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    Home ยป Recipes ยป Pasta

    Mushroom and Chicken Penne with Walnut Pesto

    Published: Mar 19, 2016 ยท Modified: Aug 23, 2022 by Amanda Mason ยท 4 Comments

    chicken_paste_penne_gluten_free

    I'm in love with pasta. People look at me weird when I say that because I think people have this idea in their head that if you are gluten free, you don't eat pasta. Umm...so not true. I love a good pasta dish and that's exactly what this one is. Full of flavor and savory. This one comes from Pinch of Yum. I think everyone out there knows who Pinch of Yum is, but when I saw this recipe it had me hooked! I love pesto sauce. I love walnuts. I love mushrooms. Putting them all together just make sense! Oh - but I added some chicken and asparagus to this recipe. I have to have my vegetables and protein! I also love this dish because it fits all my macros perfectly.

    I'm a fitness freak and I use myfitness pal every single day to ensure I'm hitting my macros. It's really important to me that I hit my protein, fat and carb macros daily. I primarily work out at night and when it's my lower body push day, I need a meal like this to get me through it. It's brutal. It's a 1.5 hour workout that involves an insane amount volume/weights. I do a combination of hack squats, smith machine squats, weighted walking lunges, leg press and a couple more intense exercises. I hired a trainer and it was well worth it because I got the results I wanted. I dropped from 23% body fat to 13% body fat in about a year. I gained 11 pounds of muscle and lost 13 pounds of fat! Amazing results! And you know how I got there and how I maintain it? I ate and I lifted. I don't diet...at all. I ate the right macros and I lifted weights. I get sick of eating.... that's how much I have to eat. I typically eat six times a day. Ok, but back to this recipe....

    I personally struggle to hit my fat macros on some days. My fat macro level is 71 grams of fat a day...but I burn it so it's not that high of a number to me. This recipe is high in fat mostly because of the walnuts, olive oil and Parmesan. If you want to lighten this dish up a bit, cut out the Parmesan and lighten up on the olive oil. Don't cut the walnuts. They contain your heart healthy fat and your omega-3 fatty acids and you need that kind of fat in your life.

    And yes - you can make this recipe either gluten free or traditional. What I mean by that is I use gluten free penne noodle.  If you're not gluten free, you can use regular noodles. Your choice! See - versatility!

    Ahhh.....look at this pasta! I'm so in love! I just want to eat this picture! It tastes that great! Enjoy this one. It will easily become one of your "go to" pasta dishes. I promise!

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    Enjoy!

    walnut_penne_pasta_mushroom_chicken

    Ingredients

    For the Pasta

    • 8 ounces penne pasta (I use Barilla's gluten free penne pasta)
    • 1 teaspoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
    • 16 ounces fresh sliced mushrooms
    • 1 lb thin sliced chicken breast fillets
    • 10 stalks of fresh asparagus

    For the Walnut Pesto

    • 1 cup walnuts
    • 1 ยฝ cups of fresh basil and fresh spinach
    • ยผ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
    • ยผ cup olive oil
    • 2 garlic cloves
    • Juice of 1 lemon
    • salt and pepper to taste

    Directions

    1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Season the thin sliced chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Cook in an oven safe dish for 30 minutes uncovered until done. Once the chicken is done, slice into thin strips. Set aside.
    2. You will now want to blanch your asparagus. To blanch asparagus, add to a pan of boiling water. Cook for 2-4 minutes or until bright green. Run under cold water and set aside.
    3. While the chicken is cooking, cook the penne pasta according to package direction and drain. Rinse with cool water and set aside.
    4. Toast the walnuts in a small saute pan over low heat with no oil. You will want to stir/shake the pan until the walnuts are lightly toasted. This takes about 5 minutes and you'll start to smell the nutty aroma.
    5. Once the walnuts are toasted, in a food processor or blender combine all the ingredients for the walnut pesto and puree until smooth.
    6. In a large saute pan, heat the Extra Virgin Olive Oil and add the mushrooms and saute for about 8 minutes. The consistency of your mushrooms should be a deep golden brown.
    7. Add the cooked penne pasta, sliced cooked chicken breasts, asparagus and the walnut pesto sauce to the pan and stir to combine.
    8. Top with Parmesan cheese and parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste.

    pasta_gluten_free_penne_mushroom

    penne_pasta_gluten_free_chicken

    • Recipe source: inspired by Pinch of Yum
    « Onion Bhajis
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    63 shares

    About Amanda Mason

    Hi! I'm Amanda, the founder and creator behind Recipes Worth Repeating! Simply put, I focus on creating delicious recipes for everyone. I offer variety. I offer convenience. I offer yumminess! And that's why people keep coming back. The recipes I create are absolutely worth repeating.

    Founded in 2012, Recipes Worth Repeating grew from people routinely asking me to email them the recipe for my latest dish. Recipe development comes naturally to me and I find cooking relaxing. Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, I developed a passion for cooking at an early age and I love to showcase a variety of recipes on my blog.Creating delicious new recipes, still photography, and video for Recipes Worth Repeating is the driving force behind what engages my readers to keep coming back for more recipes they will love.

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      Recipe Rating




       

    1. Laura Burwell

      August 13, 2023 at 6:13 am

      This looks amazing! Can you freeze in ice cube trays? Thank you!!!

      Reply
      • Amanda Mason

        August 13, 2023 at 6:56 am

        Do you mean freeze the pasta sauce in ice cube trays? If so then yes - but I don recommend freezing the pasta with the sauce. It will turn out mushy when re-heateed.

        Reply
    2. Beatrice

      August 23, 2016 at 9:56 pm

      Make it for ma hubby <3

      Reply
      • Amanda Mason

        August 23, 2016 at 10:04 pm

        Hope he enjoys!

        Reply

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