Baked Pesto Chicken Recipe

Emma supervises

I'm so happy that I found this recipe.  It's fast and easy and goes well with rice or chicken.  I made this when my family was over and Erin tried it again for dad.  She was much more creative with ingredients when she made it as she was working from memory.  Her's sounded super snazzy and I'm afraid the original is a bit sad in comparison.

The original recipe can be found HERE.

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chickenn breasts

salt and fresh ground black pepper for seasoning chicken

1/2 cup basil pesto 

2 oz. (1/2 cup) grated low-fat mozzarella cheese

Honestly, I don't even measure anymore.  I just dump some store bought pesto into a baking dish and shake it until the pesto covers the bottom.

Cut the chicken breasts into strips and then place them in the baking dish.

Spread some more pesto on top and then cover with foil.

Bake for 25-30 minutes at 375F.  After cooking remove from oven, top with grated mozzarella cheese, and cook uncovered for another 5 minutes.

Once everything is finished you'll notice that the pesto seems to have turned into green oil.  It's a bit shocking to see how much olive oil was in there but who cares?!  This just makes it easier to toss with pasta or rice.  I've ladled the sauce out and have plated the chicken strips on a serving platter and dumped rice or pasta into the baking dish and stirred.  This method works better for pasta than rice.  The rice tends to be overpowered by the pesto and hard to chase around on the plate.

  

This makes great leftovers as well.