Crockpot Chicken Pesto Pasta
Video below on how to make this pesto is the besto recipe
Ahhhh, summer time. Beaches, warm weather, sun, tan feet, basil. Basil? That's right. Basil. I love basil so much, and summer time is one of my faves because it means…basil! And with basil, comes pesto. And with pesto, comes this chicken pesto pasta dish, that is sure to cure all summer time cravings! For a moment in time, I thought I had invented the saying pesto is the besto, and for an even smaller moment, I thought I could get #pestoisthebesto to start trending. However. Turns out, there are lots of you out there that love basil and pesto just as much as I do, and, well, #pestoisthebesto is in fact already trending. Kind of like this dish will be once you make it. Trending.
Ingredients/Recipe:
3-4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts
1 cup of pesto- link to my homemade pesto recipe https://www.myloadofcrock.com/recipes/homemade-pesto
1/4 cup of butter, cut up into cubes
1 lemon
3/4 box of preferred pasta noodles
1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese
2 cups of mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
1/2 tsp of basil
Putting it Together:
Spray your crockpot, bottom and sides, and lay chicken breasts across the bottom. Season breasts with the salt and pepper and then use roughly 3/4 of the pesto, covering each breast nicely with a layer of pesto. Sprinkle the basil over this, and then lay the cut up butter cubes on top of the chicken breasts. Squeeze half of the lemon over the top, and then place crockpot on low for 4 hours.
About 30 minutes before the chicken is done, boil up water and cook your noodles.
After the 4 hours, shred chicken up in the crockpot (chicken should be tender and easy to shred up). Once shredded, squeeze the other half of the lemon over the shredded chicken and add in the 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese and your cooked noodles. Mix noodles, shredded chicken and cheese up together, and then add in the remainder of your pesto. Mix all of this up really well, and then sprinkle the top of the mixture with the 2 cups of mozzarella cheese.
Place the crockpot back on low for another 20-30 minutes, until the mozzarella cheese is nicely melted, and then serve warm.
Serving:
Serving warm out of the crockpot, add a little olive oil, crushed pepper, and some grated parmesan cheese. This is also fantastic as a COLD dish! The next day, mix in a little more pesto and some olive oil, give it a good stir, and serve cold. So good!
Load of Crock Tip(s):
As noted above, this is a great cold dish as well! Would recommend as a cold pasta dish for a summer gathering
Freshly cracked pepper and a little olive oil, when served warm and cold, can go a long way to bring out some really great flavors
Don't feel pressured to use homemade pesto; it really is so good whether homemade or store bought
Bow ties, penne or medium shells are all great choices of noodle for this, but really, you can use whatever your noodle of choice may be
So, while it's true I did not invent or even make popular the hashtag #pestoisthebesto, I know after you have made this, we will agree that it pesto is in fact the besto. Happy basil season!