Creamy Chicken & Pesto WW Pasta w/ Sun Dried Tomatoes

PREP : Depends on having pesto on hand.
TASTE : SUPER yummy!
REPEAT : Yes!


This is a successful trial at a personal dish. I will include the basic ingredients that I used, but I didn't measure as I made it. While it is a creamy pasta, and tastes very rich, I don't believe it was nearly as high in fat as a similar pasta would be in a restaurant. This is due to using fat-free evaporated milk for the majority of the cream. In addition, this dish took advantage of whole wheat penne pasta.

I began the dish because I had just made homemade pesto and I had some ingredients that needed to be used, like thawed chicken, lots of frozen chicken stock taking up space in the freezer and sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil. The recipe for the pesto was from Joy of Cooking and was pretty much a basic basil pesto recipe. Lots of fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, salt and olive oil.

My ingredient list is not exact. It was a couple months ago that I made this and I am trying to remember the details. I'm also going to have to learn to measure better in the future so I can be more precise at logging personal recipes and recipe modifications.

2 T light olive or grapeseed oil
1 box whole wheat penne pasta
1/2 medium yellow or white onion, chopped
1-3 cloves of garlic (as desired), minced
2-3 T sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
4 c of chicken stock/chicken broth
2 T unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cans fat-free evaporated milk
1/2 c heavy cream (opt., though I think it gave the rich flavor while adding a relatively small amount of fat)


1. Cook whole wheat penne pasta to al dente (still a bit firm) . Drain and set aside.

2. Cook up the chicken breasts with just a little oil heated up in the dutch oven. The chicken was patted dry, seasoned with salt, pepper and probably some Canadian Steak Seasoning (a favorite blend that I get from Sam's Club). I cook chicken breasts with the lid on for the first few minutes to heat up the inside of the meat. Once the meat is no longer translucent I take the lid off to get each side browned up well. After the chicken rests for a few minutes, slice up, or cut into cubes, as preferred.

*TIP* It is important to keep an eye on the chicken while cooking. If it starts to brown and the oil/fat around the chicken are getting dark in the bottom of the pot, shift the chicken around to loosen and pick up the bits so that they don't burn.

3. Add a little drizzle of oil and add chopped onions and garlic (optional) and chopped up sun-dried tomatoes. (I used the kind packed in olive oil. ) Deglaze with the vegetables and little bit of oil over medium heat. Cook to tender yet firm.

4. Add 2 T flour and appx. a quarter cup of chicken stock. Cook for 2 minutes over medium-high heat. Begin to add stock and fat-free milk in turns (about a cup at a time) with the pesto. Continue heating and stirring. Add cream.

*TIP* Step 4 should take about 5 minutes or so. At this point the cream sauce should fill about half, or more, of a 5 quart pot. In my experience, WW pasta tends to soak up more liquid and requires a larger amount of sauce then other pastas. I like my pastas creamy and I like the sauce to be plentiful. If you do not, you may wish to adjust with smaller amounts of broth and cream/milk.

5. Stir in pasta and warm through. Add salt to taste.

If you try this recipe, please let me know how it goes. I plan to try again in the future and will update this post with any changes necessary.

ENJOY!