Easy Pesto Chicken Alfredo uses rotisserie chicken combined with pesto and alfredo sauce for a quick dinner packed with lots of flavor.
I use rotisserie chicken or leftover cooked chicken breasts to keep this Pesto Chicken Alfredo a quick meal. If you don’t have time or aren’t inclined to make pesto go ahead and use already prepared pesto.
Guess what- the pesto chicken alfredo was a HUGE hit! I get the added bonus of including the dreaded kale into dinner (HUZZAH!) and not having the let down of disappointing the masses when it comes to dinner.
Okay so maybe I’m being a bit melodramatic about the whole thing but it’s what my poor emotions go through in my head.
What vegetables would be good with Pesto Alfredo?
For those who aren’t a fan of tomatoes and mushrooms you can swap those out for whatever veggies you might like. You could try some combos like sauteed spinach or kale, garlic, or sauteed peppers.
How to make Pesto Alfredo sauce?
It’s so simple to make pesto Alfredo sauce. For this dish I used a 3 to 1 ratio of Alfredo sauce to pesto, so 1.5 cups Alfredo sauce to 0.5 cup kale pesto (recipe below).
I chose to use the pesto to coat the chicken and then added the alfredo sauce to everything. You could also choose to mix the alfredo and pesto together before adding it to the pasta.
Sometimes I find dinner time can be a battle between what I want and what everyone else likes. Am I alone in this? Maybe I should institute the rule of whoever is the chef gets to choose the meal and no complaints. I wonder how well that would go over.
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Easy Pesto Chicken Alfredo
Easy Kale Pesto Chicken Alfredo Pasta
Ingredients
Pasta:
- 1 lb cooked chicken cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- 8 oz mushrooms sliced
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb pasta cooked according to package directions
- 1 12 oz bottle of alfredo sauce
- 1/2 cup prepared pesto or kale pesto (below)
Kale Pesto:
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 cups firmly packed kale leaves removed from stem
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/4 tsp salt
- More olive oil as needed
Instructions
- Note: If you don't have or want to use kale go ahead and use basil or spinach or a mixture as desired.
- Cook pasta according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, saute tomatoes and mushrooms in 2 Tbsp olive oil until the mushrooms are lightly browned and tomatoes begin to release their juices.
- Pour pesto over chicken and toss to coat.
- Combine alfredo sauce and cooked pasta. Add chicken, mushrooms, and tomatoes. Toss to combine and serve with additional parmesan cheese if desired.
- For kale pesto: Mix all pesto ingredients in a food processor. Cover and process, blending until smooth adding additional olive oil as needed about 1 tsp at a time. Stop and scrape sides as needed.
I always love pasta salad to pack in lunches with sandwiches!
You know I never thought of eating this as a pasta salad instead of hot. I’ll have to try it next time to see how it is.
I love pesto, would eat it off the spoon (Ok, I have done that). This is a delicious looking salad perfect for the upcoming summer!
Oh, I can eat pesto off a spoon too. It goes on everything in our house!
We normally just have pesto on its own but intrigued to try it with alfredo as well. A great quick meal.
I also will mix it with our favorite spaghetti sauce sometimes because it adds a little bit extra zest to it.
I would happily eat a bowl of this…dreaded Kale and all!!!
That kale is a tricky one to work in when your family has a small panic attack when they hear it. I’m glad someone else will eat it up. 🙂
That looks soooo good! My kids love to have this for dinner. Can’t wait to make this for them. Thanks for sharing!