High proteinHigh carbQuick

Pesto Chicken Pasta

Pesto goes in off the heat or it splits and dulls.

20 min Serves 1 Stove, Frying pan, Saucepan

Per serving

943

kcal

79.6 g

protein

81.8 g

carbs

31 g

fat

8.4 g protein per 100 kcal · 4.8 g fibre. Calculated from the exact weights below using standard food composition data, so they are close estimates rather than lab values.

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Ingredients

For 1 serving.

  • Chicken breast180 g
  • Pasta, dry weight100 g
  • Pesto40 g
  • Tomato100 g
  • Parmesan(optional)20 g
  • Rocket(optional)25 g

Method

  1. 1Boil the pasta.
  2. 2Fry the sliced chicken until golden and cooked through.
  3. 3Off the heat, fold pesto, pasta and a splash of pasta water together.

New to cooking? Read this first

The techniques and safety points this recipe uses, explained from scratch.

Chicken and turkey: cook it all the way throughShow

Raw poultry often carries campylobacter and salmonella. They are killed by heat, not by washing — so the one rule is: cooked right through, every time.

  1. Do NOT rinse raw chicken under the tap. It does not clean it; it splashes bacteria around your sink, worktop and clothes. Take it straight from the pack to the board or pan.
  2. If it is wet, pat it dry with kitchen paper, bin the paper, then wash your hands.
  3. Check the thickest piece, not the thinnest. Cut into it: there should be no pink meat at all, and the juices should run clear, not pink.
  4. Most reliable: a food thermometer pushed into the thickest part should read at least 75 °C.

Ready when: White all the way through, juices clear, steaming hot — or 75 °C in the thickest part.

Cooking pastaShow

Plenty of salty, fast-boiling water and a taste near the end are the whole secret.

  1. Use about 1 litre of water per 100 g of pasta. Bring it to a rolling boil, THEN add salt — about a level teaspoon per litre.
  2. Add the pasta and stir for the first minute so it doesn't stick together. No oil needed.
  3. Start tasting a piece 1–2 minutes before the time on the packet. 'Al dente' means soft but with a slight firm bite in the very middle.
  4. Before draining, scoop out a mug of the cooking water. A splash of it makes sauces glossy and helps them cling.
  5. Drain, don't rinse, and mix with the sauce straight away.
Cutting raw chicken into piecesShow

Pieces the same size cook in the same time — which is how you avoid some being dry and others raw.

  1. Use a separate board for raw meat if you have one. Don't rinse the chicken.
  2. Trim off any white stringy bits or fat.
  3. Strips: slice across the breast about 1 cm thick. Cubes: cut strips about 2–2.5 cm wide, then cut across them.
  4. Afterwards, wash the board, knife and your hands in hot soapy water before touching anything else.
Frying and stir-fryingShow

Frying is cooking in a thin layer of hot fat. A stir fry is the fast, hot version where you keep everything moving.

  1. Have everything chopped and ready BEFORE the pan goes on — there is no time once it starts.
  2. Heat the oil first (see above), then add the food in a single layer. If it doesn't fit in one layer, cook it in two batches.
  3. Let pieces sit for a minute to colour before you turn them; stir-fries get stirred or tossed every 20–30 seconds.
  4. Hardest things go in first (carrot, pepper), soft things last (spinach, spring onion).
Browning and searing meatShow

The brown crust is flavour. It forms only on a dry surface in a hot pan — wet meat or a crowded pan just steams.

  1. Pat the meat dry with kitchen paper. Season it.
  2. Get the oil hot (shimmering, maybe a wisp of smoke).
  3. Lay the pieces in, away from you so the fat doesn't spit towards you, with space between them.
  4. Then leave them alone for 2–4 minutes. Don't poke. When the underside is brown the meat lets go of the pan by itself — if it sticks, it isn't ready to turn.
  5. Turn and brown the other side. Browning adds flavour; it does not make meat safe on its own — it still has to be cooked through.

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A standard home version of a well-known dish, written for Solviro. Nutrition is estimated from ingredient weights and will vary with brands and portions.