Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta with Homemade Garden Pesto 🌿
This dish happened because my basil was taking over the garden. It had been so hot, and if you leave basil out there too long it bolts and turns bitter. So I cut it all and made pesto.
The one that made it through summer best was sitting under my passion fruit, getting a little shade. Good trick if your basil keeps frying.
Pesto that stays green
Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan on medium, and keep stirring. They go from toasted to burnt fast, and burnt pine nuts will ruin the whole dish. You can skip the toasting, but it brings the flavor out.
And yes, I looked up whether I could grow pine nuts after I saw the price on that little bag. You can, but not well in Florida. That is how I ended up growing peanuts.
Into the food processor go two packed cups of basil, the pine nuts, Parmesan, garlic, lemon, salt and one small ice cube. The ice keeps it bright green instead of that dark army color. Pour the olive oil in slowly while it blends. Taste it. That tastes like Italy.
Better choice, not a sad bowl
I pan seared the chicken instead of frying it and used a pasta with fewer carbs. First time trying it. My verdict is it eats like any other pasta, a little lighter. A kid would never know.
The sauce gets built in the same pan the chicken came out of. Onions, butter and garlic, then heavy cream to a gentle simmer and Parmesan stirred in on low. Then turn the heat off before the pesto goes in so you do not cook the basil. I ended up using all of it. The extra pesto was needed.
Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta
Homemade basil pesto stirred into a Parmesan cream sauce with pasta and pan seared chicken.
Chicken
- 1 1/2 lbs marinated skinless chicken breast
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Homemade Pesto
- 2 packed cups fresh basil leaves
- 1/3 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt and black pepper
- 1 small ice cube
Pasta and Cream Sauce
- 12 oz pasta
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 2/3 cup homemade pesto, or all of it
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/2 cup reserved pasta water
- Salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper
Instructions
- Toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes, stirring.
- Blend the basil, pine nuts, Parmesan, garlic, lemon, salt, pepper and ice cube, slowly pouring in the olive oil.
- Cook the pasta. Save 1/2 cup pasta water before draining.
- Pat the marinade off the chicken. Sear in olive oil 4 to 6 minutes per side until 165°F. Rest it.
- In the same skillet, sauté the onion until soft. Add the butter and garlic for 30 seconds.
- Add the cream and bring to a gentle simmer. Lower the heat and stir in the Parmesan, adding pasta water if needed.
- Turn off the heat. Stir in the pesto, then the pasta, lemon juice and parsley.
- Slice the chicken and serve it over the pasta with more Parmesan and crushed red pepper.
Notes
Skip the chicken for a meatless night. The pesto pasta holds up on its own.
Never add pesto over heat. It turns dark and loses that fresh basil taste.
Recipe by Toni Jefferson · Rooted In J's
© 2026 Rooted in J's LLC. All rights reserved.
Please link back to this page instead of reposting the full recipe.
Harvest before it bolts
When the heat is getting to your basil or the season is about to change, that is your sign to harvest it all. Pesto freezes well, and dried basil from last year still smelled fresh in my kitchen.
Grow the basil, not just buy it
The free Florida plant guide is 61 pages of what to plant and the month to put it in the ground, for all three regions of the state.
Get the Free Plant GuideWatch the VideoThe food processor and kitchen tools I use are on my Amazon storefront. If you buy through it I make a small commission and it costs you nothing extra.
A recipe or a garden journal entry goes up every week on Patreon for five dollars a month.
Got a yard full of basil and no idea what to make? Start here, then tell me how it went.
Toni