Chicken & Vegetable Penne with Parsley-Walnut Pesto

This was fantastic. I added basil when making the pesto for added flavor. It easily made plenty to serve 4. My family went back for more so it's something I will make again.

After reading the reviews about this dish being bland I decided to use basil rather than parsley for the pesto. I had more basil in my garden than I did parsley anyway! I had also pre-cooked the chicken yesterday in an air fryer (it's summer after all!) and had seasoned it with paprika and s&p. It was delicious and I will make it again!

The pesto is delicious!!! If it wasn’t for that the would get 2stars! It’s good don’t get me wrong however, there’s something off. It’s missing a spice that I can’t put my finger on. Don’t shred the chicken, chop it and cook ahead of time in the oven with EVOO and salt pepper. Don boil the veggies, roast them with EVOO and pepper.

After reading the reviews I decided to cook the chicken separate in the oven so it could be seasoned. I also steamed the green beans and cauliflower separate as well. Turned out good!

This was unnecessarily bland when I expected light and refreshing. I even used higher quality parmesan that we had on hand. It just needed something extra. I ended up doctoring it with vegetable bouillon base and lemon juice and zest which made it way better. I would highly recommend roasting the vegetables and chicken next time to add that extra oomph. Boiling everything together sounds good in theory because it is so easy, but it takes the flavor away.

TLDR: take the time to roast your veggies and chicken, when reserving your cup of water add 1 tsp bouillon of choice (or sub 1 cup stock), add lemon juice and zest to taste. then this will be a recipe you will remember.

It was ok and was missing something. The walnuts were good in it.

We loved this. I used asparagus instead of green beans and it was delicious. I will definitely be making this again.