Basil Pesto Chicken Pasta & Mudpuppy Restaurant

I had some basil pesto in the freezer and leftover chicken in the fridge and decided Kevin’s recipe for Basil Pesto Chicken Pasta from his “Closet Cooking” blog would work well for them.  I made several changes to the recipe but the original can be found by clicking on the link.

Basil Pesto Chicken Pasta - Adapted from Closet Cooking

Ingredients:

16 ounces pasta (Larry uses shaped pasta for chunky sauces)

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 pound boneless and skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into bite sized pieces – Note 1

2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

2 cup chicken broth

2 cup heavy/whipping cream

½ cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 cup basil pesto

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp. corn starch in cold water (added by Larry)

Note 1:  Larry used some leftover rotisserie chicken and some baked chicken breasts so only added 1 tsp of Italian Seasoning to the sauce.

Directions:

Start cooking the pasta as directed on the package.

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat, add the chicken, seasoned with the Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, and cook, about 10 minutes.  (Larry used rotisserie and some baked chicken breasts – chopped)

Add the garlic to the clean pan red pepper flake and cook until fragrant, about a minute.

Add the broth, Italian seasoning, and chicken and cook about 10 minutes.

Add the cream and cornstarch, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the parmesan cheese, mix, and let it melt into the sauce.

Turn off the heat, mix in the pesto, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the pasta, reserving some of the pasta cooking water and toss with the sauce.

Plate and top with more parmesan if desired.

The Verdict:

It was delicious, the creamy pesto was a hit and the chicken that I used worked perfectly but Bev wanted more.  I’ll make it again but I’ll add 2 more tbsp of cornstarch so the sauce will be thicker and add another pound of chicken.

Mudpuppy

We made a lunch trip to Mudpuppy Restaurant just up the lake from us for lunch with friend Kathy.  The main reason for eating there is the ambience as the food has always been just okay.

We got there before the lunch hour and only a few tables were in use.

While the food has never been great, this day it was all bad.  We all got a deep-fried chicken dish and they were all way over cooked so I didn’t even bother to take pics.  While the atmosphere is good at Mudpuppy, it’s not good enough to go there for bad food so we won’t have to go back.

Photos can be slightly enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

9/19/25 event date