Pesto Pasta Meal Prep
This one’s a proper crowd pleaser. Seared chicken, penne, and a basil pesto you make from scratch in the blender — no jar needed. It tastes like something you’d order at a restaurant, but it’s built for the week ahead.
The trick with pesto pasta is keeping it loose and glossy instead of dry and clumpy once it’s been in the fridge a few days. I use reserved pasta water to bring it back to life rather than dumping in more oil, and it works every time.
Toast your pine nuts, slice your chicken against the grain, and you’ve got five containers of something genuinely good, not just something that reheats okay.
Pesto Pasta Meal Prep
CHICKEN · PASTA · MEDIUM
Fresh Pesto, Not the Jarred Stuff
Making your own pesto takes maybe ten extra minutes and it's a different food entirely to what comes in a jar. Fresh basil, toasted pine nuts, real parmesan — blended together it's bright, garlicky, and genuinely worth the blender clean up.
The chicken gets seared first for colour, then finished in the oven so it stays juicy while you handle the pasta and pesto. Slice it against the grain and every piece stays tender through the week, not chewy.
It's also a great one to double up on. Make extra pesto and freeze it separately — you'll have a shortcut to this whole meal ready to go whenever you want it.
Pesto Pasta Meal Prep
Ingredients
Chicken & Pasta
- 30 ml Olive Oil Divided
- 750 g Chicken Breast or Thigh, Boneless & Skinless Diced or Sliced
- 8 g Onion Powder
- 8 g Garlic Powder
- 750 g Penne
- Salt & Pepper To Taste
Basil Pesto
- 2 Garlic Cloves Minced
- 30 g Parmesan Cheese Grated
- 30 g Pine Nuts Toasted
- ½ Lemon Juiced
- 2 bunches Basil Trimmed
- 125 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Salt & Pepper To Taste
Method
Chicken & Pasta
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F).
- Add the chicken to a mixing bowl with half the oil and all the seasoning. Mix well.
- Place a pan over medium-high heat, add the remaining olive oil, and sear the chicken for 2 minutes on both sides, or until golden brown. Transfer the pan to the preheated oven and cook for 13 minutes, or until cooked through to an internal temperature of 74°C (165°F). Remove and rest for 10 minutes.
- Thinly slice the chicken across the grain and set aside.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta, and cook as per the packet instructions. Drain and let cool, reserving 1 cup (250ml) of the pasta water.
Basil Pesto
- Place the pine nuts onto a lined baking tray and roast for 4-5 minutes, or until golden, in the preheated oven.
- To make the pesto, add the garlic, parmesan, and toasted pine nuts to a blender, food processor, or mortar. Blend or crush into a coarse paste.
- Add the basil, extra virgin olive oil, and seasoning to taste. Blend or crush again until it forms a smooth, slightly coarse pesto. Adjust the flavour with the lemon juice and set aside.
Serving
- Place the chicken, pasta, and basil pesto into a large bowl and mix well until everything is coated, adding a splash of the reserved pasta water if needed to loosen the pesto and help it cling to the pasta. Check and adjust the seasoning.
- Divide into 5 meal prep containers. Garnish with fresh parmesan, extra virgin olive oil, and lemon (optional). Dig in.
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4 thoughts on “Pesto Pasta Meal Prep”
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Thank you Jack, this recipe is delicious 😋. I used toasted almonds as I didn’t have pinenuts and chicken tenderloins instead of chicken breast. The chicken together with the pasta and the pesto had so much flavour. This would be terrific as a cold salad for summer.
Is the 750g of pasta the pre or post cooked weight?
It’s the dried weight
Thanks! Will probably drop that a bit for the pesto to go farther next time but a good recipe all the same!