Pesto-Baked Chicken

If you are bored with chicken and want something deliciously simple, then look no further than this Pesto-Baked Chicken. It’s an easy gluten-free dinner recipe everyone in the family can enjoy. Not only that, the pesto in this recipe is pine nut-free and paleo-friendly. {Paleo}

Pesto-Baked Chicken is much easier to make than I thought it would be. If I have to fold things into things, then there is a 99.6% chance I will get the folding wrong. Pretty sure I once had to watch a video tutorial on how to fold a fitted sheet. So folding pesto into a chicken breast, I figured, wouldn’t go well.

Except that it went just fine. And, really, all we’re doing is butterflying the chicken breast enough to get about a tablespoon or two of pesto in the center, and then we’re calling it dinnertime. If you aren’t quite sure the best way to butterfly a chicken breast (or are wondering what in the fresh it even means), then you might like BBC Good Food’s post, How to Butterfly Chicken Breasts. Pretty straightforward. Also, this is how we win dinnertime, friends. 

Grab a cutting board, a few chicken breasts, and let’s ditch boring dinners in favor of flavor! 

PESTO-BAKED CHICKEN INGREDIENTS:

Below are the ingredients to make your own Pesto-Baked Chicken. You can buy store-bought pesto. Or, if you’re in the mood to make a pine nut-free pesto, then you you can easily throw a batch together in about 5 minutes!

• Chicken breasts. I butterfly them as though I’m slicing a biscuit and without slicing all the way through.
• Homemade pesto. This pine nut-free pesto recipe uses fresh basil, cashews, fresh garlic, lemon juice, water, olive oil, and sea salt.
• Olive oil. I use enough to cover the baking dish and then enough to drizzle over the chicken breasts so they don’t dry out during the baking process.
• Sea salt and pepper. I add each to taste.

HOW TO MAKE PESTO-BAKED CHICKEN:

Below are the instructions to make your own Pesto-Baked Chicken. If the pesto oozes out of the chicken breast, it’s completely up to you whether you spoon it back in or scoop it up and drizzle it over the top of the chicken breasts once they’re done cooking. I tend to do the latter.

1. Set the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Butterfly each chicken breast about 2/3 – 3/4 of the way through (so that the breast is still intact rather than sliced into two separate chicken breasts), and spoon 1-2 tablespoons pesto into each chicken breast. Close the chicken breasts and either tie them shut with kitchen twine or stick toothpicks in the center of each to keep them shut during baking. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with sea salt and pepper.
3. Pour enough olive oil into the baking dish to cover the entire pan (I usually bake this recipe in a 9×13 pan, even if the chicken breasts are on the smaller side). Place the chicken breasts in the baking dish and drizzle olive oil over the chicken breasts to prevent them from drying out.
4. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the chicken breasts reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees. Serve over lettuce, mixed vegetables, veggie noodles, cauliflower rice, or by themselves.

 If you like this chicken recipe, then you might also enjoy:

• Sheet Pan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables
• Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Soup
• Easy Paleo Apple Chicken Salad

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