Chicken Pesto Pasta with Peas

This chicken pesto pasta with peas is a simple yet delicious dish that can be made in just a few simple steps.

Course dinner, Main Course

Cuisine American, Italian

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 30

Total Time 35

Servings servings

Calories 412kcal

1 large chicken breast (or two small)
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
generous pinches of salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon oil (for cooking)
1 Spanish onion (sliced)
2 cups dried pasta (250g) (I used tortiglioni, but any short pastas like rigatoni, fusilli or penne will work well)
1 jar pesto (7 ounces / 218ml)
juice of 1 lemon (optional)
1½ cups frozen peas (200g)
parmesan to serve (optional)

Preheat your oven to 360F / 180c. Slice the onion and set to one side.
Pat the chicken breast(s) dry and season with garlic powder, salt and black pepper on each side.
Heat the oil in a skillet on a medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, place in the seasoned chicken breast. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes on both sides til browned.
Add the sliced onion into the skillet, give a quick stir, the place the skillet into the preheated oven. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring the onions halfway through. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove from the oven and set to one side to rest.
While the chicken is cooking, cook the pasta al dente in salted boiling water as per the package directions. At the end of cooking, add the frozen peas to the pasta for a couple of minutes, then drain and reserve a cup of the pasta water.
Slice the chicken into bitesized pieces.
Add the pasta and peas back to the pot with some of the cooking water. Add in the pesto, lemon juice (if using) and cooked chicken and onion.
Stir everything together and heat through.
Serve with grated parmesan.

Boil the pasta and peas in salted water and set aside a cup of water when draining the pasta, to use in case the pesto is too dry.
Cook the pasta al dente to avoid overcooking it since the pasta will continue to cook when it is drained and mixed with the other ingredients.
I used one very large chicken breast in this recipe, if you have smaller chicken breasts, you can use two.
Due to the risk of salmonella, it's very important to make sure the chicken is fully cooked through. If the chicken is still pink inside after the cooking time, bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.