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Lemon pesto pasta
Our perfect lemon pesto pasta is the ideal dish for any night. It is light and vibrant, with layers of flavor in every bite. You are going to love the unexpected yet delicious taste of this lemon pasta!
Lemon Pesto Pasta with Chicken
Have you ever felt like cooking something new and exciting? If that sounds familiar, then this recipe is one that you need to make as soon as possible. Our dish has an incredible amount of flavors that are paired perfectly to make a meal that will bring everyone running to the table. Pesto and lemon, garlic and smoky adobo seasoning are not tastes that you may typically think to put together but, when you follow this recipe, you will find how perfectly they mix.
How to Make Lemon Pesto Pasta Salad
While this recipe is not incredibly difficult to make, it does require you to spend a little time in the kitchen cooking. It isn’t something you can throw together in 5 minutes. However, sometimes spending some time in the kitchen, cooking an amazing meal is fun and exciting! Here is a quick look at how to cook this dish and make the tasty lemon pesto chicken pasta.
- Cook the pasta shells in a large pot of water according to the package directions. Once cooked, drain the water and toss the shells with a small amount of olive oil to prevent them from sticking together.
- While the pasta is cooking, start sauteing the garlic, tomatoes, pesto and spinach, cooking for a few minutes to wilt the spinach and roast the garlic slightly in the hot pan.
- Add in about 1/4 cup of the feta cheese (24tablespoons!) along with the lemon juice. From one lemon, you should get about 1/4 cup of lemon juice. Stir the sauce into the cooked pasta.
- To cook the chicken, season the chicken breasts with the adobo seasoning, and paprika and then cook in a hot skillet along with a little olive oil and the lemon juice.
- Once the chicken is cooked, serve along with the lemon pesto pasta and enjoy while hot!
As you can see, the recipe itself is not too hard, especially if you are someone who loves cooking (or just eating a delicious end result meal!). Read all the instructions and have all your ingredients ready to go and making this dinner will be a cinch!
Adding Flavor to Pasta
One of the keys about this recipe is the perfectly balanced spices. Make sure your spice rack is stocked because you’re going to be using it! Here are the flavors that are highlighted in the lemon pesto pasta that really make this dinner what it is.
- Pesto- Basil pesto is traditionally made using fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts parmesan cheese and olive oil. There is usually some salt and pepper in the mix as well. The predominant taste in pesto is the basil and that is what you will get from this ingredient in our recipe.
- Adobo Seasoning– Adobo is made using dried garlic, oregano, black pepper and turmeric. The smoky taste of the turmeric is powerful and will give the dish a rich and full taste that pairs perfectly with the lightness of the lemon taste.
- Lemon- As a powerful citrus fruit, lemon gives this dish a brightness that you will enjoy. The lemon is strong enough to power through the garlic taste of the basil pesto and make the heaviness of the adobo a little less intense.
- Garlic- There is garlic on many levels of this dish and that is a good thing! The veggies are sauted in galric, the basil pesto will likely contain a lot of garlic and it is in the adobo seasoning. Both fresh and dried garlic give the pesto pasta recipe a spice and also a sweetness that occurs when the garlic is cooked.
All these ingredients play an important part and add something unique to the recipe. We have balanced every cup and every teaspoon to be perfect so give it a try, exactly as written and we know you will love the result.
FAQ’s
With such a great recipe, we often get questions sent to our email address about this dish. Hopefully our answer here can help you make our recipe perfectly.
Is pesto pasta healthy?
Pesto pasta can definitely be considered healthy. There are vegetables, a lot of spices and also not too many additional fats mixed in. You can also choose ingredients that are the healthier options such as a whole wheat pasta to add some extra grains to the dish. Pick a pesto (or make your own homemade pesto pasta!) that is lower fat to reduce the calories from fat in the recipe. You can even cut out the feta cheese if you’d like which will elminate some of the cremainess but still give you a delicious, healthy meal.
What is lemon basil good for?
If you have the herb called lemon basil on hand, this is the perfect dish to make with it. Lemon basil is simply basil that has a natural lemony taste. You can chop some up to use on top of this pasta as a garnish and enhance the flavor as well as the basil pesto taste. You can even use lemon basil to make your own, homemade pesto! It is a great herb to grow or purchase.
How is pesto?
If you have never had pesto, get ready to fall in love with a new sauce. Pesto is made using nuts, basil, cheese and garlic. Some salt and pepper straight out of a spice grinder is added as well! You can find the sauce already made in most grocery stores which makes it quite convenient. However, you can also make your own just by blending all the ingredients in a recipe together (it’s super easy and you can find many recipes online). Pesto is a powerful taste with basil and garlic dominating the dish. So, if you love garlic, basil and cheese, you will love this sauce.
Hopefully, you find this recipe inspiring, delicious and fun to cook in the kitchen. If you want more exciting recipes from us, sign up with your email address to have them sent straight to your inbox. You can also browse our recipes anytime on our website (we add new recipes all the time so be sure to check back often!). We know that you will find incredible dishes that you love to cook, many of which only take a few minutes to put together. Easy, delicious and healthy is what our recipes are all about!
30 Minute Lemon Pesto Pasta
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Gluten Free
Description
Fresh and light, you will love this easy to make pasta dish.
Ingredients
- FOR THE PASTA
- 1 box (8oz) pasta shells (we used gluten-free)
- 4 cups fresh spinach (chopped)
- 1 cup oven roasted tomatoes (any brand with olive oil)
- 2 teaspoons garlic (minced)
- 1/4 cup pesto
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup feta cheese
- FOR THE CHICKEN
- 4 chicken breasts
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon adobo seasoning
- 1 tablespoon paprika (or smoked paprika)
- 3 teaspoons olive oil
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. While pasta cooks, sauté tomatoes, garlic, pesto and spinach for about 3 minutes on med-high heat. Add Lemon juice and half of the feta cheese to the skillet. Drain pasta and add to the saute until well combined. Let sit on low heat until the chicken is done.
- In the meantime, season chicken breasts with adobo, smoke paprika and lemon juice. Pan fry chicken with olive oil in a large skillet over high heat (about 5 minutes). Lower heat to medium-high, cover and let cook for another 5-7 minutes.
- Serve chicken with prepared lemon pesto pasta.
Notes
Pro Tips:
- To add extra lemon flavor, add fresh lemon zest along with the lemon juice to the sauce for the pasta. Before squeezing to get to the juice, use a microplane zester on the outside of the fruit, grating it right into the sauce.
- You can use any pasta shape you would like in this recipe and any kind of pasta as well. Grab a box of whole wheat pasta or choose to make penne pesto dish- all pasta is good!
- Cut the chicken breast in half before you cook it to help cut back on the cooking time and also prevent the chicken breast from drying out as it cooks.
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