Make Italian fettuccine pesto pasta in under 20 minutes using store bought pesto. I’ll show you the right way to add the pesto sauce to pasta and how to serve it for a Sunday dinner platter with chicken and vegetables. Let’s make Fettuccine Al Pesto!
Why you’ll love this comfort pasta dish with pesto
- Quick and easy… Pasta with pesto sauce is ready in ~ 20 minutes!
- Serve it family style with air fryer chicken breast or pan seared chicken breast and vegetables.
- For the noodles, use fresh homemade fettuccine or store bought pasta.
- Use ready-made pesto or homemade pesto (see my tasty spinach basil pesto).
- Includes family style pasta platter serving ideas (feel free to add pasta toppings!)
Ingredients for this recipe
Just a handful of ingredients go in this pesto pasta recipe.
- Fettuccine (substitute linguine, angel hair, or spaghetti)
- Butter, unsalted
- Olive oil
- Pesto, store bought or homemade
- Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
See how to make a classic basil pesto recipe…
How to make pesto pasta with fettuccine
Step by step, let’s whip up this easy pasta dish.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil on the stove. Add 1 tsp salt, return to a boil, then add fettuccine pasta.
- Cook fettuccine pasta, stirring occasionally until pasta is cooked to al dente so it still has a little bite and isn’t completely soft. Fresh pasta will cook in 2-4 minutes. Store bought pasta (that is dried) will take 6-10 minutes, check the package for details. Drain pasta once done, reserving ¼ cup of pasta water. Start sauce while pasta cooks.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter and olive oil. Once ingredients are melted, stir them together and turn off the heat. Add reserved pasta water and pesto and stir to combine. You don’t want to cook the pesto with heat, it will warm up with the melted butter.
- Add pasta to pesto butter and toss to coat with tongs until combined. Serve immediately with freshly grated parmesan cheese in a large family style platter with tongs and any other toppings you’d like.
How to make a platter with pesto pasta and chicken
Once you have the basic pasta with pesto recipe, the fun part is adding pasta toppings to your family style dinner platter. Make sure there is a little something for everyone to enjoy.
Proteins that pair with pasta
- Grilled chicken breast or oven baked chicken breast
- Shrimp (try this sous vide shrimp)
- Steak slices (see this coulotte steak recipe)
- Toasted pine nuts
Related: Does parmesan cheese go bad?
Vegetables that pair well with pasta
- Sauteed onions and peppers
- Asparagus (see my sous vide asparagus recipe)
- ¼ cup corn
- Steamed broccoli or air fryer broccoli
How to make breaded chicken pesto fettuccine
Pick up some tricks, like adding leftover pesto to breaded chicken, to serve with your pasta al pesto…
Other ingredients to add to pasta dishes with pesto
- ½ cup drizzle of store bought alfredo sauce or homemade white sauce
- Nuts (try walnuts or toasted pine nuts)
- Fresh basil leaves from the Aerogarden
- Diced tomatoes or roasted cherry tomatoes
- Asiago cheese (one of my must have Trader Joe’s shopping trip items)
- Slices of lemon for guests to squeeze lemon juice on pasta
- Fresh cracked salt and pepper
This 15 minute pasta tastes like an Italian restaurant dish… See how to make my creamy bucatini pasta sauce.
More easy recipes that use pesto…
- Pesto pasta
- Grilled romaine salad
- Tomato pesto pasta salad
- Spinach pesto pasta
- Spinach pesto lasagna
- Pesto pizza
FAQs for making pasta with pesto
Adding in a small amount of pasta water—that water your cooked pasta was boiled in, which you drained when you took it off the stove—is a foul-proof way of ensuring your pesto coats the fettuccine beautifully. In addition to draining the pasta and reserving water, my special butter pesto sauce combination will make your pasta stick to the pesto sauce.
You don’t want to add pesto to hot pasta straight from the stove because the heat will ‘cook’ the basil, changing both taste and appearance! Mixing pesto with warm or cold pasta works well.
My all-time favorite recipe is this one for basil spinach pesto. It’s delicious, easy to make, and a wonderful way to get my family to eat their spinach!
I like to serve my pesto fettuccine with a fresh salad — my simple cucumber and tomato salad or summer peach salad are easy favorites! This pasta dish is also delicious served as a side for steak.
More Steak Dinner Ideas from Sip Bite Go
Pro tip: One of my go-to tricks for perfectly cooked food every time is using the right BBQ meat thermometers.
Are you a foodie, too?
Hey home chefs, FYI – there’s a new addition to my growing repertoire of gourmet pizza recipes: chicken spinach pizza. This delicious pizza is a favorite with the whole family— in fact, my toddler likes it so much that he even gobbles up the spinach. Serve it up with a Caprese cucumber salad or this peach salad… so yum!
Another recipe you’ll enjoy is this angel hair pasta with chicken.
Find me on Instagram @sipbitego for creative easy dinners everyone loves. For more deliciousness, subscribe to the Sip Bite Go channel.
Fettuccine Pesto Pasta Recipe | Sip Bite Go
Video
Equipment
- Pasta Machine
Ingredients
- 1 lb fettuccine substitute linguine, angel hair, or spaghetti
- 1 tbsp butter unsalted
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 8 oz pesto store bought or homemade
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese freshly grated
Serving suggestions
- Chicken breast
- Asparagus
- Tomatoes
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil on the stove. Add 1 tsp salt, return to a boil, then add fettuccine pasta.
- Cook fettuccine pasta, stirring occasionally until pasta is cooked to al dente so it still has a little bite and isn’t completely soft. Fresh pasta will cook in 2-4 minutes. Store bought pasta (that is dried) will take 6-10 minutes, check the package for details. Drain pasta once done, reserving ¼ cup of pasta water. Start sauce while pasta cooks.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter and olive oil. Once ingredients are melted, stir them together and turn off the heat. Add reserved pasta water and pesto and stir to combine. You don’t want to cook the pesto with heat, it will warm up with the melted butter.
- Add pasta to pesto butter and toss with tongs to combine. Serve immediately with freshly grated parmesan cheese in a large family style platter with tongs and any other toppings you’d like.
Debra says
Our new favorite pesto pasta recipe! So good with fresh gluten free pasta noodles from Trader Joes.
Margaret Doering says
Made this tonight with Costco pesto. I added a splash of heavy cream & did a low boil for a few minutes to reduce the liquid. Was soooooo yummy! It’s a keeper & look forward to making this again as it was quick!