Chicken Pesto Fettuccine: A Yummy, Kid Friendly Mid-Week Meal

This Creamy, Pan Fried Chicken Pesto 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.

Creamy Chicken Pesto Fettuccine

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.

The homemade pesto sauce is amazing. The smell, flavor and taste is something you can't get out of a jar. If you're a pesto loving family and I'm guessing you are since you're here, keep a jar of this pesto made up in the fridge. It keeps for a while and can be used on loads of things.

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.

This dinner is best with some Parmesan cheese on top. Shaved, grated, doesn't matter. It's a yummy topping the kids love. You could also add some pine nuts and fresh cherry tomatoes to the pan while it's cooking if your lot will eat them.

This yummy creamy chicken pesto pasta fettuccine has a prep time of 5-10 minutes and a total time to cook of about 25 minutes. And that's good, as pasta is one of those things the whole family love :)

Chicken Pesto Fettuccine Ingredients

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.

Fettuccine is much like linguine, to be honest either's fine. You could even throw caution to the wind and use spaghetti pasta if that's all you have. Take your pick, there's no hard and fast rules here!

We prefer the pasta to be soft, but cook for a few minutes less if you prefer yours al dente.

Fresh Basil

I make a homemade pesto, it's quick and easy to make.

This recipe really needs fresh basil leaves. 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 basil 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 :)

What Is A Basic Pesto Sauce Made Of?

The pesto sauce I make for this (and everything else!) is Simple. With a capital S. It uses fresh basil, parmesan, pine nuts, spinach leaves and olive oil. That's it.

Many recipes add garlic, but I usually leave it out. One of the kids can taste the garlic in it (but not in other things, strangely...) and so I don't add it. Of course, you can if you want to.

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.

More Clean Eating Fettuccine Recipes

• Easy crab fettuccine
• Spinach chicken fettuccine
• Avocado fettuccine
• Creamy mushroom fettuccine

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.

How To Keep Leftover Chicken Pesto 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.

Can You Heat Up Pesto Pasta?

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. Oh yes they do!

How To Make Chicken Pesto Fettuccine

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 Chicken breasts Sliced into stir fry strips
• 340 ml Full fat, heavy cream
• 3 tbsp Fresh basil pesto Pesto recipe in the post
• 2 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 and drain it
• Heat up a large pan on the stove. Add olive oil, chicken, salt and pepper. Sauté until the chicken starts to go golden 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.

Notes

To stretch this meal to serve a crowd, I like to make a large salad to accompany it.

Chicken Pesto Fettuccine Recipe