Chicken Pesto Pasta in Creamy White Wine Sauce is a family favorite pasta recipe! This easy pasta dish is full of savory flavors and a delicious, creamy, white wine sauce that's ready in under 30 minutes! It is so delicious with flavors of basil, thyme and oregano and so easy to make!
I made them all - Cajun Chicken Pasta, Lazone Chicken Pasta, Louisiana Chicken Pasta! This time I'm going for pesto chicken pasta recipe! Chicken and mushrooms are tossed in the pesto white wine wine sauce with just enough pungency from garlic. There you have a rich and savory dish bursting with herb flavors! And you can easily put this gourmet level meal on the table in only 30 minutes.
This easy pasta dish is all about savory pesto white wine sauce tossed with perfectly cooked chicken and mushrooms. Seasoning is very important here. Even though the recipe calls for Italian seasoning, but I also like to use Sicilian seasoning. The major difference between the two s is the presence of red pepper flakes and roasted garlic in the Sicilian seasoning. That's why red pepper flakes and garlic are added in the recipe. But if you do have Sicilian seasoning, just use that..
Wine for Pesto Chicken Pasta
I used Pinot Grigio, which is a dry white wine. Other white wines, such as Riesling or Chardonnay, will be good here too. Made with white wine, butter and olive oil, this delicious Chicken and Mushroom Pasta brings out the best flavors out of chicken and mushrooms. Perfect for busy weeknights!
Good Pasta Choices
I love using long ribbon pasta with pesto dishes. Good choices are fettuccine, linguine, pappardelle or tagliatelle. In my opinion it's easier to make this Pesto Chicken Pasta look good when using long ribbon pasta. Even though penne might be a good choice as well.
Quick and easy to make, yet fancy enough for guests, this pasta dish is so simple! It can become a favorite weeknight dinner.
What Pesto Sauce to Use
In terms of pesto, use homemade or store-bought pesto! Nowadays they sell a variety of really good jarred pesto sauces in the stores. I try to buy a small jar of high quality pesto in order to use most of it within a couple of weeks. Once opened, pesto does keep pretty good in the fridge.
Pesto of course is as a classic Italian favorite. It's the combination of fresh basil, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic and Parmesan cheese that is hard to beat in flavor. Some pesto sauces out there have lemon, capers or even crushed red pepper to give it some heat.
I like pesto sauce that is thick and more like a gravy with lighter amounts of olive oil mixed into the sauce and not a big fan of pesto swimming in the oil.
I bought a 7 oz jar for this Pesto Chicken and Mushroom Pasta and used slightly more than half of it, which is 4 oz, or ½ cup. If you are a pesto lover, you might know that Pesto sauce originated in Genoa of Northern Italy, but no mention of it appeared in the United States until 1944, when the New York Times reported an imported, canned pesto paste. 1944! That's nearly 100 years ago. Almost...
However, pesto sauce did not gain popularity in the United States until the 1980s and 1990s, partly because fresh basil was not sold here until the 70s. So basically it's still pretty new to most of us!
You might also enjoy these pasta and chicken dinners:
Creamy Chicken Pasta with Bacon
Chicken Pasta in Creamy White Wine Parmesan Sauce
Louisiana Chicken Pasta
Chicken and Mushroom Pasta with Simple Pesto White Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Main Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
- 2 tablespoon butter (divided)
- 1 lb boneless, skinless thin chicken breasts, or tenders (cut up in 1 inch chunks)
- 10 oz white mushrooms (thickly sliced)
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- salt and pepper
Pesto White Wine Sauce:
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning (thyme, oregano, basil - combined)
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ cup sodium free chicken broth (adjust salt if not sodium free)
- ½ cup white wine
- ½ cup (4 oz.) basil pesto
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- ½ teaspoon salt
- chopped fresh basil (for garnish)
Pasta:
- 10 oz fettuccine pasta
Instructions
Cooking chicken:
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken chunks to the hot skillet, generously season them with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning right in the skillet and cook for about 4 minutes on one side, flip once and cook for 2 additional minutes on the other side.
