Easy Chicken and Pesto Pasta

Pasta & Pesto is one of the easiest and quickest meals you can whip up, without having to sacrifice on flavour. We’ve added a few little twists to this classic dish, to make the ultimate chicken and pesto pasta!

This recipe is perfect for using up items from your store cupboard if you choose ready-made, pasta and pesto. If you have access to a great herb garden, or some wild garlic, it can be fun to make your own pesto. You could even go all out and make your pasta from scratch too!

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We are sharing this simple recipe by request as an easy starter meal for students or people who are scared of getting started cooking chicken.

This easy recipe makes enough for 2-3 adults.

Ingredients:

· 2 x Sutton Hoo Chicken Breasts (or just add leftovers from your roast chicken).

· 150g pasta (fresh is always better, but dried works fine too – spaghetti is a great shape for this dish but feel free to use whichever pasta shapes you fancy! You can even try making fresh pasta at home with this simple recipe here)

· 2 tbsp pesto (ready-made is fine and we particularly love our local Purely Pesto, or check out this recipe for making your own here!)

Optional:

· Streaky bacon (to include this, slice 2 rashers of streaky bacon into 2cm thick strips, and pan fry until crispy before stirring into the end dish)

· Handful fresh basil leaves

· Grated lemon zest (to taste)

· Salt and Pepper (to taste)

· Olive Oil (to taste)

Method:

1. Start by boiling your kettle ready for cooking your pasta.

2. Chop your chicken breasts into bite size chunks and pan fry on a medium heat until cooked through. (this should take 3-5 minutes depending on the size of your chicken chunks). Add the bacon too at this point if you are using it.

3. Meanwhile, cook your pasta to packet instructions in salted water.

4. Drain your pasta but save a few tablespoons of the pasta water.

5. Put your pasta, pesto and reserved pasta water into the frying pan with the chicken and stir well to combine (off the heat).

6. Season well with salt and pepper and serve with a drizzle of olive oil.

If, like us, you like to really jazz it up, stir through some fresh basil leaves and a bit of grated lemon zest. Pine nuts or toasted seeds also add a delicious crunch.