Pesto Chicken GRILLED OR OVEN BAKED, smothered in a creamy, homemade Basil Pesto! Served with cherry tomatoes, this chicken is out of this world crazy good, low carb and only needs 2 main ingredients!
2 Ingredient Pesto Chicken, two ingredients… no way!
Oh lord. This chicken is (or was) unreal. I’ve included TWO different cooking methods in the recipe below, because BOTH have to be shared! Personally, I love grilling and the unmistakeable barbecued, char-grilled flavour it brings out in the chicken. BUT! Oven baked is JUST as good, tender and juicy, with an incredible flavour!
It all starts with pesto. Remember the pesto I shared yesterday? Yeah. That pesto. That’s the pesto you’re going to be making and smothering all over your chicken. (I’m kidding. Totally not.) Yes, of course you can use store bought pesto and save yourselves 2 minutes of a food processor processing. How. Ever. Nothing beats the flavour in fresh, homemade pesto.
Then, you are going to either grill OR oven bake your pesto smothered chicken until it’s cooked through and perfectly soft on the inside, and golden on the outsides. THEN you’re going to grill the tomatoes OR add your tomatoes to the oven. And BAM! Chicken done so easily, with hardly ANY work needed.
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2 Ingredient Pesto Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 skinless and boneless chicken breast fillets (about 1 kg | 2 pounds)
- 1/2 cup Basil Pesto , plus 1/4 cup extra for serving (use this recipe for homemade pesto or you can use store bought)
- Salt and Pepper to season (optional - adjust to your tastes)
- 500 g | 17 ounces cherry tomatoes (optional as a serving idea)
Instructions
- Smother chicken fillets in the pesto on all sides (about 2 tablespoons of pesto for each chicken breast, depending on your taste). Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
Grill:
- Preheat a barbecue plate, grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Cook for 5-6 minutes each side or until completely cooked through. Transfer to a warm plate. Grill the tomatoes, rotating once, until soft and beginning to brown.
- Top chicken with extra pesto. Serve with the tomatoes.
Oven Baked:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F | 180°C. Line a baking dish with aluminium foil or bang | parchment paper.
- Arrange the coated chicken breasts in the baking dish and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.
- At 30 minutes, remove the chicken from the oven and arrange the tomatoes around each fillet.
- Place the chicken back in the oven and cook a further 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink.
Poms says
We used chicken thighs – very juicy and tender
Love pesto!!!
Valerie says
Easy and delicious. I added sliced zucchini with the tomatoes at the 30 minute mark. Veggies done. Easy Peezy. My husband actually loved it. This was after a face when I told him we were having pesto chicken for dinner. LOL
Gabriel says
This was so delicious! thanks for sharing!!
KB says
My family won’t eat tomatoes.. any other veggie you would recommend and how long would you cook?
Daniel says
Five thumbs up??! Awesome recipe (not surprised) Thank you so much for sharing. My family and I appreciate what you do so much!!
You are my lifesaver…..
Dan.V
caitlin says
What would you serve this with??
Anna says
OMG it’s smells so good cooking (in the oven) we cant wait to taste ie, justput back in with the tomatoes… I’ll let U know how yummy it is later… Thanx so much!!!
Ellen says
Hi, could you give me a hint on how to freeze this recepe for 2 days? My idea is to prepare half a breast and as it is only for me I would have to freeze some and eat in small portions. Thanks
Karina says
Yes, that sounds great! I would recommend even just making it and then freezing what you don’t need at this time. I like to use my foodsaver for freezing. You can even freeze them in individual portions too so you don’t have to keep freezing it and reheating big portions. Hope that helps! Enjoy!
Ivory says
You got me at, “two ingredients”. Just my kind of cooking. Thank you so much. Yum!
Karina says
Totally! I couldn’t agree more! Enjoy your chicken!
Shannon says
We loved this pesto baked chicken! The cherry tomatoes on the side were a great accompaniment.
Karina says
I’m so happy to hear that Shannon!
Ann Schubarg says
Great recipe! I cooked the chicken in the oven and over cooked it because I tried to broil it at the end to get that nice color on it – mistake!! The pesto recipe is awesome and I will make again soon with my basil out back. The tomatoes came out so good – sweet and juicy!! Thanks for posting! I will try again!!
Shannon says
This looks so yummy and I love how simple it is ! Wondering if we used dark meat (boneless/skinless thighs) what the cook time would be?