastry Pesto Chicken Bites Appetizer
Chicken Pesto Pasta with Sun Dried Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 4 oz pesto
- 16 oz medium pasta shells (or penne or ziti)
- 4 oz sun-dried tomatoes in oil
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 1/2 cup cooked chicken breast (cut into bite-sized pieces)
Instructions
- First, cook pasta according to package directions and drain.
- Meanwhile, chop the sun dried tomatoes into small pieces.
- Then, toast pine nuts. Add them to a small frying pan on med heat. They can easily burn so, don't walk away from heat. Stir pine nuts and remove from heat when they start to brown.
- Next, chop toasted pine nuts.
- Last, add pesto, chicken, sun dried tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, and grated Parmesan cheese to the drained, cooked pasta and combine.
Notes
How to poach a chicken breast:
Don’t have shredded cooked chicken on hand? Boil one boneless, skinless, chicken breast, cut in half while the pasta is cooking. Cook for 15 minutes or until juices run clear when cut in the thickest part of chicken.Did You Make This Recipe?
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I’m glad you liked it. Thanks for the 5-star rating.
What a great meal. I usually don’t have sun dried tomatoes on my grocery list. need to add to my Notes app. This pairs well with either red or white wine.