Oh this one is YUMMY!!! If you like pesto and enjoy baked boneless, skinless chicken breast that stays moist, you will really enjoy this recipe. It was SOOO good!
I found it over on Pinterest (Who’s shocked?). I pinned it, printed it and took it home. Tim also thought it sounded good, so we gave it a try. We had a spinach salad with it. It was quick and easy to make, and the chicken stayed really moist.
This is part of the South Beach Diet for those that are interested in that. I just thought it sounded yummy! It was posted by Kalyn Denny over at http://www.kalynskitchen.com.
Baked Pesto Chicken
Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
salt and fresh ground black pepper for seasoning chicken
1/2 cup basil pesto
2 oz grated low fat mozzarella cheese (We used shredded.)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Trim all visible fat and tendons from chicken pieces. Cut each chicken breast lengthwise into two or three pieces (like you are making chicken strips).
Spray a 9×13 baking dish with non stick spray, then spread 1/4 cup basil pesto over the bottom of the dish. Lay chicken strips over the pesto, then spread the remaining 1/4 cup pesto over the chicken.
Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake the chicken for 25-30 minutes, just until chicken is barely firm and cooked through. (Don’t cook it too much at this point, or the chicken will be overcooked by the time the cheese is melted and browned.)
When chicken is barely cooked through, remove foil and sprinkle with 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese. Put dish back into the oven without the foil. Cook 5 minutes more, just until cheese is melted. (IF your broiler is separate from the oven, start preheating it when you take the chicken out.) After melting the cheese for 5 minutes, switch oven over to broil and broil 5 minutes more or just long enough to get the cheese lightly browned.
Serve hot. There will be some flavorful juice in the bottom of the dish when this is done, so you may want to serve with rice, coucous, or quinoa to soak up the juice. You can also spoon some over the chicken when serving.
Enjoy!