Chicken breasts with a cheddar-crumb topping, nestled in a creamy pesto sauce on a bed of roasted cherry tomatoes. This Easy Baked Pesto Chicken is a mouth-watering easy dinner that doesn't require any pre-cooking. Just add it all the dish and bake.
One-pan cooking doesn't have to be all about same-coloured food that spends all day in the slow cooker. Whilst I am a huge fan of coming home to a meltingly tender pork ragu or spicy chicken curry, sometimes we're out too early to start something cooking, and home too late and don't have a lot of time, but still want a delicious meal.
It's those days when you need a meal like this. All cooked in one tray, you can have a beautiful meal on the table in half an hour - and two-thirds of that time can be spent sat on the sofa enjoying a cup of tea.
The textures and flavours will make you so happy you skipped the beans on toast!
What do we need?
How to make this Pesto Chicken
***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.***
- Chop up cherry tomatoes and mix with a little cornflour, salt and pepper, then stir in garlic, stock and pesto.
- Top the tomatoes with chicken breasts and spoon a little pesto on each, then sprinkle on some grated cheddar.
- Add my seasoned panko mixture (see the recipe card)
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
- If you like, sprinkle on a few pine nuts halfway through the cooking time (Note: I'm adding them halfway through because I've tested this recipe and they'll burn if they're in the oven for the whole time).
- Once cooked, stir a little cream into the sauce.
Sprinkle with a few fresh basil leaves before serving.
What to serve it with
- Homemade Pasta
- Crispy Roast Potatoes
- Easy Artisan Bread
- Pan-Fried Sauté Potatoes
- Easy Garlic Bread
Ingredient swaps
- Try swapping out the pesto for harissa and adding olives for a spicy version.
- Try swapping the pesto for barbeque sauce and throw in some chorizo for a smoky version.
More Italian Inspired Recipes
- Lasagne
- Spaghetti Bolognese
- Tomato Risotto
- Chicken Parmesan
- Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake
- Tuscan Chicken Soup
- Pizza Fries < OK not really that Italian but I think it qualifies as Italian inspired!
Watch how to make it
Easy Baked Pesto Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 400 g (14oz) cherry/grape tomatoes - sliced in half
- 1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic - minced
- 1 chicken stock cube - mixed with 120ml (½ cup) boiling water
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 3 tbsp fresh pesto
- 4 small chicken breasts - or 2 large chicken breasts, sliced in half to make 4 fillets
- 60 g (2.1 oz or just over hafd a cup) cheddar cheese - grated
- 25 g (½ cup) panko breadcrumbs
- ¼ tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp pine nuts
To finish:
- 3 tbsp double (heavy) cream
- Fresh basil leaves
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.
- Place the cherry tomatoes in the bottom of a baking dish and sprinkle over the cornflour, ¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper. Toss together with your hands.
- Add the garlic, stock, red wine vinegar and 1 tbsp of pesto and stir together.
- Top the tomatoes with the 4 chicken breasts.
- Spread the remaining 2 tbsp of pesto on the chicken breasts and sprinkle on the cheese.
- Mix together the panko breadcrumbs, paprika, olive oil and the remaining ¼ tsp each of salt and pepper.
- Sprinkle the mixture on top of the chicken.
- Place in the oven to cook for 10 minutes, then sprinkle over the pine nuts.
- Place back in the oven to cook for a further 10-15 minutes - until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle.
- Remove from the oven and stir the cream into the liquid and tomatoes in the baking dish.
- Sprinkle fresh basil leaves over the dish and serve with some fresh pasta or some boiled potatoes.
Video
✎ Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was first posted in October 2014. Updated in November 2020 with new photos, video and improvements to the recipe.
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Rachael Cohens says
Incredible dinner and can say with certainty that it's the most delicious, flavor banging dish I've ever made; I'm 50yrs old with a grandchild and cooked a lot of meals in my lifetime! Hands down, the best! I added a little spicy kick as along w/ sliced black olives but even sticking to recipe (w/o pine nuts), exceptional! Making it this weekend for my son and 4yr old granddaughter! Thank you for the amazing meal ideas, from my 💜!
Rachael
P.S. Wish I could embed a photo to show it off! I took plated and dug-in photos of yummyness!