- In order to not overcrowd the pan I cooked chicken in 2 rounds (this avoids overs-teaming it and ensures proper browning). Because the pan will be hotter on the second round, reduce cooking time for chicken to 2 minutes per side. Add a splash of olive oil to the second round of cooking chicken. Remove cooked chicken from skillet after each round.
Cooking mushrooms:
- Add second tablespoon of olive oil and second tablespoon of butter to the now empty skillet. Once the pan is hot, add sliced mushrooms, generously season them with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning right in the skillet.
- Cook the mushrooms on medium high heat without flipping for 2-3 minutes until mushrooms release liquid and get soft. Pressing down with spatula will speed up the process. Flip to the other side and cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove mushrooms from skillet.
Pesto White Wine Parmesan Sauce:
- Add minced garlic to the now empty skillet and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes, ½ cup wine and cook on medium for 2 minutes to reduce wine.
- Now add ½ cup basil pesto and ½ cup chicken broth. On medium heat, mix everything to combine. Continue cooking for 3-4 minutes until the sauce reduces.
- Reduce the heat and add salt and ½ cup of shredded Parmesan. Slowly mix it in until it's evenly incorporated with the sauce. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Pasta:
- In the meantime bring a large pot of salty water to boil, add pasta and cook it according to instructions.
- Drain the pasta, but do not rinse.
Putting it all together:
- Add pasta to the skillet with the sauce, and stir until pasta is fully coated in sauce.
- Add chicken and mushrooms. Mix with pasta and sauce. Taste and season with more salt if necessary.
- Garnish with fresh basil.
Melanie says
I'm excited to try this recipe later this week...however, I'm not a fan of mushrooms from a texture standpoint - but I do dig the flavor. Is there a substitute that would work well here or should I used mushroom powder and just add it to the sauce? I kinda feel like the mushroom flavor is a key component in this..
Thank you!
Olya says
Mushroom powder will work! And you can use zucchini slices for texture.
Chelsie says
I made this and I don't know what happened but it did not turn creamy and the parmesan lumped together and got weird and is all over my spoon. I let the sauce reduce longer than you said because it seemed so wet...and it's not right. Suggestions on what to do better? The flavors are on point but the sauce just isn't a sauce.
Olya says
What kind of Parmesan did you use? Did you grate it or was it from the jar? If it had cellulose in it - the cellulose will prevent the cheese from melting perfectly.
Alex says
What kind of white wine would work for this recipe?
Olya says
I recommend Pinot Grigio only!
Jeanette says
Hi, just wanted to know if I can do it without adding the white wine?
Olga says
You can add lemon juice (or squeeze half a lemon) and substitute the liquid amount with chicken broth.
Alexis says
I am usually the last person you want in the kitchen cooking, but I decided to give this recipe a try. This turned out so good I wanted to cry! So happy to have found your recipe on Pinterest. I look forward to trying out more of your recipes. There’s hope for me after all. Thank you so much!
Olga says
Your comment made my evening! Thank you for expressing yourself like that!
Anna says
The only thing I'd do differently next time is double the mushrooms and add some broccoli. This was delicious!
Olga says
You can never have enough mushrooms and broccoli! Both are tasty and healthy.
Michael Murray says
What gives this recipe the rich reddish color? basil pesto is typically bright green.
Olga says
Mushrooms released brown juices. That, combined with spices (I used a lot on chicken and mushrooms) and chicken broth. And the fact that I also used wine, lots of pasta - all of it spread out and diluted 1/2 up of pesto used, resulting in the lighter color. My pesto was also very oily I must say.
Kim Cochran says
I made this. It’s so good but instead of noodles I used zucchini for Keto. Me and my husband loved this.
Olga says
Making it with zucchini noodles is on my to cook list! I'm glad you tried it this way.
Edward Atwood says
This pasta with Pesto was off the hook!! I tweaked it a little by roasting the pine nuts, using TOP QUALITY Parmigiana/Romano. Also added some shaved black Truffles over it and served. My wife being Italian is VERY finicky about her Italian food. She LOVED IT. It’s one of my go to dinners when we stay home on “Date Night”. Good job, I want more old Tuscan recipes. Dishes that make me feel like I’m back in Italy during the Renaissance.
Olga says
This is such a wonderful comment! I'm so glad your Italian wife loved it!!!