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5 Ingredient One Pan Pasta with Chicken, Pesto and Olives for those days when dinner needs to happen in less than 15 minutes!

(AD) One Pan Pasta with Chicken, Pesto and Olives | www.oliviascuisine.com | No boil, no drain and easy clean up! Plus, dinner will be on the table in 15 minutes! #EverydayEffortless

(AD) One Pan Pasta with Chicken, Pesto and Olives | www.oliviascuisine.com | No boil, no drain and easy clean up! Plus, dinner will be on the table in 15 minutes! #EverydayEffortless

We need to talk!

You know that take out you’ve been ordering (more times than you’d like to admit)? It’s adding up! ??????

Say goodbye to that Cancun trip, because you spent the money ordering out. Harsh, I know! But, what if I told you that you could make a delicious home cooked meal in less than 15 minutes? And that you would only have one pan to wash at the end? 

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Yep, the future is here, my friends!

Be prepared to succumb to the wonders of an one pan dish with this mouth-watering One Pan Pasta with Chicken, Pesto and Olives. Done in less than 15 minutes without sacrificing any flavor. 

(I know, one pan/pot pastas have been around for a while now and it’s no breaking news as I may have portrayed it above. However, I haven’t shared any on this blog before, so just humor me a little bit, ok? ?)

(AD) One Pan Penne with Chicken, Pesto and Olives | www.oliviascuisine.com | No boil, no drain and easy clean up! Plus, dinner will be on the table in 15 minutes! #EverydayEffortless

Yesterday, I had one of those days. Mondays are usually my days off and Tim had off work too, because of the Jewish holidays. So there were high expectations for that day to be amazing.

It sucked!

We started the day having to drive 1 hour to go to our building’s management company to get a new laundry card because ours broke and we ran out of clean clothes. I mean, we already got it broken (taped) from the previous tenants, so it was only a matter of time until we had to pay the $25 (don’t even get me started!) to get another. That trip took a good chunk out of our day. When I got home, after we stopped for groceries with just a few hours of daylight left to shoot photos for the blog, I noticed my website was having some technical issues. 

I usually love all the aspects of being a food blogger. Cooking, taking pictures, editing pictures, writing posts, talking with you guys on social media… Love it all! Nothing feels like work, really. But when I have to deal with the technical aspects of having a website? ?You definitely do not wanna be around me!

So my mood, which was already not the greatest, went from bad to catastrophic and just like that our special day was ruined.

I don’t know about you, but I have zero creativity to cook dinner when I’m in a bad mood. However, I still needed to feed my poor husband, who was actually a saint last night, calling my hosting company’s support and all. (No IT guy likes to work with IT on their days off…)

A quick trip to my local Walmart – (Have I told you I have a Walmart store just down the hill from me?) – and my mood was a little better because I knew we were about to eat something delicious!

(AD) One Pan Pasta with Chicken, Pesto and Olives | www.oliviascuisine.com | No boil, no drain and easy clean up! Plus, dinner will be on the table in 15 minutes! #EverydayEffortless

(AD) One Pan Pasta with Chicken, Pesto and Olives | www.oliviascuisine.com | No boil, no drain and easy clean up! Plus, dinner will be on the table in 15 minutes! #EverydayEffortless

For my quick yet comforting meal, I used:

  1. Barilla Pronto Pasta Penne – Have you heard of Barilla’s Pronto Pasta? It’s a one pot, no boil, no drain pasta that cooks under 10 minutes! Faster cleaning, easier clean up, and all in one pan.
  2. My homemade pesto sauce that I usually have in my fridge. If you don’t have pesto sauce on hand, Barilla makes a killer one!
  3. Tyson Grilled and Ready Chicken Breast Strips. Fully-cooked, 98% fat free and no preservatives! 
  4. Olives! Gotta loooove olives. (Especially when your name is Olivia! ?) I added two kinds: green and kalamata for some depth of flavor.
  5. Parmigiano Reggiano. I bet you saw that coming! No pasta dish is complete without a mountain of Parmigiano Reggiano. Freshly grated, please!

