Creamy Pesto Three Cheese Tortellini with Chicken

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This Creamy Pesto Three Cheese Tortellini with Chicken is one of my favorite pasta dishes to share with you. I love it because it’s great with chicken leftovers, all my kiddos love it and it’s super quick and yummy!   This easy pasta recipe is creamy with a light pesto and yummy garlic sauce … oh so good!

Ingredients

• 3 cheese tortellini pasta
• butter
• cooked chicken
• cream of chicken soup
• pesto sauce
• milk
• garlic

Life… super busy right now!  I love that I can whip this together in less than 20 minutes.

I usually grill up a bunch of chicken breasts at the beginning of the week. That makes for really easy salads, quesadillas or any other dish that calls for chicken during the week. Other times I’ve grabbed a rotisserie chicken from the store.

How to cook three cheese tortellini?

If you have fresh pasta, frozen pasta, or boxed (shelved) pasta that basics are typically all the same. You start by bring a pot of water to a boil. You want the pot to be large enough to fill with plenty of water and the pasta.

Once the water comes to a boil I add about a tablespoon of salt. Stir that in and then add the pasta.

Now you’ll want to check your packaging on how long to cook the pasta. Fresh pasta cooks up quick in just a couple of minutes.

Pasta Directions

Once you’ve added the pasta to the boiling water it’s time to work on the rest of the pasta dish. The tortellini I used takes 10 minutes to boil. Just the perfect time to put together the rest of this recipe.

Add the butter to a large skillet and turn the heat to medium. Once the butter has melted, added the cooked, shredded (or chopped) chicken. Stir the chicken around the butter to coat and let it cook a couple minutes.

Then add the cream of chicken soup, pesto, milk, and garlic. Mix those together slowly. Once it starts to bubble, I lower the temperature to low and let it simmer until the pasta finishes cooking.

Once the pasta has cooked, drain water from it and then add it to the saucepan with the pasta sauce. Mix the pasta into the creamy mixture until it’s coated. Serve hot!

Suggestions for Additional Pastas

Now one of the great things about pasta dishes is that most can be altered of added to so easily! Here are some suggestions on ways to change of this recipe:

• tomatoes – you could add fresh, diced Roma tomatoes or drain a small can of Italian stewed tomatoes (drained) to the dish when you add the pesto.
• parmesan cheese or romano cheese – grate some fresh and sprinkle on top of the dish after you’ve added the pasta.
• Add fresh mozzarella balls to the pasta sauce when you add the pest.
• chill this recipe and serve it as a chilled pasta salad
• add baby spinach to the sauce when you add the pesto
• use a wheat flour pasta instead
• add dollops of creamy ricotta cheese to the finished pan
• sprinkle chopped parsley to top of the finished dish

Here’s the favorite pasta dish in our family… creamy, dreamy recipe…

Creamy Pesto Three Cheese Tortellini with Chicken

A 20 minute pasta dinner with a great creamy pesto sauce and chunks of chicken.

Print Recipe

Prep Time:10 minutes mins

Cook Time:10 minutes mins

Total Time:20 minutes mins

Ingredients

• 1 bag of Barilla® Three Cheese Tortellini
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups cooked chicken
• 1 can of cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup pesto sauce
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 clove minced garlic

Instructions

• Bring a pot of water to a boil and add your bag of Barilla® Three Cheese Tortellini. Boil on medium heat for 10 minutes.
• While your Barilla® Three Cheese Tortellini is boiling, add your butter to a pan over medium heat. Once butter is melted add your cooked chicken. Toss about for 1-2 minutes.
• Add the can of cream of chicken soup, pesto sauce, milk and garlic to the chicken. Mix till combined.
• Turn heat to low and let simmer until pasta is done.
• After pasta has boiled for 10 minutes scoop out the pasta and add it to your creamy pesto chicken. Toss it all together and let simmer another minute before serving.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American, Italian

Keyword: chicken, pasta

Other Pasta Recipes

• Baked Penne Pasta Recipe
• Creamy Garlic Pasta Dish
• Creamy Tortellini Pasta with Garlic Basil Sauce

_{“This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Barilla, but all my opinions are my own.}