Carol’s Chicken Pesto bake is low carb and gluten-free recipe. It’s easy to make, and only one pan is needed.
Just pile all the ingredients on top of the chicken breasts in a baking dish and bake everything in the oven. Once the chicken is cooked, you’ll have lots of juices in the pan. Pour these delicious juices over cooked rice or cooked pasta, such as spaghetti or angel hair pasta, and serve these side dishes with this Mozzarella chicken. Because you bake everything in one pan, the cleanup is minimal.
CAROL’S CHICKEN PESTO BAKE
This chicken bake has a similar style to Chicken Parmigiana (or Chicken Parmesan) because many ingredients are similar, and the chicken is baked in the oven. But unlike Chicken Parmigiana, my Mozzarella Chicken is gluten-free (no bread crumbs or flour is involved), I use fresh tomatoes and spinach pesto, and I use Mozzarella cheese only. The resulting dish is so delicious and refreshing! Perfect for Spring and Summer season!
INGREDIENTS YOU NEED FOR CAROL’S PESTO CHICKEN BAKE
- 1 pound chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup spinach pesto
- 4 roma tomatoes sliced
- 10 baby bella mushrooms quartered
- 6-7 1/2 inch slices of fresh buffalo mozzarella
- Fresh garlic cloves minced
- salt
To make this mozzarella chicken bake, I like to use thin chicken breasts. You can buy thinly sliced chicken breasts in the store or flatten the chicken as described below.
HOW DO YOU FLATTEN THE CHICKEN
- To flatten the chicken, first, cover your work surface with plastic wrap.
- Lay the chicken breasts on top and cover with another piece of plastic wrap.
- Pound the chicken breasts with the flat side of a meat mallet to even their thickness.
- Alternatively, you can slice each chicken breast horizontally to make two thinner and flatter chicken breasts out of each large chicken breast.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH CAROL’S PESTO CHICKEN BAKE
You can serve this Mozzarella chicken bake with spaghetti, angel hair pasta, or rice. When the chicken is done, there will be a good amount of juices at the bottom of the pan. Since those juices are pretty tasty, toss cooked pasta or rice with those juices (which are plenty, as you can see in the photos) from the pesto chicken bake, and you’ll have a delicious meal!
Alternatively, you can serve your Mozzarella chicken with roasted asparagus, green beans, roasted broccoli, or roasted potatoes.
Here are some of my favorite side dishes to go with this pesto chicken bake:
HOW TO COOK CAROL’S CHICKEN PESTO BAKE
Preheat oven to 400 F. Place chicken breasts in a casserole pan. Season the chicken with salt and top with minced garlic.
Top with spinach pesto.
Put tomato slices on top.
Then add thickly sliced fresh Mozzarella cheese on top.
HOW TO BAKE CAROLS CHICKEN PESTO BAKE
Bake chicken breasts uncovered at 400 F in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, depending on the thickness of your breasts.
When serving, top each chicken breast with fresh chopped basil and a fresh slice of tomato. Pour the juices from the bottom of the casserole pan over cooked pasta (such as angel hair or spaghetti) or cooked rice (such as Jasmine rice).
Carol’s Chicken Pesto Bake
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, boneless skinless
- salt
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup spinach pesto
- 2 Roma tomatoes, sliced
- 8 oz Fresh Mozzarella cheese, sliced
- 2 TBSP of fresh Basil
- 10 Baby Bella Mushrooms, Quartered
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F
- Place chicken breasts in a medium size casserole pan.
- Sprinkle the chicken with salt. Top with minced garlic.
- Spread spinach pesto over each chicken breast.
- Tomato slices on top.
- Add thickly sliced fresh Mozzarella cheese on top.
- Add quartered mushrooms to pan around chicken
- Bake at 400 F in preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, depending on the thickness of your breasts.
- When serving, top each chicken breast with fresh chopped basil, and a fresh slice of tomato.
- Pour the juices from the bottom of the casserole pan over pasta or rice.
