This Pesto Chicken Pasta Bake has been in my easy dinner arsenal for years. This pesto chicken pasta casserole recipe only has three main ingredients: pesto, chicken, and cheese! Utilize a rotisserie chicken for ultimate quickness and ease.
Shredded Chicken
For the chicken, you can use a rotisserie chicken to make this dish even easier or shred up some chicken in the crockpot. I have used my crockpot chicken recipe in this dish, or sometimes I’ll just do chicken broth and adobo seasoning (pictured above) because it pairs better with the pesto.
I used a gluten-free pasta in this recipe, but you can substitute any pasta you would like. Make sure when cooking the pasta to cook it al dente, because it will be going into the oven for a few minutes, so you don’t want it to end up mushy.
Combine the pasta, pesto, crushed red pepper flakes, shredded chicken, and mix. Spread into a baking dish, sprinkle some parmesan on and bake!
Once it’s done baking you can add additional parmesan if desired. There you have it! 5 ingredients that easily come together to make a quick and delicious dinner! Enjoy.
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Pesto Chicken Bake
Ingredients
- 8 ounces pasta of choice
- 2 cups shredded chicken breast see note#1
- 1 cup pesto store bought or homemade
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes can omit if you do not like spicy
- ¼ cup fresh parmesan
- Garnish with fresh basil
Instructions
- If slow cooking or cooking chicken in instant pot (see note #1)
- Bring a pot of water to boil, cook pasta al dente according to package, drain and set aside
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- In a large bowl add al dente pasta, shredded chicken, pesto, and crushed red pepper flakes. Gently mix together.
- In a baking dish, spread pasta chicken mixture evenly, and top with parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted on top. If you want the cheese more brown, you can low broil the top for a few minutes.
- Serve and can top with more parmesan if desired
Notes
- You can use a rotisserie chicken or you can use my instant pot shredded chicken or slow cooker shredded chicken using just kosher salt and black pepper instead of Mexican seasoning
Brenda
Hi I liked this recipe a lot. I added shredded zucchini to get some veggie in the casserole.
Stephanie
A great idea to add zucchini! I’ll have to try that next time. Thanks for making the recipe!
Andrea Stone
How would I prepare the chicken breast if I didn’t have a slow cooker or a crock pot?
Stephanie
Hi Andrea, you can sear the breast on the stove top on each side over medium high heat. Then reduce the heat to medium, add the broth, cover with a lid, and allow to cook till the internal temp of the chicken reaches 165F (about 15-20). Or you can also use a rotisserie chicken that’s already cooked and shred that chicken, that’s what I do myself when I don’t slow cook the chicken.