Spring Chicken Pesto Pasta with Mozzarella
Make a delicious meal for your family fast with my easy, 5-ingredient spring chicken pesto pasta recipe. Dinner never tasted so good!
If you have been a long time reader, you know that all of my recipes are about being delicious AND super simple. Basically my nightly goal for dinner is to get in and out of the kitchen as fast as humanly possible. 🙂 And if that sounds good to you, PIN this spring chicken pest recipe right now. This dish is incredibly scrumptious and one of the fastest meals I’ve ever cooked!
To me, recipes with pesto feel like spring time. Probably because of that sweet basil taste. So when Krista from The Happy Housie asked me to team up with her and some other fabulous bloggers to share spring time recipes, I knew this chicken pesto pasta would be perfect.
My whole family absolutely loved this for dinner last night. And they’re already asking me to make it again. The funny thing is, this yummy recipe was created by just grabbing what was in the fridge!
The whole process went something like this…
Chicken and Pesto
Pesto is always a hit in my house and the boys are big meat eaters as well. (Although – you could totally omit the chicken and the recipe would still be fabulous.) So I decided to chicken would be a great protein to pair with the pesto.
So once I started thinking about chicken and pesto, I started craving pasta.
Penne Pasta For the Win
Sebastian has never liked spaghetti because of the noodle shape. But Penne he loves.
So I started digging through my pasta stash and yes – luckily I did have some Penne.
Now I had three ingredients but I automatically knew that cheese would have to be the forth item in this recipe. Mozzarella is always a friend to pesto, am I right?!
Mozzarella and Tomatoes
I don’t always have mozzarella on hand but I remembered that I just bought a package a week ago. So yea – this was turning out to be a great dish. The one thing it was lacking was some color.
So I opened the fridge and started looking for some color. Perhaps a vegetable? Maybe some broccoli? Or how about some cherry tomatoes? Yep. That was the winner!
And that my friend, is how this quick, tasty recipe became a family favorite literally over night. 🙂 If you are looking for a new dinner recipe to try – I hope you give this one a shot. And I’m willing to guess – you might even have all the ingredients you need right now. 🙂
Don’t forget to PIN my chicken pesto pasta recipe so you can easily find it later!
Enjoy! And if you make it, I’d love to hear if you liked it. So don’t forget to come back and comment. 🙂
Spring Chicken Pesto Pasta with Mozzarella
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 cup pesto
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 16 oz Penne pasta
- 1 cup mozzarella, shredded
- 1 teaspoon chopped garlic (optional)
Instructions
- Prepare the pasta according to package directions.
- While pasta is cooking, cook chicken. Add 1 tablespoon of oil olive in a large skillet. Salt and pepper chicken. Then cook over medium heat about 5-7 minutes per side, or until fully cooked. Remove from pan and dice.
- Using the same skillet, over medium heat, add the oil and garlic and stir continually until fragrant, about 20 seconds.
- Then turn the skillet down to medium low heat.
- Drain the pasta, and add quickly to the skillet along with the pesto, and grape tomatoes. Give everything a quick toss and add the cheese, tossing the pasta with tongs.
- Serve the pasta and top with more cheese if you like. (Optional, add a sprinkle of some Parmesan cheese too!)
And as I mentioned before, I have even more spring recipes for you to try!
This week I’m joined by some of my talented blogging friends who are also sharing their spring recipes with you. Be sure to see what they are sharing by clinking the links below the images.
Keto Raspberry Lemon Bars at The Happy Housie
Gorgeous Springtime Desserts at Craftberry Bush
Blueberry Gooey Butter Cake at Two Twenty One
Lightened Up Lemon Poundcake at My Sweet Savannah
Gluten Free Lemon Glazed Blueberry Donuts at Cassie Bustamante
Easy Food Processor Scones at Life is a Party
Lemoniest Lemon Pound Cake at Maison de Cinq
Easy Fruit Salad with Fruit Dip at She Gave it a Go
Mom’s Classic Green Chili Egg Casserole at Tatertots and Jello
Spring Chicken Pesto Pasta at Inspiration for Moms
Devilled Eggs Three Ways at Finding Silver Pennies
Easy Egg Salad Recipe at This is Our Bliss
Classic Belgian Waffles at Nick & Alicia
How to Make Homemade Lemon Curd at Jenna Kate at Home
Raspberry Coconut Chia Breakfast Pudding at Satori Design for Living
Super Moist Gluten Free Banana Bread at Willow Street Interiors
Classic Tea Scones at Life is Better at Home
saving this for my husband- he’s a pesto lover! he will love this!
Thanks for sharing. This would make a good weeknight meal since it looks so easy to make. Thank you for sharing on the blog hop Laura. Happy Spring and Easter!
Yum. yum. yum. Pesto is always a hit in our house, too. This looks lovely.