I’m all about the quick skillet meals because, let’s face it, sometimes after a long day of work you don’t really want to cook anything… but you still gotta eat. This super quick Creamy Pesto Pasta with Chicken and Broccoli combines the vibrant flavors of basil pesto with tangy cream cheese to make a deliciously rich sauce to smother the pasta, chicken, and broccoli. The pesto provides all the garlic and herbal flavor needed, so there’s no need to even dice an onion, mince garlic, or measure any herbs and spices—it’s already in the sauce! The whole dish cooks very quickly so you can have this one on the dinner table in about 30 minutes.
Can I Use a Different Pasta Shape?
Yep! Any short shaped pasta, like penne, rotini, or even macaroni will work fine for this recipe. You can use a longer type pasta, like fettuccine or linguine, but it’s a little harder to stir chunky ingredients, like the chicken and broccoli, into long pasta. Sometimes breaking it in half before cooking can help.
What Kind of Pesto Do You Use?
I used basil pesto from ALDI for this recipe because it’s super affordable. If you don’t have an ALDI store near you, Classico brand pesto and Barilla brand pesto also tend to be very affordable.
Can I Substitute the Cream Cheese?
If you’re not into cream cheese, you can make a similar creamy sauce by substituting the cream cheese with about a ½ cup heavy cream, or replace both the chicken broth and cream cheese with 1 cup half and half. The sauce will be nice and creamy, but it won’t have that tangy cream cheese flavor that some people are not a fan of. You may need to add a pinch or two of salt at the end if you’re skipping the chicken broth.
Make it a Vegetarian Creamy Pesto Pasta
This Creamy Pesto Pasta can easily be made vegetarian. Just use a little extra broccoli, substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth, and you’re good to go!
Creamy Pesto Pasta with Chicken and Broccoli
Servings 4Ingredients
- 8 oz. bow tie pasta ($0.67)
- 8 oz. frozen broccoli florets ($1.00)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.12)
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast ($2.49)
- 1/3 cup basil pesto ($0.73)
- 1/2 cup chicken broth ($0.07)
- 4 oz. cream cheese ($0.40)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Once it reaches a full boil, add the pasta and continue to boil just until the pasta is tender, but still slightly firm in the center (7-8 minutes). Once the pasta is tender, add the frozen broccoli florets to the water with the pasta and continue to cook for 2-3 more minutes, or until the broccoli is tender. Drain the pasta and broccoli in a colander.
- While the pasta is cooking, cut the chicken breast into ½-inch pieces. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the chicken and continue to cook until the outside of the chicken pieces are white, but they're still tender in the center (they will continue to cook as more ingredients are added).
- Add the chicken broth to the skillet with the chicken and allow it to heat through. Once hot, add the cream cheese (cut into small pieces) and pesto. Continue to stir and cook until the cream cheese has melted and created a smooth, creamy sauce with the pesto and chicken broth.
- Finally, add the cooked and drained pasta and broccoli to the skillet and stir to coat it in the cream sauce. If the sauce becomes too dry or thick, add another splash of chicken broth to loosen it up. Serve hot.
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Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Use Your Leftover Pesto
Not sure what to do with the rest of the jar of pesto? Try these recipes:
How to Make Creamy Pesto Pasta with Chicken and Broccoli – Step by Step Photos
Bring a pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Once boiling, add 8oz. bowtie pasta and continue to boil for 7-8 minutes, or just until it’s tender with a little firmness in the center. Add ½ lb. frozen broccoli florets and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes more or just until the broccoli is tender. Drain the pasta and broccoli in a colander.
While the pasta and broccoli are cooking, cut one pound of boneless, skinless chicken breast into ½-inch chunks.
Add 1 Tbsp olive oil to a large skillet and heat over medium. Once hot, add the diced chicken and cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until the chicken is white on the outside, but still slightly tender inside (it will continue to cook as more ingredients are added). Add ½ cup chicken broth to the skillet and allow it to heat through.
Add 4oz. cream cheese (cut into small chunks) and ⅓ cup basil pesto to the skillet.
Stir and cook over medium heat until the cream cheese has melted and created a smooth sauce with the pesto and broth. The cream cheese might look a little chunky as it’s melting, but keep stirring and cooking, it will smooth out once fully melted.
Finally, add the cooked and drained pasta and broccoli to the skillet and stir until it is all coated in the creamy pesto sauce. If the sauce becomes too dry or too thick, add another splash of chicken broth to loosen it up.
And that’s that! So easy! If you like ranch flavored foods, I think this tangy, garlicky sauce almost tastes ranch-like. So yum!
Doubled the recipe, ate it happily for three days.
This is great! I added frozen peas with the broccoli, and fresh cherry tomatoes and basil at the end. On leftovers, I add a squeeze of lemon for freshness. For me, the key is the cream cheese and pesto together — I never thought of doing this and it’s delicious. This is now a standard in our household. Thank you so much for a wonderful recipe.
By far the best tasting and easiest basil pesto pasta recipe out there. This one is a keeper! Thanks for sharing!
Made this tonight and got a thumbs up from my whole family, even the picky 6 year old! Score!
I love this flippin’ recipe. Dead easy, super quick and cheap–of course! Tonight I made it with some fresh broccoli that was about to go bad and a bag of frozen shredded chicken made for some of your other recipes. I was standing in the kitchen for probably two minutes total and spent the other ten minutes on my computer, waiting for the cooking to finish. An amazing recipe and the one I always recommend to people new to BB.
Excellent recipe – I substituted salmon for chicken and added some frozen peas as well as a few cloves of garlic, sprinkles of chili pepper, and a lemon’s worth of zest and juice.
Tasted amazing :)
I made this for dinner tonight and it is DELICIOUS!! Thank you so much for great recipes that save me some green!
First of all, this recipe was so tasty…..in the words of my 5 year old son, after finishing his plate and have been given the okay to go get a dessert, “Nah. I want more of the pasta instead! It’s YUMMY!”. If a 5 year old passes over dessert to eat more pesto pasta, it’s really good! ;-)
Secondly, this made enough for my family of 4 to eat AND have leftovers for my fiance for dinner tomorrow.
Great recipe! Thank you for sharing it with everyone!
Didn’t have any chicken thawed out, so I just went without and added extra broccoli like you suggested. Absolutely loved it.
This was so good Beth! And just so easy. Can’t wait to try your other recipes. Will keep you posted :)
This recipe is so easy and very tasty. This one is a keeper!!
Thanks!!
Hello I just found this page yesterday night and found this delicious recipe had everything in my regrigerator and recently finished cooking this pasta now I just have to wait for my husband to come home to try this definitely going to be using you’re recipes from now on
Great recipe! Simple and delicious. I added some cherry tomatoes to the mix at the end and they were a nice addition. Thanks for another great one!
Super recipe. While it is super easy, it was great to have step-by-step pictures, since I am a novice cook. I would recommend using low-fat cream cheese and I’ve added some mushrooms and onions as well. Thank you!
Trying this tonight with fresh roasted asparagus -finally on sale-and spicy chicken sausage. Thanks for the inspiration!