Protein Pesto Pasta with Chicken: This meal prep is winning for us this week! 5 ingredients and you have this delicious, nutritious, protein packed meal. I found these protein pasta noodles to make this meal even better! You can, of course, use regular pasta, but if you’re wanting to add in extra protein, these noodles are the way to go!
We love to get our rotisserie chicken from Costco. I just de-bone the chicken once we get it! It’s easiest to remove the meat while it’s still warm. There is usually plenty of chicken left over. If you want to double up on the protein, you can use the meat from the entire chicken for the 5 portions. I use half the chicken for my 5 meals.
You can also use raw chicken breast for this recipe! I would cut up 1lb of chicken breast into 1-inch cubes. Spray cooking spray onto a skillet and add the chicken, cooking for 3-4 minutes, flip over and cook for another 3-4 minutes, until the internal temperature is 165°. It will brown up nicely and taste delicious!
Costco also has some of the best pesto, but you can find pesto at any local grocery store. Pesto has such a bright, vibrant flavor. It adds so much to plain chicken or noodles, even my kids love it! Pesto is typically made up of garlic, basil leaves, olive oil, pine nuts, salt, and parmesan. You can always make your own, but I like to use pre-made pesto to make this meal cook up super fast!
Here are a few quick facts about this specific brand of Banza protein pasta:
These noodles have 50% more protein, than regular pasta.
They contain 3x the fiber, and also have 25% less net carbs than your leading average pasta.
They cook up in only 7-9 minutes and have so much more flavor than plain, flour pasta.
You can find these awesome One Compartment Meal Prep Containers by clicking the link below:
One Compartment Meal Prep Containers
Another Protein Packed Pasta and meat meal prep we love and use, can be found here:
Protein Packed Spaghetti Meal Prep
I can’t wait to hear from you when you’ve tried this meal prep recipe! Be sure to give me a like or comment, and follow me for more simplified meal prep recipes! You can find me on Instagram and Pinterest as well @livingsimplybykalani! Happy Cooking!
Protein Pesto Pasta & Chicken Meal Prep
Ingredients
- ½ Rotisserie Chicken Meat Shredded
- 1 box Banza Rotini Pasta
- 1/4- ½ cup Pesto
- 1 bag Steamfresh Peas *steamable
- 1-2 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
Instructions
- Cook full box of Banza pasta according to package directions. Strain and set aside.
- Microwave the steamfresh peas according to package directions. While the pasta is cooking and the steamfresh peas are in the microwave start to debone the rotisserie chicken.
- Take meat off the rotisserie chicken, divide the meat in two portions. Place the left over chicken in a Ziploc bag in the refrigerator.
- In a medium skillet add the rotisserie chicken and another 2Tbs-¼ cup of pesto, mix till all the chicken is coated and heated through.
- Once the pasta has been cooked and strained, add in ¼ cup of Pesto, and stir to combine.
- Sprinkle ½ – 1 tsp of salt over the noodles and stir to combine. Sprinkle ½ tsp salt and black pepper over chicken and pesto. And lightly salt the peas in the bag.
- Set 5 meal prep containers on the counter, equally portion out the noodles into all 5. Use a ½ measuring cup to put an equal amount of chicken over the pasta. Use ¼ cup to scoop the peas and sprinkle over all 5 meals.
- Put all 5 lids onto the containers and place in the refrigerator. These meals will be good for up to 5 days in the fridge.
- Microwave one meal per day for 1- 1 ½ minutes, enjoy!