Pesto Chicken Skillet

Pesto chicken skillet is easy to make, so flavorful and ready in just 10 minutes. This chicken pesto skillet is made with simple ingredients for a delicious weeknight meal. Make this with homemade pesto or your favorite store bought pesto sauce.

Course dinner

Cuisine Italian

Keyword basil pesto chicken, chicken pesto skillet, healthy pesto chicken, pesto chicken skillet

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 10

Total Time 15

Servings

Calories 321kcal

Author Samantha Rowland

Ingredients

1.25 pounds boneless, skinless chicken
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup pesto

Instructions

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat.
Cut the chicken into cubes (about 1 inch cubes) using kitchen shears or a sharp knife on a plastic cutting board.
Place the chicken cubes into a large bowl. Add olive oil, salt and garlic powder. Stir well.
When the skillet is preheated, turn the heat up to medium high and add the chicken to the skillet.
Make sure the chicken is in a single layer in the skillet. Cook 5 minutes (don't move the chicken in the skillet).
After 5 minutes, stir the chicken in the skillet. Cook 4-5 more minutes until the chicken is done.
Once the chicken is done cooking, add the pesto and stir well. Serve hot or cold.

Video

Notes

To save time, I like to use chicken tenders. However, I recommend that you still spend a minute to remove the chewy tendon from the tenders. The easiest way to do this is to hold the tendon with a paper towel and use a fork to press against the chicken as you pull it out. The paper towel is helpful because it can get slippery, using a paper towel makes it so much easier.

If you know you will be short on time, you can prep the chicken the night before. Simply cut the chicken into even size pieces and place it in an airtight container or ziplock bag and store in the fridge until you are ready to cook.

Cut the chicken into uniform sized cubes (as closely as possible) so that they cook evenly.

Use a large skillet and allow it to get very hot before adding the chicken. This is the key to getting a good sear on the chicken.

Want to make this even quicker? Use rotisserie chicken or pre-cooked chicken instead. Simply reheat the chicken in a skillet over medium heat with about 1/4 cup of water. Once chicken is hot, add the pesto and serve.

Use kitchen shears to make cutting the chicken even easier. If you don't have kitchen shears, I recommend using a plastic cutting board that can go into the dishwasher for sanitizing.

Nutrition