My super active athlete’s favorite recovery meal, use dried basil to make the fastest and easiest pesto pasta dinner, perfect for seasons when fresh basil isn’t available!
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Competition season…and her favorite energy meal!
This kid. She is 12 and a total vibe. In a good way. She has the most positive outlook on life, and it bubbles into just about everything she does. She is so excited for competition season to be here, and since I’ve been requested to make one of her favorite (sorta superstitious) pre-meet meals often lately, I decided it was time to share it with the world!
Simplicity is sometimes the answer
Sometimes I hesitate sharing recipes like this because I have an actual classic pesto recipe on the blog, and it feels so simple. But when your 12 year old craves something so nourishing like pesto, it just feels like something I need to share so others can try it with their kids! Because what 12 year old kid (or any growing kid for that matter) wouldn’t benefit from a load of real olive oil to nourish their body and brain?!
Fast enough for a weeknight
This may not be one of my famous “one pot” or “sheet pan meals.” But I’ve mastered this dinner prep to be one of my favorite weeknight dinner options so that my active kids can have something super brain boosting and good for recovery even on a school night. Because…it absolutely matters. These kind of active kids need consistent recovery meals, and it really does help them!
The Method :: Making the Pesto
My kids actually fight over leftover pesto, so when summer ends, and the basil is gone, it was always a really sad time in our house! A couple years ago I decided to make it with dried basil and a handful of spinach leaves for color and volume, and they loved it! Simply blend the spinach with nuts of your choice, garlic, and salt. Then drizzle in the olive oil to emulsify until smooth. You can absolutely add cheese too if you want!
The Method :: The Chicken
We love a grilled chicken in our pesto pasta, but any chicken prep will do. In fact sometimes I’ll roast or Instant Pot a second whole chicken for the week so there is easy shredded chicken to pull from for meals just like this – then the chicken doesn’t even have to be cooked! I love our indoor grill pan for the winter! You could also bake or poach and shred your chicken. I season the chicken and grill it while the pasta is cooking. That makes this dinner done in less than 20 minutes!
The Method :: The Pasta & Broccoli
Here’s the time saving trick! While the chicken is grilling, I boil the pasta. As I mentioned above, that is the trick to getting this dinner done in less than 20 minutes! You can save even more time (and a another sheet pan or pot) by blanching the broccoli in the pasta water while the pasta is cooking for the last 2 minutes! When the pasta is close to done, I dump the chopped broccoli in, and then drain it with the pasta. You could do this with asparagus, zucchini, spinach – so many options!
Finishing the Pesto Pasta!
Once you drain the pasta and broccoli, return it to the pot, and toss it with the pesto. Slice up your chicken, and stir that in as well. This dinner feeds my family of 5 for 1 meal plus sometimes a leftover meal. Which is why a lot of times I double this. My crew absolutely loves bringing this in a thermos to school for lunch!
How to Make Pesto Pasta with Dried Basil!
Ingredients
For the Pesto:
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach (large handful)
- 1-2 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp dried basil
- Heaping 1/3 cup nuts of choice I usually use walnuts or cashews
- Optional 1/4-1/2 cup shredded cheese of choice Sometimes I will add a tablespoon or 2 of nutritional yeast instead of cheese, but without cheese and nutritional yeast works just as good!
- 1/2-3/4 cup olive oil
For the Chicken Pesto Pasta:
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2-3 large chicken breasts fileted (if your chicken breasts are smaller use 4)
- 12 ounces dry pasta of choice I like using the Jovial Brown Rice GF Pasta
- 3-4 cups broccoli florets cut into bite-sized pieces
Instructions
Make the Pesto:
- Put the spinach, garlic, nuts, salt, basil and cheese (if using it) into a food processor. Pulse to combine into small bits.
- Use the drip cup to drizzle the olive oil into the pesto while the food processor is continuously running. Blend until the pesto is smooth and olive oil is incorporated. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Make the Chicken Pesto Pasta:
- Pre-heat your grill pan while you prepare your chicken by fileting it. Then, whisk the seasonings in a small dish and coat the chicken filets on both sides.Grill the chicken until it is no longer pink in the middle (around 160 degrees – it will continue to rise once you take it off the grill pan to 165 degrees internally).
- While the chicken is grilling, you can make the pasta/broccoli. Get your pasta water heated to a boil, and add the pasta to cook. When the pasta is just short of al dente (maybe 2-3 more minutes of cooking left), add the chopped broccoli to the boiling pasta so that it can blanch.
- When the pasta is done boiling, and the broccoli is crisp-tender, strain all of it into a colander, and then return the pasta and broccoli to the pot.
- Stir the pesto into the cooked pasta and broccoli. Slice up the chicken and stir that in to combine with the pesto pasta.
