This one pan pesto chicken and veggies is a sure-shot winner – you get a delicious dish and just one pan to wash! What more can you ask for!
One pan pesto chicken and veggies is a wonder recipe and it has surely made my days much delightful many times. It is fun to make as you can use whatever veggies you like and have at hand. I used zucchini, potatoes and carrots.
Sweet potatoes and broccoli could be another killer combination which you can give a shot at. One pan recipes are real best friends for any busy people out there – it comes around super-quick without much of a prep work and you only end up with one dish!
Life do feel like heaven at times like this when you come to realize that good things like this one pan pesto chicken & veggies do exist for us, isn’t it?
My one pan pesto chicken was extra-delicious because of my homemade pesto. You too can make the basil pesto at home if you follow my simple recipe here. Trust me, homemade pesto is zillion times better than store-bought readymade pesto and I am saying this from my experience.
Making pesto is just ridiculously easy which I why I don’t see why anyone would buy those bottled pesto from supermarket! Your one pan pesto chicken and veggie will be mind-blowing if you take this extra step of making pesto at home!
I am generally not a big fan of chicken breast as it hardly let any flavor penetrate into it. It’s too lean to be tasty, hence I always reach for chicken thighs or drumsticks for my recipes. But today is a different day.
This baked chicken recipe is best suited for chicken breasts. The pesto and mozzarella cheese in this one pan pesto chicken will prevent the chicken breasts from turning dry. When you take your first bite of chicken, the pesto and mozzarella will make the boring chicken breast taste heavenly.
The earthy pesto with melted mozzarella is a match made in heaven which would even make you fall for something as bland as chicken breasts! So, make sure you get hold of a good pesto and what could be better than a homemade version!
The roasted veggie part of this recipe of one pan pesto chicken & veggie is a good canvas to play with. As mentioned above, you can create different versions of one pan pesto chicken and veggies with your choice of favorite vegetables.
It’s always great to see multiple varieties of same recipe which brings in multiple dimensions to the dish. For me potatoes are must-have with baked/roast chicken; you can use any type of potatoes you feel like but small red potatoes are the best ones to go for.
I would have loved some broccoli too in this but I didn’t have one handy while making this dish. That gives me another opportunity to make this one pan pesto chicken & veggies one more time and I can’t be happier about it!
- Chicken breast – 2, skinless and boneless
- Zucchini – 1, medium, cut into 1 cm thick half-moons
- Baby potato – about 10 to 15, unpeeled and cut into halves
- Carrot – 2, medium, cut into 2-inch pieces
- Basil pesto – 1 cup, (homemade is best!)
- Mozzarella cheese – 1 cup, grated
- Garlic – 10 to 12 cloves, minced
- Olive oil – ¼ cup
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil. Brush it lightly with some olive oil.
- Place the zucchini pieces at one side of the pan. Season it with salt and pepper; add minced garlic and olive oil and mix well using a spatula.
- Add the potatoes and carrots on the other side leaving a gap for chicken breasts between the veggies. Season them similarly with salt, pepper, minced garlic and olive oil. Mix well.
- Place the chicken breast in between the arranged veggies. Season them with salt and pepper and drizzle olive oil and sprinkle minced garlic. Brush the chicken breasts to distribute the aromatics evenly.
- Flip the chicken breasts and repeat salt, pepper, minced garlic and olive oil on the other side too. Now add half a cup of basil pesto on each chicken breast and spread them to coat the top evenly.
- Next sprinkle half a cup of grated mozzarella on each chicken breast evenly.
- Preheat your oven to 200 C / 400 F and place the wire rack at lower level. Bake the pesto chicken and veggies in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until internal temperature of the thickest part of chicken reaches at least 165 F in an instant-read thermometer.
- Sprinkle fresh parsley and serve the warm one pan pesto chicken and veggies with a glass of chilled beer! Enjoy!
Cooked in 35 minutes even with three breasts (I used an instant read thermometer). Delicious and my husband loved it too. Thank you, ill make it again!
That’s great Carol! Thanks for trying and loving it as much as we do! 🙂
I opened the chicken breasts before adding the pesto and cheese. Delicious. Thank you. Cooked 30 mins.
Thank you so much Sandia!! Am so glad you liked it! 🙂
I made this last night and it was delicious! I followed the recipe to the tee, changed nothing, and it’s definitely going into the rotation. Yummy!!
Thank you so much Laura!! I am so glad you liked this as much as we did! 🙂