Parmesan Zucchini Tomato Chicken Spaghetti - a delicious Mediterranean pasta toss with basil pesto and lots of grated Parmesan cheese!
This easy-to-make Parmesan zucchini chicken pasta is a great recipe for both Summer and Autumn seasons. Zucchini and chicken when combined can be bland, but in this recipe their flavors are deliciously accentuated by tomatoes, basil pesto and grated Parmesan cheese.
As you can see on the photos, there are lots of veggies in this Mediterranean recipe (which makes it healthy!), and the chicken adds the protein and makes this spaghetti a more filling dish for those of us who can't survive just on meatless recipes.
Start by cooking sliced zucchini (just use 1 zucchini) in a large skillet with olive oil and a pinch of salt:
After removing the zucchini, cook sliced chicken breast in the same skillet, and mix it with ¼ cup of basil pesto:
Cook spaghetti according the package instructions, and combine all ingredients together in the skillet: cooked spaghetti, cooked chicken, cooked zucchini, and cherry tomatoes. I used 2 colors of cherry tomatoes, yellow and red, and I sliced each tomato in half.
Add another ¼ cup of basil pesto and mix everything together! Reheat gently. Top with Parmesan cheese.
Enjoy!
Parmesan Zucchini Tomato Chicken Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 zucchini sliced
- salt
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 lb chicken breast , uncooked, sliced
- ¼ cup basil pesto
- 8 oz spaghetti , uncooked (use gluten free spaghetti, for gluten free version)
- 1 cup red cherry tomatoes , each sliced in half
- 1 cup yellow cherry tomatoes , each sliced in half
- ¼ cup basil pesto
- â…“ cup Parmesan cheese , grated
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat until hot. Add sliced zucchini, sprinkle with salt, and cook, on medium-high heat, for about 5 minutes, flipping once, until the zucchini is soft and slightly browned. Remove zucchini from the skillet.
- To the same skillet, add one teaspoon of olive oil and sliced chicken breast. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and cook on medium heat for about 5-7 minutes, flipping chicken slices a couple of times, until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the center. Remove from heat, and stir in ¼ cup of basil pesto with the chicken slices.
- In a large pot, bring water to boil, add spaghetti, and cook until al dente, according to the package instructions. Drain pasta.
- Add cooked and drained pasta to the skillet with the cooked chicken. Add red and yellow cherry tomatoes (each one sliced in half). Add back cooked zucchini. Add another ¼ cup of basil pesto, stir everything together, and reheat gently on low-medium heat. Taste and add extra basil pesto (if desired) and extra salt, if needed. Remove from heat. Sprinkle ⅓ cup of grated Parmesan cheese over the pasta in the skillet.
- When serving, sprinkle each individual serving plate with extra Parmesan, if desired.
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
This was great! Had some left over cooked chicken to add rather than fresh and added a bunch of mushrooms- great addition to the zucchini. Didn’t have spaghetti and used some whole grain fussili. Loved the pesto flavour with this medley! Thanks
Cathy, you are very welcome! Love the addition of mushrooms! This is a great recipe to use for leftover cooked chicken (or even with cooked rotisserie chicken). I am glad you loved the recipe and thank you for the comment! 🙂
Omgosh love this great meal
Florence, glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Wow! I love it super easy to make an such a light an delicious dinner Thank you
Maria, I am so glad you tried this recipe and liked it! Thank you for the comment - I love reading readers' feedback! 🙂
Oh my goodness this was delicious!!the only thing I changed was I used sun dried tomato pesto because that was what I had on hand. I will definitely make this again..
Betty, I am so glad you loved this recipe! Love that you used sun-dried pesto instead of basil pesto - sounds delicious!
My husband and I both enjoyed this meal. I used whole grain spaghetti. Quite delicious!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for sharing your wonderful feedback! 🙂
East to make and so delicious! I’m going to try making it with shrimp next time!
Shrimp would be delicious! Thank you for the 5-star review! 🙂
This is amazing! Might be my new fav home cooked meal!
Lori, I am so glad you liked it. Thank you for the 5-star review! 🙂
Recommended recipe to all your readers - well done Julia and thankyou! I made the pesto from baby spinach leaves but otherwise completed as written. Family loved it!
Robert, I am so glad you liked this recipe! Pesto made with spinach leaves sounds delicious! Thank you for the 5-star review! 🙂
Can’t seem to find how to make the basil pesto. Recipe looks amazing
Unfortunately, I don't have a recipe for a homemade basil pesto posted on my site (I should!). I used store-bought pesto for this recipe.
Here is a good basil pesto made from scratch: Basil Pesto Recipe
Fabulous and quick!
So happy you liked it! Thank you for the 5-star review! 🙂
This recipe is delicious, everyone I have served this to has loved it!
Even my in-laws that are pretty picky said this tastes like a fancy Italian restaurant.
It’s my go to for guests with a salad and garlic bread.
Wow, Cindy, I love-love your comment! So glad this recipe was a hit with everyone!
Yum! Can't wait to try this for dinner. Always, looking for some thing with to jazz up plain old chicken and get in a serving or 2 of veggies.
Suzanne, enjoy! Hope you like it!
I love this. I did variety of veggies..squash ,zucchini and portobello mushrooms.Oh my!!!
Susie, I love your choice of veggies here!
This was excellent! I added 2 cloves of crushed garlic and a pinch of red pepper flakes. My husband loved it.
Thanks for sharing!
You are very welcome - glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
I haven't cooked this yet, but I noticed that the recipe doesn't say to put the zucchini back in. I assume it's when I add the tomatoes. Looking forward to this recipe!
Linda, you are correct! Good catch! I just corrected the recipe. Add the zucchini back together with the tomatoes.
Absolutely delicious and so easy! The perfect summer pasta....I will be making this again soon. It was a big hit with everyone.
Whitney, I am so happy to hear that! Thank you for the comment! 🙂