Pesto Chicken Rollatini over Cavatappi
with Roasted Zucchini & Parmesan
- Milk
- Wheat
**Now with more chicken! You asked, we listened: This isn't the HelloFresh you remember. Bigger menu. Upgraded recipes. Increased portion sizes. More variety. The best way to cook dinner just got BETTER.** Tender chicken rollatini—stuffed with creamy pesto breadcrumbs—tops a bed of cavatappi and roasted zucchini tossed in a rich pink marinara sauce. Each golden slice of chicken adds deeply savory flavor and, while the sauce-soaked pasta and tender veg round out this cozy, Italian-inspired comfort dish.
Ingredients
1 unit
Zucchini
1 unit
Shallot
1 ounce
Basil Paste
4 tablespoon
Cream Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
1 tablespoon
Italian Seasoning
1 unit
Tomato Paste
1 teaspoon
Garlic Powder
6 ounce
Cavatappi Pasta
(Contains: Wheat)
12 ounce
Chicken Cutlets
3 tablespoon
Parmesan Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
1 unit
Chicken Stock Concentrate
¼ cup
Panko Breadcrumbs
(Contains: Wheat)
Not included in your delivery
Salt
Pepper
Cooking Oil
Olive Oil
Sugar
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Adjust rack to top position and preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. • Once water is boiling, add cavatappi to pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, 9-11 minutes. • Reserve ½ cup pasta cooking water (1 cup for 4 servings), then drain.
• While pasta cooks, wash and dry produce. • Trim and quarter zucchini lengthwise; slice crosswise into ½-inch-thick pieces. Halve, peel, and finely chop shallot. • In a small bowl, combine panko, basil paste, half the cream cheese, and half the Parmesan.
• Pat chicken* dry with paper towels; place between two large pieces of plastic wrap. Pound with a mallet or rolling pin until chicken is about ¼ inch thick. Remove and discard top layer of plastic wrap. Season chicken all over with ½ tsp Italian Seasoning (1 tsp for 4 servings), salt, and pepper. • Keeping chicken on plastic wrap, add panko filling to bottom third of each cutlet. Tightly roll up chicken over filling, starting with filled sides, removing plastic wrap as you go. • Place stuffed chicken, seam sides down, on one side of a lightly oiled baking sheet. Lightly drizzle olive oil over chicken
• On opposite side of sheet from stuffed chicken, toss zucchini with a drizzle of oil, salt, and pepper. Roast chicken and veggies on top rack until chicken is cooked through, 15-18 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a second small bowl, whisk together stock concentrate and ½ cup water(1 cup for 4 servings). • Heat a drizzle of oil in a medium pan over medium heat. Add shallot and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 2-3 minutes. • Add tomato paste; cook until darkened in color, 30-60 seconds. Whisk in reserved pasta cooking water, chicken stock mixture, garlic powder, 1 tsp Italian Seasoning, and 1 tsp sugar until smooth (use 2 tsp Italian Seasoning and 2 tsp sugar for 4). (Be sure to measure the Italian Seasoning—we sent more!) • Whisk in remaining cream cheese and cook until sauce has thickened, 1-2 minutes more.
• Remove pan with sauce from heat; add drained cavatappi and zucchini and toss until everything is coated in sauce. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired. • Slice chicken crosswise. • Divide pasta between bowls and top with chicken. Top with remaining Parmesan, a drizzle of olive oil, and pepper. Serve.
Poultry is fully cooked when internal temperature reaches 165°.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the pesto-stuffed chicken, but some found the pasta sauce bland or watery. Consider adding extra herbs or reducing for a richer flavor 🍲.
- Ease of prep: While some found it surprisingly easy, others felt it was labor-intensive for a weeknight meal. Start the chicken before pasta for better timing.
- Suggestions: Thicken the sauce by simmering longer or adding extra cream cheese. Consider broiling chicken briefly for better color.
- Portions: Generous servings left some with leftovers for lunch. A few wanted more sauce or vegetables to balance the pasta.
- Chicken: Stuff with less filling for easier rolling. Ensure it's cooked through; some found it dry while others had undercooked centers.
Reviews from our home cooks
Absolutely delicious! I love the 'rolling up' of tasty ingredients inside of the chicken - fancy and pretty as well as tasty. The topping adds that wonderful crunch which I also love. I adore pesto, garlic, onion and chicken is my fave - so putting all these together is a total winner. The roasted zucchini is heavenly and adding it to the noodles is genius. It really adds dimension and smooth texture - so satisfying especially because it's fall and temperatures are dropping.
A pain to roll up the chicken with the pesto in it. One of the two opened up in the cooking process, but still tasty. Spouse loved the dish.
I royally screwed up the recipe and forgot to add the pesto and cream cheese to the chicken rolls but it still tasted so good no one noticed! Praying this goes on the menu again so I can round 2 and redeem myself as well as my pans.
Oh this was frickin delish. A little tedious to make but worth it. Loved the pesto and cavatappi pasta
This was really good, worried bc not a lot of sauce but the pesto chicken paired perfectly nicely with pasta and sauce!
I've never seen this recipe before, I'm so glad I grabbed it when it popped up. It was so delicious and easy! Hoping to see this one in the rotation again in the future so we can pick this one again!! My kids were apprehensive about it, but one bite in and they were hooked too!
The chicken should have been prepped and placed in the oven before starting to cook the pasta; the cavatappi was almost cold by the time we put it in the sauce to coat. Then the sauce had to sit on a very low heat so that the chicken could finish cooking.
Chicken was fabulous! Pasta was sort of bland and I would sauté the veggies instead of roasted them. Pasta and sauce should be done closer to the end of prep because they got cold.
Meal was really good, would suggest starting the chicken before the pasta for better timing. Our order was missing the Parmesan cheese, but fortunately we had some on hand.
Loved making and eating the chicken, loved the filling & the sauce. Excellent recipe
