A tray of ground chicken, some pesto hiding in the back of your fridge, pasta from your pantry and the desire to get a delicious meal on the table. That's just about everything you need for this very satisfying ground chicken pesto pasta.
I can feel the eye rolls already – who pairs pesto with ground chicken?
Honestly, I don’t even know why it’s only been two years since I started making this, especially since I’ve been loving pesto pasta with ground beef way longer. I guess when you think of ground chicken, you think patties, meatballs and tacos. Nothing wrong with that, but this recipe is so good that it's sure to find its way on that list of top uses of ground chicken you will think of from now on.
You’ll love it even more if you're in the mood for creamy pasta but don’t have cream or half-and-half. I make a quick roux with milk to get that creamy goodness, and no one needs to know. Or maybe they do, if you want to give them a reason to feel a little less guilty about this rich, delicious dinner. Really can’t go wrong with this one.
Pre-cooking notes
As always, here’s my little pre-read to go through before you get cooking. It’s all based on my own experiences, mistakes I’ve made and things that have worked for me, so you get to enjoy the best pasta!
- You’ll notice I just say butter, not unsalted butter, in the recipe card. That’s because it doesn’t really matter which one you use since we’re using such a small amount. I’ve mentioned tasting for salt and pepper later in the recipe, as a reminder, so you can always adjust the salt then.
- Freshly grated parmesan and store-bought stuff in jars is 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, just use fresh. 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. But if you don’t have one, skipping the zest is not a deal breaker.
- I usually reach for fusilli, penne, or rigatoni for my pasta dishes, but use whatever pasta you’ve got on hand, no biggie.
- When you’re making the roux, don’t let the sauce get too thick before you add the parmesan, it'll only get thicker once you do. Then, after you add the pesto, the sauce will rest for a bit and thicken up even more before you mix it into the ground chicken. If it thickens after the milk, you’ll end up having to thin it out later.
- Adding the pesto and zest after you turn off the heat has a purpose. We don’t want to expose those bright flavors to too much heat. Just enough to let them come together, but not so much that the flavors mellow out or the fats separate. Also, the sauce will warm up again right before you add the pasta, so we want to keep the heat exposure limited to begin with.
- As you can see in the photos, I’ve left my ground chicken a little chunky. I don’t like it falling through the gaps in my fork, and I prefer a bit of bite. Totally fine if you want it finer, but you’ll need to put in a little more elbow grease to break down the chunks further.
A visual guide for making ground chicken pesto pasta
If you like a little visual help while cooking, here’s a guide showing the steps. It’ll give you a good idea of things like how the flour and butter should look before you add the milk. For the full recipe, including ingredients and notes, see the recipe card below.
Heat up a skillet or pan over medium heat and melt the butter. Stir in the flour and let it cook for a minute or two. Slowly pour in the milk and whisk as you go to keep it smooth. Let it cook for about 2 minutes, then add the parmesan and stir until it’s melted.
Add the sun-dried tomatoes and mix again. Take the pan off the heat and let the sauce cool for a couple of minutes. Stir in the basil pesto and lemon zest, then set the sauce aside.
Cook the pasta according to the package directions. While that’s boiling, heat some oil in another skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the onion for about 3 minutes until it softens, then add the garlic and stir for another minute. Add the ground chicken, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes and cook for 7-8 minutes. Break up the chicken chunks as you go. Once it’s cooked, stir in the lemon juice and pesto sauce and mix it all together.
Add the cooked pasta into the skillet with the chicken and sauce. Gently stir it all together until well mixed. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Let it heat up for a minute or two, then top with some fresh parmesan and chopped parsley or basil. Serve right away.
Top Tips
- Instead of regular cooking oil, you can use the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes. I didn’t use it here because I didn’t have enough oil left to cover the remaining tomatoes once I took out what I needed. So just make sure you have enough oil in the jar before using it.
- 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, 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. You won’t see me doing that here though, because I like the chicken a little chunkier in this recipe. So if you don't like chunks, that's my little trick.
If you try this recipe, I'd love to hear from you, please come back to ratings and comments down below.
Happy cooking!
Ground Chicken Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
For Pesto Sauce
- 3 tablespoons (42 g) butter
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 1.25 cups milk
- ¾ cup (75 g) parmesan - freshly grated - press down tightly into the cup to measure
- ½ cup (55 g) sun dried tomatoes - sliced or chopped, drained (Note B)
- ⅓ cup (5 tablespoon) basil pesto - store-bought
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
For cooking chicken & pasta
- 8 ounces (227 g) pasta - uncooked, I prefer fusilli, penne or rigatoni
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 small (100 g) onion - finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic - finely minced or grated
- 1 pound (454 g) ground chicken - aka chicken mince (Note A)
- 1 teaspoon salt - adjust to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon italian seasoning - or sub with dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Optional toppings
- some freshly grated parmesan
- some chopped fresh parsley - or basil
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a skillet or pan over medium heat. Once that’s melted, add in the flour and stir for a minute or two.
- Gradually pour in the milk while you keep whisking/stirring to make sure it stays smooth, cook for 2 minutes. Don't wait longer for the sauce to thicken. Add the parmesan and stir until it melts. Then toss in the sun-dried tomatoes and give it a good mix.
- Take the pan off the heat, let the sauce cool down for a couple of minutes, then stir in the pesto and lemon zest. Set aside while you get everything else ready.
- Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil, toss in the pasta, and cook it according to the package instructions, usually around 8-10 minutes. Once it’s done, drain the pasta, then toss it with a little cooking oil so it doesn’t stick. Set that aside too.
- While the pasta is boiling, heat the cooking oil in another big skillet or pan over medium-high heat. Toss in the onion and cook until it softens up, about 3 minutes. Next add the garlic and stir it around for another minute.
- Add the ground chicken, along with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes. Break it up with a spoon, stir and cook for about 7-8 minutes. I like my chicken a little chunkier, but if you prefer it in finer bits, keep breaking it up longer as it cooks.
- Once the chicken is done, add lemon juice. Then add that pesto sauce you made earlier and mix it up with the chicken. If the sauce is too thick, add water in small increments to adjust the consistency.
- Now toss in the cooked pasta and mix everything together until well combined. Give it a taste and adjust salt and pepper if needed. Let it heat through for a minute or two.
- Top with freshly grated parm, some chopped parsley or basil and serve immediately.
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!