You’ll love this one-pot, easy and quick Pesto Chicken Tortellini with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil!
Pair this delicious recipe with a Cucumber Salad, Fruit Salad, or Panzanella Salad!
Pesto Chicken Tortellini
This one-pot Pesto Chicken Tortellini is one of my family’s go-to meals. I love that it’s a one-pot, flavorful, and kid-friendly meal! My kids beg for me to make this recipe and I never complain, because it’s so easy to make. I love all the good ingredients they’re getting – lean protein, a fresh and light pasta sauce, and veggies. Plus, only one pot to wash? Yes, please.
What ingredients are in this one-pot Pesto Chicken Tortellini?
- With less than 10 ingredients for this dish, we’re packing in some flavorful, good-for-you ingredients. We’re using Buitoni’s® three-cheese tortellini and their pesto basil sauce to form the base of this meal.
- We’re also using lean protein — chicken breasts seasoned with paprika, Italian seasoning, and of course some salt + pepper.
- And to add in some vegetables, we’re using sun-dried tomatoes! I also occasionally add on some fresh cherry tomatoes to this finished dish to increase the vegetable count.
- The finished dish gets a few tablespoons of oil from the sun-dried tomatoes (healthy fats), fresh basil, and if desired, a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese!
Great dishes to serve on the side
While this Pesto Chicken Tortellini is a great balanced meal, here are our favorite side dishes that pair well with it:
More easy pasta dishes:
- Chicken Parmesan Meatballs over pasta
- Cheese Stuffed Meatballs
- Roasted Veggie Ravioli
- Tons more one-pot meals
{One Pot} Pesto Chicken Tortellini
A ONE pot, easy and quick, pesto chicken tortellini with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil
Ingredients
- Optional: 1/2 cup buttermilk*
- 1 package (20 ounces) Buitoni Three Cheese Tortellini
- 1/2 pound (~2 small) boneless skinless chicken breasts*
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Fine sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3 tablespoons olive oil (I use the sun-dried tomato oil from the tomatoes)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Fresh basil sprig, optional
- 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, coarsely chopped (and reserved sun dried tomato oil for this recipe)
- 1 container (7 ounces) Buitoni Pesto with Basil Sauce (about 1/2 cup + 3-4 tablespoons)
- Optional: red pepper flakes, fresh basil, Buitoni Grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large NONSTICK pot of salted water to boil. Follow package directions to cook tortellini.
- In a small bowl, stir together the paprika, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste (I use 1/2 teaspoon salt + 1/4 teaspoon pepper). Drain the chicken from the buttermilk, dab with paper towel, and toss the chicken pieces to coat in the seasoning mix. Add the flour right on top and stir until chicken pieces are coated.
- In the same pot used to cook the tortellini (must be a nonstick pot) add in 3 tablespoons reserved olive oil from the sundried tomatoes. Heat on medium heat for about 30 seconds and then add in a sprig of basil and the garlic. Stir for another 30 seconds and then increase the heat to medium and add in the chicken. Cook the chicken, stirring occasionally until cooked through and no longer pink inside. If needed, add additional sundried tomato oil. When the chicken is almost cooked through, remove the basil and add in the sundried tomatoes and saute until the chicken is cooked through.
- Add the drained tortellini back in with the chicken and reduce the heat to low. Gently stir for 1-2 minutes and remove from heat.
- Stir in the basil pesto sauce and 1-2 tablespoons of oil from the sundried tomatoes as desired. Taste and season with salt and pepper and red pepper flakes if desired.
- Garnish plates with fresh basil and add parmesan cheese.
Recipe Notes
*If desired marinate chicken ahead of time. Remove any fat from the chicken breasts and cut into small bite sized and even pieces. Place in a large plastic bag and pour buttermilk over the chicken, knead to coat the chicken entirely. Place in fridge and marinate for 4-6 hours or until ready to use. If you don't have buttermilk, take 1 cup of milk and add 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Allow to sit for 5 minutes and then mix in with your chicken. This creates super tender chicken!
This is an excellent recipe! I used my own pesto and didn’t have any sun dried tomatoes (they are on the list now) so I used regular tomatoes diced. I did use 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes that gave the dish a little bit of heat, Not much, and did not over power the other flavors. Will definitely be making this again?
I am so thrilled to hear this! Thanks so much Donna! 🙂
I loved this recipe. We are trying to eat less pasta and more protein so I doubled the chicken. I added spinach and didn’t put any flour on the chicken. I also left out the garlic, personal preference. It was so delicious. I made it for Sunday dinner for my whole family. They loved it! I tripled the recipe and then doubled the chicken. The spices were perfect. I used tortellini and pesto from Costco.
Delish! I love that! Thanks for your comment! 🙂
Such a delicious meal! It has everything I love, sun dried tomatoes, Tortellini, & Pesto! I’ve made this a few times already! Definitely added this to my Favorite Recipes book! Thank you for sharing this delicious meal!
Yay! So thrilled to hear this! Thanks Lydia! 🙂
Hi Chelsey,
OK, tonight I took your recipe and combined with a recipe I was given many years ago.
I have no doubt your recipe, as cooked, is absolutely 5 stars. Combining my recipe is (for the most part) adding bell peppers (orange, yellow, and red for color) and a large yellow onion, slicing them into strips about 1″x3″, and then steaming them until just crisp. I cooked the chicken, exactly as you said, and using the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes was genius!!! I sliced the chicken into strips the same size as the peppers and onions. (it looks like your chicken is cut into small chunks). Also, using tri-color tortellini adds additional color as does the different colors of the peppers. Obviously, the way I’ve cooked mine is not just a one-pot meal, but it really wasn’t all that bad cleaning up. I’m really glad I found your recipe. I was searching for a picture to add to the recipe software I use (Home Cookin’) and when I was reading how you cooked this dish, I thought it was fantastic. When I was married, my wife used to ask me to make this dish when we had a lot of company for dinner.
I do have one question. Is there a brand of pesto you happen to like best? In the grocery store, I started comparing the ingredients for various brands and noticed a huge difference in the way pesto is made. Some use part spinach and part basil, and some use ALL basil. Then some have no nuts included while others have used walnuts. I’m guessing these are made like this because it’s cheaper to add spinach than all basil? Or does the spinach tone down the basil because it might be too strong? And I’m guessing that chopped pine nuts are too expensive so they either cut it out or use walnuts? While the dish was delicious, I think the pesto could have been a lot better. I’d like to grow my own and make my own pesto!
So happy you enjoyed this recipe, thanks for the comment Dave! Yes, I love Rana’s freshly made basil pesto or Buitoni’s freshly made basil pesto (these will both be in refrigerated condiment sections of the grocery store since they aren’t shelf stable!) Of course homemade is great too 🙂
This looks very much like a recipe a coworker gave me almost 30 years ago, except that she didn’t use sun-dried tomatoes. She used tri-color tortellini to give more color. Then she steamed sliced red/yellow/orange peppers and added them in with the cooked chicken, tortellini and then mixed in the pesto sauce.
I’m going to combine your recipe and hers. I liked that you seasoned and floured the chicken first as my co-worker’s recipe didn’t flour her chicken.
One thing about your recipe. Do you cut the chicken in pieces before you cook it? It’s not made clear in your directions.