Because sometimes, after a hard day at work, you don’t want to cook any, but you have to eat. Creamy Pesto Pasta With Chicken and Broccoli is a quick and delicious way to use the vibrant flavours of basil pesto and creamy cream cheese to create a rich sauce that can be used to coat the pasta, chicken, or broccoli. Pesto is already in the sauce and provides all the garlic and herbs needed. This dish can be prepared quickly, and you will have it on your dinner table in no time.
CAN I USE A DIFFERENT PASTA STYLE?
Yep! This recipe will work with short-shaped pasta like penne, macaroni, or rotini. It’s possible to use a long pasta like fettuccine and linguine. However, it can be more difficult to mix chunky ingredients like chicken and broccoli into the long pasta. Sometimes, it can be helpful to cut the pasta in half before you cook it.
What kind of pesto do you use?
Basil pesto from ALDI was used in this recipe. It’s very affordable. Classico brand pesto or Barilla brand pesto is also very affordable if you don’t live near an ALDI.
CAN I SUBSTITUTE THE CREAM CHEESE?
You can substitute cream cheese for half of the cream cheese or use 1 cup half-and-half to make the same creamy sauce. Although the sauce will be creamy, it won’t have the tangy cream cheese taste that some people don’t like. If you don’t have chicken broth, you may need to salt the sauce.
MAKE IT A VEGETARIAN CREAMY PESTO PASTA
You can make this Creamy Pesto Pasta vegetarian. You can easily make this Creamy Pesto Pasta vegetarian by adding a bit more broccoli and substituting vegetable broth for the chicken stock.
CREAMY PESTO PASTA – CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI
This creamy pesto sauce is super quick and delicious. It can be used to make tender pasta, chicken breasts, and broccoli, making it a great weeknight meal.
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutesINGREDIENTS
- 8 oz. bow tie pasta ($0.67)
- 8 oz. frozen broccoli florets ($1.00)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.12)
- 1 lb. 1 lb.
- 1/3 cup basil pesto ($0.73)
- 1/2 cup chicken broth ($0.07)
- 4 oz. cream cheese ($0.40)
INSTRUCTIONS
- To boil the pasta, bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Bring the water to a boil. Once the pasta has boiled, add it to the pot and boil for 7-8 minutes. Add the cooked pasta to the boiling water. Continue to cook the broccoli florets for 2 to 3 minutes or until they are tender. Use a colander to drain the pasta and broccoli.
- While the pasta cooks, chop the chicken breast into pieces of about 1/2-inch. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken to the skillet. Cook until the chicken pieces turn golden brown, but the middle remains tender.
- Heat the chicken broth in a skillet. Once the chicken broth is heated, add the cream cheese and pesto. Continue stirring and cooking until the cream cheese is melted.
- Add the pasta and the broccoli to the skillet once they have been drained. Stir to coat them in the cream sauce. To loosen the sauce, you can add more chicken broth. Serve immediately
NUTRITION
Serving Size: 1 Serving Calories 606.33 Kilocalories: 53.58 G Protein: 37.18 G Fat: 28.33g Sodium 725.78 mg Fiber 7.15 g
