Basil Pesto Tomato Mozzarella Chicken Bake – low carb, gluten free recipe. Easy to make. 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.
Mozzarella Chicken 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 basil 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 Pesto Tomato Mozzarella Chicken
chicken breasts boneless, skinless
salt
garlic cloves
basil pesto
fresh tomatoes
fresh Mozzarella cheese
fresh basil
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 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 Pesto Tomato Mozzarella Chicken
This Mozzarella chicken bake can be served 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 on 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:
Asiago, Bacon, and Garlic Roasted Asparagus
How to cook Mozzarella Chicken with Basil Pesto and Tomatoes
Preheat oven to 400 F. Place chicken breasts in a casserole pan. Season the chicken with salt and top with minced garlic.
Top with basil pesto.
Add tomato slices on top.
Add thickly sliced fresh Mozzarella cheese on top.
How to bake mozzarella chicken with pesto
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).
Basil Pesto Tomato Mozzarella Chicken Bake - low carb, gluten free recipe. Once the chicken is cooked, use the delicious juices from your baked chicken to pour over cooked rice or cooked pasta, such as spaghetti or angel hair pasta, to serve as side dishes with this Mozzarella chicken. Because you bake everything in one pan, the cleanup is minimal.
- 4 chicken breasts , boneless, skinless
- salt
- 4 garlic cloves , minced
- 1/2 cup basil pesto
- 2 tomatoes , sliced
- 8 oz fresh Mozzarella cheese , sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Place chicken breasts in a medium size casserole pan.
Sprinkle the chicken with salt. Top with minced garlic.
Spread basil pesto evenly over each chicken breast.
Add tomato slices on top.
Add thickly sliced fresh Mozzarella cheese on top.
Bake 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 pasta or rice.
Made this last night for company and it was delicious! I used a jar pesto bought from the store and it was still great! The leftover liquid in the pan was delish also over the angel hair pasta but the pasta quickly soaked it up so the pasta was a little dry and could’ve used something more. But all was so tasty together!
I am so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for sharing your comment. Yes, this chicken bake is delicious over the angel hair pasta!
Can you tell me how to make the basil pesto?
Here are two great recipes for homemade basil pesto:
https://www.cookingclassy.com/pesto-how-to-make-beautifully-green-pesto/
https://natashaskitchen.com/basil-pesto-recipe/
Pounding the chicken is an easier alternative to making the various keto crusts, which include using chicken meat. Basically, anything you can top a pizza or chicken with, you can use with chicken pounded flat! It’s a pretty good way to use up leftover ingredients in the fridge. I’ve been making pesto from carrot tops, and using the pesto to make pizzas!
Great idea!
Loved this! Added a sprinkle of poultry seasoning and a sprinkle of salt on the tomatoes. Drizzle of olive oil over all. Will absolutely make this again.
So happy you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂 Poultry seasoning is a nice addition!
What would you suggest pairing with this?
Simple salad and rice would be nice side dishes. You can try these side dish recipes too:
https://juliasalbum.com/avocado-salad-tomatoes-mozzarella-basil-pesto/
https://juliasalbum.com/parmesan-sun-dried-tomato-and-basil-rice/
I like your pesto ideas! maybe brown chicken first??
Yes, you can brown the chicken first, it’s always yummy and pretty if browned. In this recipe, with so much other stuff baked on top of chicken I decided not to brown it first.
I would like to make this, but wouldn’t the cheese melts before the chicken is cooked?
The cheese melts with chicken – by the time the chicken is cooked through, the cheese melts nicely, still retaining its shape somewhat – you can look at step-by-step photos above. I used thinly sliced chicken breasts so for me the baking time to cook the chicken was perfect for melting the cheese on top at the same time.
Do You have instructions for a crockpot version?
Unfortunately I don’t. 🙁