How to Make Pesto Pasta with Dried Basil!

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Total Time25

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Keyword: dairy free pesto recipe, easy dinner recipes, gluten free dinner recipes, gluten free pesto pasta, healthy dinner ideas, healthy pasta recipes, healthy pesto recipe, how to make pesto without basil, pasta recipes, pesto chicken pasta, pesto pasta recipe, pesto recipes, recipes with olive oil, weeknight dinner ideas

Servings:

Author: Renee Kohley - Raising Generation Nourished

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.