It works like this: you reheat the chicken on a pan. Then you use that same pan to cook the pasta which won’t need any boiling, draining, zip, nothing! Then you toss with all the remaining ingredients and it’s ready to eat. Seriously… Faster than waiting for the pizza delivery guy, right? And oh so much better!!

Both Barilla Pronto Pasta and Tyson Grilled and Ready Chicken Breast Strips can also be microwaved for an easier/quicker meal. But I’m old fashioned and like to use my stove!

Also, for an even quicker meal, you can use two pans and heat the chicken while the pasta is cooking. I mean, only if you don’t mind having to wash two pans… ( I don’t! But that’s because I have a husband who washes dishes for me! ?)

(AD) One Pan Pasta with Chicken, Pesto and Olives | www.oliviascuisine.com | No boil, no drain and easy clean up! Plus, dinner will be on the table in 15 minutes! #EverydayEffortless

If you’re not making one pot/pan pastas, you need to get on that wagon! It is life changing, I promise.

The first time I tried to make a one pot spaghetti with tomatoes and basil, my mom refused to eat it saying that the spaghetti would be soggy. You see, I come from an Italian family in Brazil. Al dente is a must!

It wasn’t until I forced her to take a bite that she realized that the pasta was cooked to perfection. And the fact that we never drain the pasta means that all that pasta starch stays in the dish, making the sauce cling to the penne perfectly.

One pan dishes are a great way to be creative and to use seasonal veggies/ingredients!

Also, saving time in the kitchen means more quality time with your loved ones. Me and Tim got to squeeze in the season finale of Narcos last night, which brightened the day a little bit!

How about you? What will you do with all the free time you won’t be spending in the kitchen? I’d love to hear from you on the comment section below!

(AD) One Pan Pasta with Chicken, Pesto and Olives | www.oliviascuisine.com | No boil, no drain and easy clean up! Plus, dinner will be on the table in 15 minutes! #EverydayEffortless

One Pan Pasta with Chicken, Pesto and Olives

Yield: 6
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 (22oz) package Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken Breast Strips
  • 1 (12oz) package Barilla Pronto Penne
  • 3 cups water
  • 1.5 cups homemade
  • 1 cup green olives, pitted and roughly chopped
  • 1 cup kalamata olives, pitted and roughly chopped
  • 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • In a large saute pan, over medium heat, heat the chicken strips until hot and defrosted. Reserve.
  • In that same pan, over medium high heat, add the penne and 3 cups of water. Make sure that the water covers the pasta. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  • Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the water is absorbed.
  • While the pasta is cooking, roughly chop the chicken strips into smaller pieces. (You can also shred it if you'd like!)
  • Once most of the water is absorber, add the pesto sauce to the skillet and toss with the penne. Cook until the desired pasta texture and sauce consistency. Remove from heat.
  • Add the chopped olives and the parmesan cheese and toss to combine.
  • Serve immediately.
  • Check out more inspiration for #EverydayEffortless here

    (AD) One Pan Pasta with Chicken, Pesto and Olives | www.oliviascuisine.com | No boil, no drain and easy clean up! Plus, dinner will be on the table in 15 minutes! #EverydayEffortless

    Do you see the Turbie Twist that Walmart displayed next to Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken? It means you will save so much time using this product that you will finally have time to wash your hair!!! ???

     

    P.S. Wanna keep in touch? Follow me on FacebookTwitterInstagram or Pinterest to stay up to date with my posts! If you end up making one of my recipes, I would love to see it! Just take a photo and post it on your preferred Social Media and tag me or use the hashtag #oliviascuisine! 

    (AD) One Pan Pasta with Chicken, Pesto and Olives | www.oliviascuisine.com | No boil, no drain and easy clean up! Plus, dinner will be on the table in 15 minutes! #EverydayEffortless