Chicken Pesto Pasta with Mushrooms is pure comfort food and an easy-to-make family friendly dinner! Perfect any time of the year but especially during the Summer, when fresh basil abounds. The delicious creamy pesto sauce is made with milk, basil pesto, red pepper flakes.
I love pesto, and cook a lot with it in the Summer. I've been making this chicken pesto pasta for years, and only now finally posting the recipe on my blog. It combines some of my most favorite flavors: basil pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, fresh basil, red pepper flakes. And, the whole recipe takes only 30 minutes from start to finish. Perfect amount of time since you want to spend most of the time in the Summer outdoors and not cooking, right?
Types of pasta to use with creamy pesto sauce
- I use penne because pesto sauce covers more surface with short pasta like penne.
- Long strands of spaghetti pasta are also perfectly suited for a creamy and oily sauce like basil pesto sauce.
- Angel hair pasta is an excellent choice for this sauce, as thin noodles will be perfectly smothered with this creamy pasta sauce.
How to make basil pesto from scratch
There are lots of great recipes for homemade basil pesto, and below are my favorites from trusted sources:
- This beautifully green basil pesto is everything that a pesto should be: pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice.
- Another classic recipe is this fresh basil pesto.
- And this recipe for homemade pesto is amazing!
- There is always option #4 - purchase a pre-made basil pesto in the store!
How long can you store basil pesto
- Store freshly-made pesto in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for 1 week. Add a thin layer of olive oil on top of the surface of basil pesto - this will help prevent the pesto from turning brown.
- You can freeze fresh basil pesto for up to 3 months. It freezes really well.
Can you freeze basil pesto?
For long term storage, use ice cube trays. Fill clean ice cube tray with basil pesto. Allow the basil pesto to freeze. Release basil pesto "ice cubes" from the ice cube tray. Add basil pesto "ice cubes" into small baggies and keep them frozen for up to 3 months. This way, when it's time to use pesto in a recipe, you don't have to thaw a whole container of basil pesto. Just take an ice cube or two and use them for your recipe.
How to defrost pesto
- Allow frozen pesto to sit at room temperature for about an hour or until it's completely thawed.
- Place frozen basil pesto in the refrigerator in an air-tight container overnight so that it gets defrosted.
- If you use basil pesto in the sauce, like in this recipe, you can just add basil pesto "ice cube" directly to the sauce and stir on medium heat, allowing the heat to defrost the pesto.
I use skinless and boneless chicken thighs in this recipe and highly recommend you do too! They are so flavorful, moist, easy to chop and perfect for this kind of recipe.
How to make chicken pesto pasta:
Below are some step-by-step photos and instructions demonstrating the key steps for how to make this delicious pasta dish.
First, heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add chicken (chopped up) with sun-dried tomatoes (chopped into smaller bites) to the skillet, sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Saute for about 1 minute on medium heat.
Next, add sliced mushrooms (add another 1 tablespoon olive oil if needed):
and saute for about 2 more minutes (or a little bit more), until chicken is cooked through and mushrooms are softened:
Then, add garlic, pesto, milk, and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Bring to boil, immediately reduce to simmer and simmer, stirring until everything is well combined. Remove from heat. Taste, and add more salt, if needed.
Finally, cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain. Add cooked pasta to the sauce, reheat.
Top with chopped fresh basil.
Other chicken pasta recipes featuring basil:
Tomato Spinach Chicken Spaghetti with Basil
Chicken and Zucchini Tortellini with Basil Pesto Sauce
Chicken Mozzarella Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Sauce
Chicken Pesto Pasta with Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ lb chicken thighs , boneless, skinless, chopped
- ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes , drained of most oil, chopped
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 4 oz mushrooms , sliced
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- ½ cup basil pesto
- 1 cup milk
- ¼ teaspoon salt and more
- 8 ounces penne pasta (use gluten free for gluten free version)
- fresh basil chopped
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add chicken (chopped up) with sun-dried tomatoes (chopped into smaller bites) to the skillet, sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Saute for about 1 minute on medium heat.
