Pesto Pasta with Chicken

Easy Pesto Pasta with Chicken

This pesto recipe is pretty standard; it was passed down to me from a friend's mother years ago and we love it. This meal is incredibly easy, especially if you use rotisserie chicken! Serve it with salad on the side and you've got an easy, delicious dinner without much effort.

Notes about this recipe: Pesto sauce also freezes well, so if you have a lot of basil to use up, make some extra pesto sauce and throw it in the freezer for another time!

• 3 cups fresh basil ((about 30-40 leaves))

• ⅔ cup Parmesan cheese

• ½ cup walnuts

• ½ cup olive oil (extra virgin )

• 2 cloves garlic

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon pepper

• 2 cups cooked chicken (shredded (or from a rotisserie chicken))

• 12 oz farfalle pasta

1. Combine [wprm-ingredient text="3 cups fresh basil<wprm-ingredient uid="2" removed="0">" uid="1"], [wprm-ingredient text="⅔ cup Parmesan cheese" uid="2"], [wprm-ingredient text="½ cup walnuts" uid="4"], [wprm-ingredient text="½ cup olive oil" uid="5"], [wprm-ingredient text="2 cloves garlic" uid="6"], [wprm-ingredient text="¼ teaspoon salt" uid="7"], and [wprm-ingredient text="¼ teaspoon pepper" uid="8"] in a food processor to make your pesto sauce. Set aside.

2. Cook [wprm-ingredient text="12 oz farfalle pasta" uid="3"] as directed. When finished cooking, reserve 1 cup of the starchy pasta water. Drain pasta, return to pot, stir in [wprm-ingredient text="2 cups cooked chicken" uid="0"] and about 1 cup pesto sauce (not an exact amount - see how much you think you need). Add in some pasta water to loosen a little. Add more pesto sauce or pasta water as needed after mixing for a minute. Serve and enjoy!