With Creme Fraiche Chicken Pasta with Pesto, you’ll be begging within seconds. French sour cream is perfect for a quick pesto pasta sauce.
Have you ever been to France? I highly highly highly recommend it. It is simply lovely.
And yes I’ve been hanging out with too many Brits over the past few months and adopted the word ‘lovely’ into my vocabulary. Americans don’t use this word enough. ‘Great’ just won’t cut it.
Lovely is the only appropriate word. The villages are charming, the food displays irresistible and the architecture stunning. France is an amazing country.
Then there’s the food. Ah the food. So good.
Don’t get me started on the cheeses and the pastries – I could talk all night.
One particular French couchsurfing host (Jeriam) mentioned that one of the only things he missed about France while living in Germany was the sour cream. Puzzling. I had to see what the fuss was all about, so I purchased my first glass jar (yes it comes in a glass jar) of crème fraîche.
Oh and it is good. Less sour than US sour cream but with a higher fat content, it’s rich and light at the same time. I could see why Jeriam missed this.
What to do with a whole jar of it though?
So I thought.. Pasta sauce? Why not? And that’s how this Creme Fraiche Chicken Pasta came to be. But that wouldn’t be enough — I needed to add pesto to the sauce too to really take this dish to the next level!
And so I marinated some chicken strips in pesto and garlic, lightly pan fried them along with some tomatoes and whipped up a pesto/crème fraîche sauce combo.
Tossed together with some tagliatelle, the result is this rich, creamy dreamy Creme Fraiche Chicken Pasta.
If you can get your hands on some real French sour cream don’t pass up the chance!
Let me know what you think of my Creme Fraiche Chicken Pasta in the comments below!
French sour cream is perfect for a pesto pasta sauce. Creme Fraiche Chicken Pasta with Pesto for the win!
- 4 ounces tagliatelle cooked according to package directions
- 8 ounces chicken breast
- 8 large cherry tomatoes halved or quartered
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2-3 tablespoons pesto
- 2-3 tablespoons creme fraiche preferably from France
- salt pepper to taste
- For the marinade:
- 1/2-1 tablespoon pesto
- 2-3 cloves garlic minced
- salt pepper to taste
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Cut chicken breast into strips and rub with pesto, salt/pepper and garlic. Refrigerate for 1 hour (or more).
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Heat pan over medium heat and add olive oil. Cook chicken until browned on both sides and cooked through. Remove from pan.
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Add tomatoes and garlic to same pan and cook for 2-3 minutes. In the meantime cut chicken into bite sized pieces.
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Add chicken back to pan and mix with tomatoes. Add in the pasta, pesto and creme fraiche. Mix thoroughly.
To make this recipe dairy free use coconut cream in place of creme fraiche
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Oh my, this looks wonderful! Maybe one day I’ll make it to France, but for now I think I just need to give this a try 😀
Vicky says
Thanks! I do hope you make it to France one did – it really is simply lovely!
Dave @ Fit Chef Chicago says
Yum! Love pesto anything! And yes, creme fraiche is quite lovely. Much better than sour cream. 🙂
Vicky says
Definitely SO much better then sour cream. So glad creme fraiche is easy in many European countries! Love it!
Amy says
This looks delicious!