- Add sliced mushrooms (add another 1 tablespoon olive oil if needed) and saute for about 2 more minutes (or a little bit more), until chicken is cooked through and mushrooms are softened.
- Add garlic, basil pesto, milk, and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Bring to boil, immediately reduce to simmer and simmer, stirring until everything is well combined. Remove from heat. Taste, and add more salt, if needed.
- Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain. Add cooked pasta to the sauce, reheat.
- Top with chopped fresh basil.
- Want to make basil pesto from scratch? Here is a super flavorful and creamy 20-Minute Homemade Basil Pesto Recipe.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
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 recipe was originally published on June 14, 2016 and republished with updates, cooking tips in May 2018.
Just made this. It was delicious. I felt like I was eating a meal straight from a nice restaurant. Thanks.
Made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious. I added two tweaks to the recipe. Instead of olive oil, I used the oil from the jar of sun dried tomatoes. It's packed full of flavor and it'll really raise the intensity of the dish. Don't worry, you can balance it with a bit more pesto, cream or milk. I also tripled the amount of red chili flakes, but that's just because I like that spicy kick.
Made this tonight and it was excellent! (Agree with the comment about the pop-ups too).
I can't see the recipe of the video that covers up your page. Extremely frustrating! I don't know how you expect people to get your recipes, try them and give you a good rating
Sooo goooood! Thanks for this recipe, it was a hit.
Absolutely delicious! I used the Basil Pesto from Costco. Doubled the amount of mushrooms and used unsweetened soy milk since that is all I had on hand. Also added grape tomatoes, broccoli, and spinach. I had a lot of liquid so used a cornstarch slurry to thicken up the sauce. Will make again!
If I use an entire box of pasta should I add
More milk?
Delicious pasta dish! I added some chopped onion and additional mushrooms. We loved every bite! I would like to double this to make for a small dinner party. I assume I could make it the day before, refrigerate and reheat on the day of the dinner and thin with reserved pasta water if necessary. Any other suggestions?
I’ve made this dish several times now and love it! It’s easy, flavourful and my hubby loves it! I also tried it with shrimp and it was delish!
Not only was this recipe delightful, it also didn’t have too many ingredients, 16 different steps, and hours of prep time. This type of quick, easy and delicious recipe is what I look for when cooking for my family.
We only have 2% milk and I was worried it might be off but it was totally fine. Reduced it from 1 cup to 3/4 cup bc the mushroom produced so much water from not having enough time to dry after washed. I doubled the amount of mushrooms bc we’re a mushroom family and I didn’t want 4oz of unused mushrooms sitting in my fridge. Quadrupled the amount of pepper flakes. Will definitely make again.
Thanks!
Hello!
I made this tonight and it was perfect for a quick fancy family dinner. I used the store bought pesto from Costco and fried onions before the chicken was added to give the recipe a sweet onion flavour. The milk addition was my favourite part because I usually never have cream on hand. Love love loved this
Hi! This looks delicious and I’m going to try it tonight 🙂
Quick question - can I use fresh cherry tomatoes instead of sun dried?
Yes, you can use fresh cherry tomatoes. Enjoy the recipe!
I made this for supper this evening and the end result was delicious. I did not have fresh basil, so I just sprinkled some dried basil at the end. Of course, fresh basil is much more flavorful and bright! I often buy ingredients and never use it all....so, the leftover sun-dried tomatoes and basil pesto sitting in my fridge found another fantastic recipe for using them! Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for stopping by and sharing your comment! 🙂
I made this tonight and it was delicious!! The only change I made was to add more sun dried tomatoes than called for. Your father in law loved it!! Thought the world should know that even your MOTHER IN LAW (oh, horrors!!) makes your recipes!! ❤️
Thank you, Judy! 🙂 It's one of my favorite recipes - I've been making it for years!
Can the milk be replaced by chicken stock or broth? Or, is there another alternative for a Vegan?
I would suggest that you use coconut milk.