Pesto baked chicken is on heavy weeknight rotation around here – easy, hands-off and absolutely delicious!
I halve the baby tomatoes because exploding, molten tomatoes is an absolute pet peeve of mine – whether its on my plate (all over the table) or searing down my chin, I just can’t abide it! So, halved they are. But that is literally the only thing you have to chop to make this dish. You don’t even have to turn the chicken over, it’s that hands off! And just 3 ingredients… THREE… chicken breasts, basil pesto and baby tomatoes. That. Is. It. I could wax on and on but that doesn’t seem in keeping with this easy, flavour-filled mid-week marvel.
A trick I having been using to pull together quick dinners is frozen cubes of basil pesto. Pesto freezes really well, you just freeze in an ice cube tray and pop into a sealed bag or container once frozen to pull out when you need a punch of flavour and a burst of colour.
- 4 (approx 500g) chicken breasts
- 250 g baby tomatoes
- ¼ cup basil pesto, divided
- salt and pepper, to season
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Coat chicken fillets pesto on both sides (1 tablespoon for each chicken breast). Season with salt and pepper.
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Arrange the coated chicken breasts in a casserole dish (I coat with non-stick cooking spray to make it easier to clean later) and bake at 180°C for 30 minutes.
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Remove and add tomatoes. Return to the oven to cook a further 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
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Slice up your chicken, be sure to scrape up all the delicious pan juices and enjoy.
Serve your pesto baked chicken with pesto pasta (my favourite), pesto zoodles, mashed potato or cauliflower, steamed veg or a big ‘ole side salad.
Got a case of the “what’s for dinners…?”, grab some inspiration from my 8 favourite chicken breast recipes or scroll through what’s for dinner for tasty, quick and easy home-cooked family meals.
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