This shrimp and chicken pesto pasta so so good! Also, it’s really easy to make. Hooray! You’re going to love it.
What make this shrimp and chicken pesto pasta so special?
Well, there are a lot of things I love about this spinach pesto dish so I’m going to go ahead and just list them out:
- You get a healthy dose of fresh spinach because I use spinach and basil in my homemade pesto sauce. Vitamins ✅
- This is such a fragrant dish. Between the seafood smells of cooking shrimp, fresh basil, roasting pine nuts and Parmesan cheese, even if you’re not hungry, this gets your taste buds watering.
- Pesto is so flavorful. You could spread it on a slice of crusty bread and eat it just like that. You might want to make extra!
- Pesto pasta is so versatile! I love the shrimp and chicken combination but you could do one or the other, or leave them both out for a vegetarian dish or serve it as a side dish.
- This dish is super easy to prep. I use rotisserie chicken and frozen, de-veined raw shrimp to save time.
- The recipe can be doubled or tripled to feed a large group. Perfect for an extended family or friend dinner party.
- Extra pesto sauce can be stored in the freezer for up to 4 months.
- You can make this dinner even healthier by using zucchini noodles or use spaghetti squash!
I could go on but you get the point. This is a great recipe to have in your regular line-up whether for weeknight dinner or for feeding a crowd.
What ingredients are need to make this pesto pasta?
This tasty dinner dish is super easy to make using just a handful of ingredients.
Here’s what you need: pasta — spaghetti noodles or linguine, cooked rotisserie chicken, raw shrimp (fresh or frozen), fresh spinach, fresh basil, dried basil, minced garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, and salt to taste.
Helpful tools for making this shrimp and chicken pasta recipe.
A few things that will making prepping this spinach pesto pasta with shrimp and chicken a bit easier:
- Food Processor
- Large Nonstick Stock Pot
- Pasta Tongs
- Cast Iron Grill Pan
- Toaster Oven
- Spirilizer (to make zucchini noodles)
Want more easy dinner ideas?
This shrimp and chicken pesto pasta recipe was featured on South Your Mouth!
Shrimp and Chicken Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
- 5 lb raw shrimp
- ½ rotisserie chicken
- ½ lb linguine pasta, cooked
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves
- 2 tbsp dried basil
- 4 cups fresh spinach
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- ¼ tsp salt more or less to taste
- ¼ cup olive oil plus more to grease pan
- ¼ cup pine nuts lightly toasted
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Pick rotisserie chicken and chop into small chunks.
- Toast pine nuts until light golden brown then set aside. (About 2-3 minutes in toaster oven)
- Cook and drain pasta as directed on the package. Return pasta to the pot and cover to keep warm.
- While pasta is cooking, using a food processor, blend together spinach, basil, pine nuts, garlic, salt and oil to create the pesto sauce.
- Add pesto sauce to pasta and toss to coat. Cover again to keep warm.
- Using a greased cast iron skillet, cook raw shrimp over medium-high heat, for 2-3 minutes on each side or until just pink then remove from heat and set aside. If your rotisserie chicken started out cold, toss the chicken in with the shrimp for the last 3 minutes to heat it up.
- To serve, twirl pesto noodles and place several twirls onto each plate. Top with shrimp, chicken and Parmesan cheese.