Easy Baked Pesto Chicken
Want to know the best parts of this recipe? How about only 3 ingredients? How about the preparation? You are simply rinsing, drying and slicing your chicken breasts into three thick strips. That’s all. You can use thighs here too.
The pesto I used on this day is my tried and true Gotham Greens from Whole Foods. Update: By popular demand, I am including my new pesto recipe below… It is fantastic and flavorful!
Baking this dish is a no brainer. And the bonus here is that it makes the chicken SUPER juicy and tender.
This is definitely a winner winner chicken dinner and please all the family and friends in your life. I served mine with some rice and poured the baking dish juices all over – chef’s kiss!
I also use this same method with my salmon, which happens to be my favorite. I slather the salmon with a thick layer of pesto and then top that with a parmesan cheese and breadcrumb mixture. Nothing beats it. Again, time and taste are terrific here.
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Easy Baked Pesto Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3/4 cup mozzarella shredded
- 1/2 cup pesto
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Slice your chicken breast into thick large strips. Depending on the size of the piece, slice into three or two strips. Season all the strips, front and back, generously with salt and pepper.
- Spread half of the pesto all over the bottom of your baking dish.
- Transfer the chicken to the dish in an even layer. Scoop the rest of the pesto on top and spread out with a brush or spatula to coat.
- Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 20-25 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with your mozzarella. Place back in the oven until cheese is melted. Don’t over bake… you want juicy meat. Internal temperature of meat should be 165 F. Top with chili pepper flakes.
Notes
Nutrition
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Made this with the lemon zucchini feta orzo and it was soo goood!!
Hi Sara, Awesome combination! Thanks for sharing!
So delicious. My toddlers eat this up!
Hi Jennifer, thats awesome! Glad everyone liked it!
So yummy and so simple. Just another easy peasy yummy dish from Stella.
Super easy to make and very tasty. Thank you for another amazing recipe!
Hi Nataliia, i’m so glad you tried it and liked it! Thank you for kind feedback!
It was much tastier and juicier with thighs. Breasts dry out and not as tasty as thighs.
I used boneless, skinless thighs, cut them in 3rds as we do not like breast meat. So easy yet so exceptional!
So easy and delicious! I had just enough leftover jar pesto. I used chicken tenderloins instead, added a few garlic cloves and cherry tomatoes. Served on top of linguini. Another keeper. Love your recipes!
Made this for dinner and served it with rigatoni pasta and added a chopped onion, tomato and crushed garlic. It was an easy meal to put together, and turned out good but found the flavor a bit flat. Might try it again with different seasonings or a different pesto sauce, but there was a “meh” kind of rating from the family. Appreciate your website and the posting!
Nice recipe but I believe washing/rinsing raw chicken is considered dangerous and likely to spread bacteria.
Loved it! Super easy to follow. At the end I broiled the dish to brown the cheese a bit – delicious! Thank you
can this be frozen after cooking?