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This Creamy Pan Fried Pesto Chicken Fettuccine is a quick and easy week night dish made with seasonal vegetables, fresh cream and wholewheat pasta. As easy mid week meals go, this one doesn’t get a lot easier. If you like pesto, you’ll love this quick and healthy pasta dish.
Ingredients
Firstly, this is my basic creamy pesto pasta. It is extremely versatile and you can add any combination of vegetables or meat to mix it up.
I make this recipe with fresh ingredients, minus the Fettuccine, which 9 times out of 10 I buy dried. It can be quite hard to find a good variety of fresh Wholemeal pasta where I live, so buying dried pasta means there’s usually a ready supply in my pantry.
Wholemeal Pasta
Wholemeal pasta is one of those things you think your children won’t eat, simply because it looks different or you have never tried it.
But I’m not kidding when I say this – My children haven’t even noticed the change to wholemeal pasta from our old standard refined pasta version. And I have two very picky eaters. They didn’t even ask the dreaded “is this different to the way you used to make this?” question. What they mean by this is – before they had to check if I had tried to sneak in something healthy.
Take this easy win and enjoy it. Make the swap to wholewheat pasta and then try this really tasty (and easy) pasta dish. And the leftovers pack up well for next day school lunch boxes.
Fresh Basil
This recipe really needs fresh basil. It’s cheap, plentiful and I keep it on my kitchen windowsill now so there’s always a stash for when I want it. Dried basil isn’t really comparable (in almost any recipe I think!) and so grab some Fresh when you’re doing your next shop.
The smell, the taste, it’s something else, I feel healthy just breathing it in. And….it’s so good on pizza, having some in the fridge gives you an excuse to throw on impromptu pizza night :)
Chicken
I use chicken breast meat in this, but that’s not set in stone. The breast meat works well here, but if you have thighs, you can use those. The more important thing for us is that the meat is Organic.
Zucchine
When we started eating Clean the kids surprised everyone by eating Zucchini. I wouldn’t have thought they would, but there was no battle, they eat them. They did not take to everything I gave them like ducks to water. If your kids have a vegetable they prefer and eat without a fuss, take the win :)
Feel free to add any vegetables you like to this dish. BUT BEWARE: Cream does some funny things (aka curdling if you mix it together with too many other liquids).
Make sure to reduce the liquids from your vegetables and chicken before adding the cream to the pan.
Grab the FREE 18 Meal Ideas CHEAT SHEET Here!How To Keep Leftover Fettuccine
This recipe will keep well in the fridge for up to 3 days. That said, make a note of the use by date on the chicken, and if that’s sooner than 3 days, use that as your date guide and eat before that date.
Put the leftovers in a dish and cover them with a food wrap. When you want to reheat them, pop them into the microwave for a few minutes stirring half way through, or pop them back into a pan and warm them through on the cooker top, on a low heat. The cream in the sauce will thicken when it’s stored in the fridge: It will loosen as you reheat this.
And…these leftovers make a yummy next day lunch.
More Clean Eating Fettuccine Recipes
Chicken Pesto Fettuccine Recipe
Chicken Pesto Fettuccine
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 chicken breasts – sliced into stir fry strips
- 340 ml full fat cream
- 3 tablespoons fresh basil pesto
- 2 x large zucchini sliced
- 1 garlic clove finely sliced/crushed
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Wholewheat or Spinach Fettuccine
Instructions
- Cook Fettuccine as per packet instructions
- Heat up a large pan on the stove. Add olive oil, chicken, salt and pepper. Cook until chicken starts to brown.
- Add pesto, garlic and zucchini. Fry for a minute and stir.
- Pour in cream. Bring to the boil, then turn heat to medium and allow to simmer for 3 – 5 minutes. Cream will reduce ad start to thicken.
- Remove from heat and add cooked pasta to pan. Toss gently to coat pasta with creamy sauce.
- Serve immediately.