20-Minute Rotisserie Chicken Pesto Pasta With Peas and Spinach

Rotisserie Chicken Pesto Pasta With Peas and Spinach

Rotisserie chicken pesto pasta is a weeknight dinner you can make while a pot of pasta cooks. Shredded chicken needs only reheating, frozen peas cook in the pasta water, and baby spinach wilts in a skillet. Prepared pesto finishes the dish after the heat is off, so there’s no separate sauce to make.

Expect about 20 to 25 minutes, depending on how quickly your water boils and which pasta you use. The work is mostly opening containers and stirring. There’s no raw chicken to handle and, if you buy prewashed spinach, no chopping required.

Ingredients and timing

Yield: About 4 servings
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 to 20 minutes
Total time: About 20 to 25 minutes

• 12 ounces (340 g) short pasta, such as penne, rotini, or farfalle
• 2 cups shredded cooked rotisserie chicken, about 10 ounces (280 g)
• 1 cup frozen peas, about 5 ounces (140 g)
• 3 packed cups prewashed baby spinach, about 3 ounces (85 g)
• 1/2 cup prepared basil pesto, about 4 ounces (115 g), depending on the brand
• Salt for the pasta water
• 2 tablespoons water for reheating the chicken, plus reserved pasta water for the sauce
• Optional: lemon wedges, grated Parmesan, or freshly ground black pepper for serving

Short pasta makes this especially easy to toss and serve. Its curves and openings hold the peas and bits of chicken, but any shape with a similar cooking time will work. Check the pesto label if you’re serving someone with a nut, dairy, or other food allergy; ingredients vary by brand.

Make the pasta

1. Start the water. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt it, add the pasta, and stir. Cook according to the package directions until the pasta is tender but still has a little bite.

2. Warm the chicken. When the pasta has about five minutes left, put the shredded chicken and 2 tablespoons of water in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir occasionally, breaking up any large clumps. If the chicken has been refrigerated, heat it thoroughly to 165°F (74°C). Add another spoonful of water if the skillet looks dry.

3. Cook the peas and spinach. Add the frozen peas to the pasta pot for the last two minutes of cooking. Once the chicken is hot, add the spinach to its skillet and stir for about one minute, until wilted. Turn off the skillet heat.

4. Save some pasta water. Before draining the pasta and peas, scoop out about 3/4 cup (180 ml) of their cooking water. Drain well, then add both to the skillet with the chicken and spinach.

5. Toss with pesto. Add the pesto and a few tablespoons of reserved pasta water. Toss until the pasta is evenly coated, adding more water a tablespoon or two at a time if it looks dry. Taste before adding salt: both the pesto and rotisserie chicken may already be well seasoned. Serve with lemon, Parmesan, or pepper if you like.

Keep the pesto off direct heat. The hot pasta will warm it as you toss, and the starchy cooking water will help it coat the noodles. If you’re using a particularly thick pesto, you may need much of the reserved water; a thinner pesto may need very little.

How to keep the meal close to 20 minutes

Put the pasta water on the stove before shredding the chicken or measuring anything else. Water often takes longer to boil than the rest of the preparation takes to do. While it heats, pull the meat from the bones, measure the peas and pesto, and set out the skillet.

You can use both white and dark meat. Shred or cut larger pieces into bite-size pieces so they heat evenly and mix through the pasta. A leftover chicken that’s already been stripped from the bones makes the meal faster still. There’s no need to thaw the peas, and prewashed baby spinach can go straight into the skillet.

Choose pasta with a package cooking time of roughly 8 to 11 minutes if speed is the priority. A thicker shape that takes 15 minutes to cook will push dinner past the 20-minute mark. The timing also assumes you can heat the chicken in a skillet while the pasta cooks. If you have only one burner or need to shred a whole chicken first, allow more time.

The skillet should be large enough to hold all the pasta for the final toss. If it isn’t, return the drained pasta and peas to the empty pot, then add the hot chicken, wilted spinach, pesto, and pasta water there. You’ll get the same dinner without trying to stir twelve ounces of pasta in an undersized pan.

Adjust the sauce to the pasta

Prepared pesto differs quite a bit from one jar or tub to another. Some is thick and concentrated; some contains more oil and pours easily. Start with the listed 1/2 cup, toss, and look at the pasta before deciding whether it needs more. The noodles should have a visible coating, without a puddle of oil at the bottom of the skillet.

Reserved pasta water helps loosen a thick pesto without making the dish oily. Add it gradually. Pasta absorbs liquid as it sits, so a dish that looks lightly sauced in the skillet may look drier by the time everyone is seated. A final splash of the saved water just before serving is often enough.

The peas add sweetness and need no separate pan. Spinach cooks down sharply, so three packed cups won’t overwhelm the finished pasta. If the leaves are large, stir them through until they have wilted and no longer form a mound above the noodles. A squeeze of lemon at the table can brighten a rich pesto, especially one made with plenty of cheese or oil.

This is a flexible way to use leftover rotisserie chicken, but keep the proportions reasonably close the first time you make it. Much more chicken or spinach may call for additional pesto and pasta water. If you have less chicken, the pasta still works as a smaller meal or alongside a salad.

Using and storing leftover chicken safely

Refrigerate a purchased rotisserie chicken promptly, within two hours of bringing it home. Cooked chicken generally keeps three to four days in the refrigerator when stored properly. Making it into pasta does not start a new storage period for the chicken, so plan leftovers around when the chicken was originally cooked or purchased.

For the best texture, serve the pesto pasta soon after tossing it. Refrigerate any leftovers promptly in a covered container. When reheating a portion made with previously chilled chicken, heat it thoroughly to 165°F (74°C). A splash of water can help loosen the sauce, though the spinach will be softer and the pesto may look less vivid than it did on the first night.

This recipe works because each ingredient has a small job: the pasta and peas share a pot, the chicken and spinach share a skillet, and the pesto needs no cooking at all. With those tasks happening at the same time, a leftover chicken becomes a complete dinner in about the time it takes to boil and drain pasta.