Philly Pesto Chicken Pasta

This comforting creamy chicken Philadelphia pasta with pesto is big on flavour, but easy on effort and time. Adaptable and ready in less than 20 minutes for a fuss-free weeknight supper, all made with a few simple ingredients.

Chicken Philly pesto pasta

This is a deliciously creamy Philly pasta dish, but one that would horrify an Italian (Italians generally never eat chicken with pasta). I’m still going to keep cooking it, though, as I love this chicken and Philadelphia pasta.

See also

• My chicken coleslaw salad was originally designed to use up a turkey glut but it is every bit as good made with chicken.
• This classic, mildly spiced salad fuses British and Indian flavours; coronation chicken is a perennial favourite.
• Here are all my favourite leftover roast chicken recipes for fuss-free, quick and easy delicious mid week meals and more!

For me, it’s the perfect after-work midweek comfort food. I find it so quick and easy to make that it’s great way of serving a delicious meal that cooks in minutes. It’s even quicker if you use leftover roast chicken from Sunday’s dinner.

Like so many of my favourite recipes, you can try endless variations with different veg. My top tip for adding green veggies is to add them to the pasta pan towards the end of its cooking time and cook them along with the pasta, to keep them green and fresh, as well as saving on the washing up!

How to make chicken Philly pesto pasta

Measure out and prepare the ingredients – dice the chicken and grate the cheese. I always find that spending a couple of minutes measuring everything out saves so much time later. It makes it far less likely that I’ll leave out a vital ingredient. Also, I find it so easy to cook far too much pasta. Measuring out portions solves this problem completely! Step one – Boil a large pan of water, add a good pinch of salt, and start cooking the pasta according to the packet instructions.

Fuss-free tip – I always use a kettle of boiling water for the pasta pan, as the kettle heats the water faster than a saucepan. Do a comparison test and you’ll know for certain which is quicker in your kitchen.

Step two – Heat a small frying pan and add the olive oil (one good glug will be fine) and the diced chicken breast. Cook the chicken for 5 minutes, turning the pieces frequently so that they don’t burn. If the chicken isn’t colouring, add a teaspoon of butter to the frying pan to help it along.    

(If you are using leftover roast chicken, just fry it for a minute to warm it through.)

Step three – When the chicken is cooked through and has some colour, add the Philadelphia cream cheese and pesto – one heaped tablespoon of each. Stir together with the chicken.

Scoop out an espresso cup of the pasta water (about 75 ml). Stir the pasta water into the chicken mixture, together with half the grated cheese to make a sauce. Adding pasta water to sauces gives a deliciously smooth, velvety texture that evenly coats the pasta, without adding loads of extra butter or oil!

Step four – When the pasta is nearly cooked, add the peas to the pan to cook.

Step five – Drain the pasta and peas, and add to the sauce. Stir well and serve immediately, garnished with the remainder of the cheese. 

Hints, tips and variations to Philly Pesto Chicken Pasta

This dish is SO forgiving, so use what you have!

• Use any pasta shapes you have. Because of the chunks of chicken, short pasta shapes work better than spaghetti or other noodles.
• Use leftover roast chicken or turkey – just heat through for a minute in the frying pan.
• Add some chopped bacon and fry with the chicken. 
• Use red pesto for a colourful twist. 
• Swap the peas for sweetcorn, or a mix of the two.
• Add extra veg with our handy hints for adding extra vegetables to pasta dishes.

You may also love our everyday creamy Philly pasta recipe! 

Update Notes: This recipe was originally posted in 2011, but was rewritten and republished with new photos, step by step instructions and hints & tips in March 2019