Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes is a delicious blend of flavors and super easy to make! 

Homemade pesto is a truly beautiful thing. Basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil with a bit of salt - gotta have salt - all mashed together in delicious harmony. It's glorious!! I could eat pesto on just about anything! 

Now, you can buy pesto ready to go, but why do that? It's quick and easy to make homemade and tastes a million times better than what you get in a jar! It freezes well too! Seriously! If you haven't made fresh pesto, you are missing out!! and we can't have that!

I had some basil I needed to use up before it went south on me, so I whipped up some pesto and decided to make some sort of chicken pesto pasta dish, but....

The pesto wasn't quite enough for all the noodles I made, so I added a bag of spinach to it and gave it a couple more pulses in the Food Processor and presto - yummy Spinach Pesto Sauce for dinner and plenty of it!! Toss in some sun-dried tomatoes along with some chicken sauteed in butter (yes, butter! because it makes chicken better! it's true!) and your taste-buds will be happy as a clam at high tide!!

Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta

By Life Tastes Good
Published 03/24/2014

Ingredients

• 1 lb Penne Pasta
• 3/4 cup Fresh Basil Leaves
• 3 tablespoons Pine Nuts
• 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
• 2-3 cloves Garlic, peeled
• 1 (5 ounce) bag of Baby Spinach
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup First Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• Sun-Dried Tomatoes (in oil), chopped
• Parmesan Cheese for garnish

Instructions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions in salted water. Drain and set aside.
2. While pasta is cooking, combine 3/4 cup fresh basil, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, 3 tablespoons pine nuts, 2-3 cloves garlic, salt and pepper (to taste), and 1 (5 ounce) bag of baby spinach in the bowl of a food processor or blender and turn on. While processing, drizzle in 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil until combined. Add extra oil as needed. Give it a taste and adjust the seasonings to your liking. Set the pesto aside until ready to use.
3. In a skillet over mid high heat, heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Salt and pepper the chicken pieces and add to the hot oil/butter mixture. Cook, without moving for about 3 minutes until the one side is nicely browned. Flip over and continue cooking until cooked through - another 3-4 minutes.
4. Combine pasta, chicken, and spinach pesto with as many chopped sun-dried tomatoes as you like. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and give it a taste. Adjust the seasonings as needed and enjoy!

Another great pasta recipe you might like is Green Goddess Pasta Recipe by Healthy Delicious.

Yield: 6-8 Servings
Prep Time: 15 mins.

Cook time: 10 mins.
Total time: 25 mins.

Some other tasty things you can do with homemade pesto....

Spinach Pesto Chicken

Ore-Ida Pesto Chicken and Potato Patties

Easy Foil Packet Fish Recipe