Delicious dinner alert! This ground chicken pesto pasta is going to impress everyone. No dull flavors around here. The pesto flavor shines, of course, but the sidekicks, including garlic, sundried tomatoes, and lemon, lend a beautiful complexity to the taste. This one's a winner.
When you think of uses for ground chicken, you think patties, meatballs, and tacos, right? But my recipe is going to change that. It's going to become your top-of-mind use for ground chicken (aka chicken mince).
The method of making this pasta is pretty simple. I fry sliced garlic just a tad, then add the chicken along with salt, pepper, and chili flakes. When the chicken is almost done, which happens fast, I stir in the cream and parm.
Then all that's left to do is dump in the pesto, of course, along with lemon juice, zest, and sundried tomatoes. From there, you've got two ways to play it. Toss the pasta into the sauce and let it warm through, or spoon the sauce over a bed of pasta.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I add a pinch of nutmeg when I add the cream. It adds such a nice, subtle touch to the taste.
By the way, I've also got a recipe for ground beef pesto pasta. And if you're wondering whether it's any good, go check out the reviews on that page.
Pre-cooking notes and tips
- Freshly grated parmesan and the store-bought stuff in jars are not the same thing. It’s not the same taste, not the same texture, and let’s not forget about the anti-caking agents. If you can, grate a block of cheese. It’s so much better.
- Lemon zest gives the pesto sauce a bright touch of flavor. I didn’t make it optional in the recipe because I really hope you’ll take the extra step if you’ve got a microplane or zester. It makes a difference.
- I used to build this pasta sauce with a roux, but one day I swapped it for cream, and I’ll never go back. The sauce comes out so much richer, creamier, and more flavorful. That said, don’t let the sauce boil or cook too long after adding the cream, as it can split if overheated.
- Use sun-dried tomatoes that come in jars with oil, not the dry ones packed in bags. You can also swap the regular cooking oil in the recipe with the oil from the jar. Just make sure there’s enough left in there to keep the remaining tomatoes covered.
- I add sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, lemon juice, and zest at the end of cooking because overheating can kill all those bright flavors. Don’t add them earlier.
- Don’t know if it’s just me, but I find it harder to break up ground chicken as it cooks compared to ground beef. It just doesn’t separate as easily. When I need it in finer bits, I’ll use a potato masher to press down on the chicken and break up the clumps. In this recipe, though, I leave it a bit chunky.
- If you’re looking for more ways to use ground chicken, check out my ground chicken gnocchi recipe and this simple ground chicken pasta.
Serving Ideas
A simple, fresh green salad, or even just some arugula tossed with a lemony vinaigrette, works really well here because it cuts through the richness of the pasta. Roasted veggies are another great option. And if you’re leaning all the way into comfort food territory, some garlic bread would be hard to beat.
And that's a wrap!
If you try this recipe, I'd love to know how it turned out in your kitchen. Leave your rating and comments down below.
Happy cooking ~ Nelo
Ground Chicken Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (230 g) pasta - uncooked, I prefer spaghetti or linguine
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 5 cloves garlic - thinly sliced
- 1 pound (450 g) ground chicken - aka chicken mince
- 1 teaspoon salt - adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes - adjust to taste ⓘ
- ¾ cup (180 ml) heavy/whipping cream - unsweetend
- ½ cup (50 g) freshly grated parmesan
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
- ¼ cup basil pesto - I use store-bought
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ cup (55 g) sun dried tomatoes - finely chopped (Note A)
- ½ teaspoon sugar - to balance flavors
- some fresh basil for garnishing - optional
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Follow the package instructions to cook the pasta. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water. Then drain the pasta and set it aside.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet/pan over medium-low heat. Add the sliced garlic and cook until it starts to turn light golden. Keep an eye on it, as it can burn fast. Add ½ cup of the reserved pasta water to stop the garlic from cooking any further.
- Add ground chicken, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes. Turn the heat up to medium-high (or medium if your burner runs hot). Break up the lumps as you go. I prefer to leave the chicken bits slightly chunky. Cook for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the chicken is almost cooked. You don’t have to wait for any remaining liquid to cook off, as long as the chicken is done.
- Then add the cream, grated parmesan, and nutmeg. Cook until the cheese has melted into the sauce. Turn the heat down to low. Stir in the pesto, lemon juice, lemon zest, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, and sugar. Mix well.
- Taste the sauce and adjust if needed. If you want more pesto flavor, add 1 tablespoon at a time, mix well, and taste again before adding more. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of cream or some of the remaining pasta water, mix, and check the consistency before adding more. Go slowly so you don’t dilute the sauce too much.
- At this point, you can mix in cooked pasta and let it warm up, or if the cooked pasta is still warm enough to your liking, you can spoon the sauce over it.
- Turn the heat off. Optionally, garnish with chopped fresh basil and serve right away!
Stephanie says
WOW!!!! I made a small change based on the ingredients I had on hand, but this was absolutely delicious! I definitely wasn’t expecting the flavor explosion.
Instead of using the pesto and lemon, I had a jar of one of Trader Joe’s seasonal items…lemon pesto. I also used Trader Joe’s seasonal lemon pasta.
Thank you for sharing the recipe! This is definitely something that I will make again!
Nelo says
Thank you so much for the lovely review, Stephanie!