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Chicken Pesto Parmesan Pasta Skillet
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4 from 1 vote

Chicken Pesto Parmesan Pasta Skillet

This one-pot Chicken Pesto Parmesan Pasta Skillet offers bright, fresh Spring flavors like lemon, basil, and Parmesan cheese!

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons pine nuts
  • ¾ cup fresh basil leaves
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 8 oz uncooked bowtie pasta, I used Barilla Farfalle (use whole wheat pasta if following the myWW Purple plan)
  • 1 ½ cups water
  • 1 cup skim milk
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups fresh broccoli florets
  • 1 cup chopped zucchini
  • ½ cup frozen peas
  • 8 oz cooked boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced or chopped into bite size pieces
  • 4 oz finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Instructions

  • Place the pine nuts in a large saute pan or deep skillet and bring over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until pine nuts start to look golden/toasted. Remove the pine nuts from heat.
  • Combine 2 tablespoons of the toasted pine nuts (reserve one for topping) with the basil, garlic and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor and grind it until a pesto paste forms and everything is finely minced and combined. Set aside.
  • Place the dry pasta in the same large saute pan or deep skillet from step one and pour in the water and milk. Stir in the salt and top with the broccoli, zucchini and peas. Turn the heat on to medium and stay by the stove, stirring occasionally and watching closely for the contents to begin to simmer. *Pan should remain uncovered. Make sure you don’t wander away, you do not want the contents to boil and spill over or for the milk to get overheated and separate* When you see the liquid start to simmer, reduce the heat to low.
  • Cook the mixture on low, stirring every couple minutes, for 13-16 minutes until the liquid is mostly absorbed (pasta and veggies will be cooked). Add the cooked chicken pieces and the pesto from step two and stir in until well combined. Cook for another 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in almost all of the shredded Parmesan (I like to reserve a tiny pile for topping). Cover the pan with a lid for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is melted and then stir until well combined and cheesy. Top each serving with a sprinkle of the reserved Parmesan and ½ teaspoon of the reserved pine nuts.

Notes

To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
WW Points per (1 ¼ cup) serving: 8 (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
Nutrition Information per (1 ¼ cup) serving:
335 calories, 37 g carbs, 3 g sugars, 10 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 27 g protein, 3 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com)
MyWW SmartPoints per (1 ¼ cup) serving: (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
Green: 9 SmartPoints/ Blue: 8 SmartPoints/ Purple: 4 SmartPoints (if using wheat pasta, if not then use the Blue points)
Weight Watchers Points Plus:
9 per (1 ¼ cup) serving (PP calculated using a WW PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition info below)