Pesto Pasta Chicken Thighs with Tomato

Surprise your palette or someone else’s with a fairly ugly but wonderfully robust and addictive dinner.

(Read in your mind with the voice of that Arby’s “We have the meats” guy…)

“Savory, juicy chunks of chicken in a sea of pesto drenched penne with bright red tomato flavor bombs.”

I just started salivating. Have fun making and eating this one!

For homemade pesto you can make now or ahead of time see this recipe.

Pesto Pasta Chicken Thighs with Tomato

Kenny MacKenzie

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Prep Time 8 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 28 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Italian

Servings 6

Ingredients

  

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs trimmed & cut into bite size pieces
• 1 cup pesto (see notes)
• 8 oz pasta
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 14 oz can of plum tomatoes
• 1 TBSP poultry seasoning (Southern works well)
• 1 tsp sea salt (fine)
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese grated

Instructions

 

• Allow pesto to reach room temperature (if cold) while you prepare the dish!
• Drain can of tomatoes. On a large cutting board, cut tomatoes lengthwise and remove as many seeds as you can. Clear the cutting board of seeds and then chop tomatoes into 1 inch chunks. 
• Cook pasta until al dente in a large pot of salted water. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water before draining. Place drained, dry pasta in a large bowl.
• In a large bowl, toss chicken pieces with olive oil, salt, pepper & poultry seasoning. 
• Heat a large heavy bottomed skillet on medium. Add tomatoes and cook undisturbed for 1-2 minutes to dry them up a bit. 
• Remove from heat and add to the large bowl of pasta.
• In the same skillet add chicken pieces and cook over medium until browned and done (no pink), 5-8 minutes, turning pieces to brown all sides. Add a bit more olive oil if needed.
• Remove from heat and add to the tomatoes and pasta. Add pesto and stir to combine. Add a little pasta water to achieve desired consistency. Taste and add salt & pepper if needed. 
• Serve and top with delicious grated parmesan cheese.

Notes

For an easy pesto recipe you can make ahead of time visit https://kendoskitchen.com/basil-pesto-recipe/

Keyword pesto chicken pasta

Music to cook by – Gonzalo Rubalcaba “The Blessing”