Chicken breasts made in the slow cooker with pesto and butter then made into a cheesy pasta casserole with mozzarella cheese and parmesan.
This new recipe for Slow Cooker Pesto Mozzarella Chicken is a spin-off from a freezer meal I made a few months ago called Lemon Pesto Chicken. Looking back at that recipe I wish I would have done this to it from the start. Adding the pasta and parmesan in the slow cooker at the end of the cooking time THEN topping with mozzarella cheese turned that basic recipe I made a few months ago into a meal I want to make weekly now.
For this recipe I tried the Mezzetta pesto, It did well in this recipe! Of course, homemade pesto would be better but I don’t have time for that! Besides topping the chicken with the pesto I also add fresh lemon juice and butter. The way the butter tastes with the pasta can’t be beat.
Start with chicken breasts, salt, pepper, lemon juice, pesto and butter. Yes, that is all you put in at first. It’s that easy.
After the chicken is cooked I add a pound of cooked pasta and top with mozzarella cheese.
This meal is beautiful enough to have dinner guests over! Just add a salad and French bread for sides,
I was afraid my daughter wouldn’t like this meal because of the green stuff on it. She didn’t even blink an eye and ate a whole plate! What I love about this meal is how there is not much prep to do to get this in going in the crock pot. Putting the chicken and sauce ingredients in the crock pot takes less than 10 minutes.
You may also like these easy slow cooker recipes:
- Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan Pasta
- Slow Cooker Olive Garden Chicken Pasta
- Slow Cooker Garlic Butter Chicken and Pasta
- Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Spaghetti
- Slow Cooker Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti
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Slow Cooker Pesto Mozzarella Pasta
Equipment Needed:
- Slow Cooker- 6 quart or larger
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 lbs. chicken breasts
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 1 cup jarred pesto I used Mezzetta
- 1/4 cup salted butter
- 1/2 lemon
These items don’t get added until the end
- 1 lb. rotini cooked and drained
- 1/2 cup parmesan
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella
- 1/4 tsp. dried basil to garnish
Instructions:
- 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.
- Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.
- Near the end of the cooking time, cook the pasta according to the package directions and drain well.
- Shred the chicken with 2 forks. Add the cooked pasta and the parmesan cheese, stir everything until the pasta is coated with the buttery pesto 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.
- Serve and enjoy!
This sounds like it is very delicious! I like cooking the pasta along with the meat sauce, do that with spaghetti sauce a lot. This makes the pasta more flavorful. Do you have some idea how to cook the pasta along with the chicken in this recipe?
How long do I cook it on high?
I would do 3.5-4 hours
So easy and so delicious! For those asking if you can use frozen chicken breasts, I used two big frozen breasts on low for 5 1/2 hours and it turns out great. I made a few additions. I sliced up two onions and put them on the bottom of the crock pot to soak up all that good chicken stock and add some antioxidants to the meal. I also realized right when it was time to assemble the dish that we were out of mozzarella, so I subbed in two extra cups of freshly shredded parmesan and it still turned out great.
Zucchini noodles work instead of pasta noodles for diabetics??
This was awful. The cheese just clumped the chicken together and it was like chunky cheesy chicken and pesto flavored noodles. Threw the whole thing out.
I suggest using shredded mozzarella if you didn’t the first time and adding some chicken broth.
Can I substitute shrimp fir the chicken?
Shrimp doesn’t take much time to cook, I’m unsure how I would go about doing it with this recipe.
Can I sub olive oil for butter to make a dairy free version on the chicken portion? Or use a non-dairy butter?
Yes I think that will work fine.
Can I cook it in less time on high?
Yes, that will work fine.
How should you adjust cook time for frozen chicken and can you do it on high instead of low to reduce the cook time?
HI Monique, I don’t use frozen chicken, so I can’t advise. I apologize.
I use frozen chicken tenders and it turns out fine. I haven t ajusted a thing.
I found this to be good but a little on the dry side. I want to reheat leftovers so what can I do to moisten it up for the reheat?
You could add some broth or even a little more butter.
Personally I find breast to be on the dry side so I use thighs.
This recipe is a GO TO in my house! Anyone know if/how it can be made without a slow cooker? [we are on vacation and didnt bring ours along]
I just did tonight – 15 minutes at high pressure and it was perfect.
My kids ate it! Woohoo!
(Can you freeze it?)
I think it will freeze fine!
Did you freeze it? I have lots left over and want to freeze.
How much longer should I cook this if my chicken is frozen?
I have a smaller crock pot, i believe it’s a 4 quart. not a lot of experience using it – could I still make this?
Hi Evie, I think it would work if you only used 3/4 of a box of pasta at the end.
Do you have an instapot version of this recipe?
Following this question.
Following as well
It was excellent loved it and it was simple to make.
This is a reworded question,
How do you keep the cheese from sticking to the chicken? It won’t stick to the noodles at all, it’s lumps of cheesy pesto chicken with noodles. The flavor is awesome but would be better if it would cream together. What can I do?
LuAnn,
I don’t know if you used pre shredded mozzarella or shredded your own, but I recommend buying a block of mozzarella and grating it on your own instead of buying the pre-grated cheese. Pre-grated cheese contains preservatives like potato starch and natamycin, meant to keep the shreds from clumping together in the bag. That also means they don’t melt together as well when cooking. Full fat mozzarella also melts better than the skim versions. Be sure to put the cheese directly on top of the noodles so it doesn’t just stick to the chicken. I hope this helps! Best of luck 🙂
We all love this recipe. But how do you keep the cheese from clumping up? I’ve tried different cheeses but they still clump.
This is a reworded question,
How do you keep the cheese from sticking to the chicken? It won’t stick to the noodles at all, it’s lumps of cheesy pesto chicken with noodles. The flavor is awesome but would be better if it would cream together. What can I do?
I used thighs and it was far too greasy. I definitely will try again with breasts. I would suggest that this is not a recipe to leave for more than the 6 hours, and thus not a good weekday recipe. The pesto and chicken were too well done because I left it for just over 8.
Maybe try to use freshly shredded cheese? The pre-shredded stuff is coated in powdered cellulose. I find that if I shred it from a block of good cheese, it melts better
Too dry – need to figure out what to do next time to give it more moisture.
What about some pasta water
I’m making this tonight and I’m already thinking of adding a little chicken broth/stock in the beginning to make more liquid as the chicken cooks and then adding some heavy cream when the pasta is added at the end to make it a little more of a creamy texture.
How did this turn out with the broth & heavy cream? I want to try this, but my family will definitely need some “sauce”.
Add more pesto and chicken broth.
Once all the ingredients are mixed together, I mix in a jar of Alfredo sauce. It’s so good and definitely helps with the dryness.