This pesto chicken is out-of-this-world scrumptious and easy to prepare. Pesto chicken is a perfect make-ahead recipe because you can do all the prep work (and it’s minimal prep work) days in advance, and then keep the deliciously seasoned chicken in the refrigerator until you’re ready to cook. The chicken will need about 30 to 45 minutes in the oven depending on the size of the chicken breasts, so your meal can go from fridge to table in less than an hour.

How To Prepare Pesto Chicken

Delicious pesto chicken starts with good quality pesto. I recommend making homemade pesto, but store bought works too. If you’re making your own pesto but you have minimal cooking time in the evenings, pesto is an easy meal prep item- prep the weekend before it’s needed and store in the fridge or you can prep in bulk and store in the freezer for a few months. Making pesto in advance is a meal prep must to save time on a busy weeknight. Here is a blog post on how to make basil pesto. It’s easy, I promise! If you’re buying pesto, look for a brand with good quality ingredients, preferably extra virgin olive oil over refined seed oils like sunflower oil or soybean oil and minimal additives. I like the brand Buitoni.

Once you have your pesto prepared, making this chicken is amazingly simply and can be done in four easy steps.

Trim the fat off the chicken breast and lay them in a single layer in your baking dish.
Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper and gently rub.
Mix a small amount of chicken broth with pesto and stir until the pesto becomes a bit runny.
Pour the pesto/broth mixture over the chicken.

That’s it.

All that’s left to do is allow the chicken to marinate in the flavorful pesto concoction for a few hours or if you’ve prepared this in advance, it can marinate for a few days. Cover your baking dish with foil and place it in the fridge.

Baking Pesto Chicken

Baking the chicken is the easiest part, but there are a few things to remember if you want the juiciest, most delicious chicken.

Keep It Covered. Keep the dish covered with foil while it bakes. This will prevent too much liquid from evaporating and allow the chicken to come out juicy and tender.
Don’t Overbake. The chicken needs about 30 – 45 minutes in the oven depending on its thickness. Use a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the chicken breast to determine doneness. Chicken should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Overbaking will produce dried out, rubbery chicken.

The 30 – 45 minute baking time provides a perfect opportunity to cook quick side dishes to go with the pesto. Of course, side dishes can always be prepped in advance too.

What To Serve With Pesto Chicken

When I’m deciding what foods to pair together, as a dietitian I consider a few things.

Balanced Plate The components of a balanced meal are non-starchy vegetables, protein, fiber-rich starch, and healthy fat. If you want to learn more about balancing your plate, read this. The chicken provides plenty of protein and the extra virgin olive oil and pine nuts in the pesto provide a healthy, anti-inflammatory fat source. To create balance, side dishes need to include non-starchy vegetables and a fiber-rich starch. In my opinion, the Italian origin of pesto makes pasta the perfect starch to add. I like to make tomato basil pasta to serve on the side- essentially, it’s just cooked pasta topped with olive oil, garlic, basil and tomatoes. You can find the recipe here. But pasta in marinara sauce or another starch like risotto would work well also. I often serve steamed broccoli and a side salad with this dish, but any non-starchy vegetable works.
Color A colorful plate is more appetizing than a monochromatic plate. The pesto chicken is greenish thanks to the basil, tomato basil pasta is white with a pop of red from the tomatoes and that makes an appetizing plate compared to a plate with green pesto chicken, green peas as the starch and broccoli as the non-starchy vegetable- that way too much green! Plus, pigments in plants contribute valuable nutrients to the meal, so a variety of colors means a variety of different nutrients.
Flavors I always consider what flavors pair best together, and what pairs well is really a matter of opinion. I don’t think that Mexican flavored black beans would be a good starch to serve alongside pesto chicken, but Italian seasoned white beans would work for me. It’s all a matter of what you and your family prefer, so as you plan your meal, take time to consider what flavors are best for you and your family.