One Pan Pasta with Chicken, Pesto and Olives
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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
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?
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? ?)
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!
For my quick yet comforting meal, I used:
- 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.
- 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!
- Tyson Grilled and Ready Chicken Breast Strips. Fully-cooked, 98% fat free and no preservatives!
- Olives! Gotta loooove olives. (Especially when your name is Olivia! ?) I added two kinds: green and kalamata for some depth of flavor.
- 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! ?)
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!
One Pan Pasta with Chicken, Pesto and Olives
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
Check out more inspiration for #EverydayEffortless here!
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!!! ???
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34 Comments on “One Pan Pasta with Chicken, Pesto and Olives”
Nice easy dish. Love it.
Thanks, Chanelle! It was so good! :P
I love the protein from the chicken, and I’m crazy about pesto so I’m super excited for that.
Thanks, Liz. I love pesto too! One of the best culinary inventions ever, isn’t it?
I love it -quick and easy. I am going to try this.
Let me know what you think! :)
Mmm, that looks tasty. I love easy recipes like this. I’m saving this for later.
Thanks!! I hope you enjoy it!
Pasta is one of my favorite winter meals. Will give this recipe a try, looks nice and easy.
Thanks, Danii! I hope you love it!
We use Brailla here in our home religiously! You just made one of my all time favorite pasta dishes too!
Barilla is the best, isn’t it? I love their pasta!
I haven’t yet tried these ready-to-cook items, but gee, I have a Walmart just up the street and I’ll betcha’ I an find them and whip this up in a snap!! thanks so much!!
Tina, I was so skeptical at first. But they really work. You could never tell the pasta was not cooked traditionally as it is so al dente. And the chicken? So fresh! I was very (pleasantly) surprised!
Your recipe is quick, easy and ingredients are so readily accessible. I can’t wait to try this. Thanks for the new idea
Thanks, Dana! Let me know what you think when you try it! :)
This looks incredible! So yummy and fixes up fast too!
Less than 15 minutes! :) Faster than calling for pizza.
Penne is my favorite pasta. I love that I can make extra and use it all week long.
I’m all for easy meals that can be used as leftovers! You can even make a frittata with your leftovers, for breakfast or brunch! :)
This looks so tasty! These are some of my favourite flavours together and making it one pan? Genius!
One pan dishes are the best! I hate doing dishes! lol
Looks filling and yummy
Pesto is one of my favorite pasta sauces. I love making it at home with grilled chicken. I can eat that everyday! Lol. It looks really awesome. Thanks for the recipe.
I hate it when that happens! I mean a day off that didn’t go so well!!! But that pasta dish looks amazing so yeah that would put me in a good mood too :) I can’t really say I can try the same steps in the dish as we do t have this type of no boil pasta here YET ;) neither do we have Tayson chicken… But it looks amazing and glad all worked out in the end :)
Even when you are not feeling great you still make delicious meal and this is perfect for when you do not have much time to cook.
Love pesto so I will need to make this. Love the Supernatural clips!!
Wow, this looks so yummy! I love how it is so simple to make! Looks like I found my supper idea for the weekend! Thanks!!
Quick dinners are the best, and this pasta looks so good! I can’t believe you don’t have to drain the pasta or anything – such a good idea. Love the look of that pesto too :)
This sounds like a delicious quick dinner indeed and I love using the Tyson chicken for my dishes and salad as well. I will have to try this recipe because my boys would love it. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Oh Gosh technical issues are the worst. I totally understand you. I usually love all the aspects of being a food blogger too, but when I have to deal with the technical aspects I feel the same way. I am glad this situation did;t change your plan of making an awesome dish like this. Have a wonderful weekend ;-)
OMG, First of all, I am so sorry your “special” day off together turned out to be a big fat flop! I totally understand how frustrating that is… I mean I took a 2 week vacation and it rained EVERY single day. Anyways, Obviously you at least had a good dinner at the end of the day! Because this one pan pasta looks delish! Loving the pesto, olive and parm combo! Plus only cleaning one pan is always a plus! Pinned! Cheers, girlfriend!- to a better weekend than your day off! xo
love one pot meals and the pesto in there sounds delicious!
I made this tonight. I added cherry tomatoes and I used rotisserie chicken. I also used 1/2 pesto and 1/2 half and half.