Wes Ellis./ a personal notebook
Technology. Stories. Side projects.
A few things worth writing down.
SearchSubscribe
← Back to Short-Order Kitchen

Short-Order Kitchen

Air Fryer Chicken Bellagio

By Wes Ellis2 min read
Pesto pasta topped with seared chicken, arugula and roasted cherry tomatoes.
Recipe card
Servings
1
Prep
10 minutes
Cook
15 to 18 minutes
Method
Air fryer
Heat
375°F air fryer
Difficulty
Medium
Jump to ingredients & directions ↓

Part 3 of the thread Air fryer weeknights

THE SHORT VERSION4 points
  • Chicken at 375°F for 15 to 18 minutes, flipped once, to 165°F.
  • Toss the pasta with oil and Parmesan the second it's drained.
  • Pesto first, then the crispy bits on top of the chicken.
  • Turkey bacon is the lighter swap for prosciutto.
THE RECIPE · AIR FRYER CHICKEN BELLAGIO

Ingredients

Chicken

Pasta and plate

You'll need

  • Air fryer
  • Pot for pasta
  • Steamer or pot for broccoli
  • Small pan for the prosciutto or bacon

Directions

Prep

  1. Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. If you're using breadcrumbs, wet them with a little of the lemon juice and press them onto the top.
  2. Cook the pasta until al dente, drain, and immediately toss with the olive oil and Parmesan. Keep warm.
  3. Steam the broccoli until tender-crisp. Crisp the prosciutto or turkey bacon in a pan, the microwave or the air fryer, then crumble it.

Cook

  1. Air fry the chicken at 375°F for 15 to 18 minutes, flipping halfway, until golden and 165°F inside.

Plate

  1. Pile the pasta on a plate and set the chicken on top, whole or sliced.
  2. Spread the pesto over the chicken and scatter the crumbled prosciutto or bacon over it.
  3. Add the broccoli and the arugula, and dress the arugula with the rest of the lemon juice.
Notes Best put together fresh. Leftover components keep separately in the fridge for 1 to 2 days; reheat the chicken and pasta gently and plate right before eating. Roughly 360 calories and 40 g protein per serving, give or take.

wesellis.com/blog/air-fryer-chicken-bellagio/

Chicken Bellagio is the kind of thing you order at a chain Italian place when you want everything on one plate: pasta, chicken, pesto, something salty and crisp on top. This is a stripped-down take on that idea, built around the air fryer and a pot of protein pasta.

Timing the pieces

There are more parts here than in most air fryer dinners, so it's worth thinking about order. The chicken takes the longest, so get it in first. While it cooks, boil the pasta, steam the broccoli and crisp the prosciutto. Everything lands at once if you start the pasta waterThe cloudy, starchy water left after boiling pasta. A splash of it helps cheese and sauce cling to the noodles instead of clumping.More: Philly Cheesesteak Pasta before the chicken goes in.

The one thing not to skip: tossing the pasta while it's hot. Oil and Parmesan cling to hot, slightly wet pasta. Wait five minutes and you get a clump with cheese sitting on top.

Tip

Prosciutto crisps in about a minute in the air fryer, but it's light and will fly around. Weigh it down with a small rack or cook it in a pan instead.

Pesto, then crunch

Spread the pesto first so the crumbles have something to stick to. That little layer of salty, crisp pork over herby pesto is what makes the plate feel like a restaurant dish instead of chicken and noodles.

If you like the pesto-and-chicken pairing, the Pesto Chicken Bake runs the same flavors through a casserole dish. The pesto trick also works on fish; see Air Fryer Pesto Salmon. And for the red-sauce version of chicken over pasta, there's the Chicken Parmesan Bowl.

LINKED FROM2 notes

Keep reading