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Hearts of Palm Pasta Chicken Pesto

This hearts of palm pasta is super healthy and tastes so good you'll forget you're not eating real pasta. It's loaded with pesto, bacon, toasted pine nuts, and pesto-marinated chicken. As an added bonus, it's also dairy-free, gluten-free, Whole30, and paleo.

Key Ingredients

Hearts of Palm Pasta Spinach Basil Chicken Garlic Olive Oil Bacon Pine Nuts

Step 1

Make the pesto (if you're using store-bought pesto, you can skip this step).

Step 2

For making Pest: Add spinach, basil, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, almond butter, black pepper, salt, and crushed red pepper to a food processor and blend until combined.

Step 3

Cut the chicken into thin bite-sized strips. Add them to a bowl with ½ a cup of the pesto, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Set it aside. Reserve the rest of the pesto.

Step 4

Add the pine nuts to a large pan over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until golden brown and toasted. Remove them from the pan and set aside.

Step 5

Add the bacon to the same pan over medium heat. Cook until crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside (leave the grease in the pan).

Step 6

Transfer the chicken to the same pan. Cook over medium until the chicken is cooked through.

Step 7

Add the hearts of palm, remaining pesto, pine nuts, and bacon to the pan with the chicken.

Step 8

Stir to combine everything (tongs are useful here), and cook for an additional 2 minutes, until the hearts of palm is warm. Then enjoy!

Q: Can I use store-bought pesto?

A: Yes! Use whatever pesto is your favorite. Just skip step 1 and use your own pesto. Our pesto recipe makes about 1.75 cups.

Q: I can't find hearts of palm pasta. Can I use something else?

A: You can use regular pasta or zucchini noodles. Just cook them according to package instructions, then add them to the rest of the ingredients at the very end.