Slow Cooker Chicken Pesto Pasta

Chicken, pasta, pesto, butter. There's really not much else you need to make a meal that you'll love. I came across this recipe where I come across a lot of the recipes I try- on Pinterest. Since we've been traveling so much lately I haven't gone to the grocery store in a while. Luckily, we had all the ingredients to test it out. 

I loved how easy it was to put together, and we both loved the taste. I didn't have rotini so I used a combo of rigatoni and penne because, unfortunately, I didn't have enough of just one. This didn't affect the taste any. 

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs. chicken breasts
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper
• 1 cup pre-made pesto (I used Buitoni)
• ¼ cup salted butter
• ½ lemon
• 1 lb. rotini cooked and drained (add at the end)
• ½ cup parmesan (add at the end)
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella
• ¼ tsp. dried basil to garnish

Steps:

1. Add the chicken to the slow cooker. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Spread over the pesto, squeeze the lemon juice over the chicken. Cut the butter into slices and lay over the chicken.

2. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.

3. Begin cooking the pasta according to the package directions and about 20 minutes before the timer goes off. Drain well. 

4. Once time is up on the chicken, shred the chicken with 2 forks.

5. Add the cooked pasta and the parmesan cheese, stir everything until the pasta is coated with the sauce and the chicken is evenly dispersed throughout the pasta. Add the mozzarella cheese over the pasta. Cover for about 15 more minutes or until the cheese has melted.

I loved this dish and will be making it more often. Adding the butter to the chicken slices made it super juicy and added really nice flavor. I used less butter than the recipe calls for, and think you can, too, if you wanted to cut back on fat.