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Basil Pesto Tomato Mozzarella Chicken Bake - 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.
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 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 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:
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
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts , boneless, skinless
- salt
- 4 garlic cloves , minced
- ½ cup basil pesto
- 2 tomatoes , sliced
- 8 oz fresh Mozzarella cheese , sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil
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 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.
Notes
- Want to make basil pesto from scratch? Here is the best, the most flavorful, and the creamiest 20-Minute Homemade Basil Pesto Recipe.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Looking for a recipe to change up plain old chicken for dinner. Great way to use fresh tomatoes from the garden.
I couldn't agree more - this is an excellent recipe to use fresh tomatoes, especially from the garden!
Great recipe, I had an abundance of basil this year and made walnut basil pesto, was delicious in this recipe.
Sherri, so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Walnut basil pesto sounds delicious! Thank you for the 5-star review - I really appreciate it! 🙂
Your pan looks like there’s a lot of olive oil. Is there supposed to be olive oil in the recipe?! Mine is in the oven right Now!
Yes, my pan had a lot of olive oil - all dripping down from basil pesto. I didn't add any extra olive oil - usually, basil pesto has a lot of it already and it drips to the bottom of the pan as the chicken gets cooked, which is what happened to me.
We received some homemade Basil Pesto from some relatives and decided to try this with the pesto. It was worth all the effort. So good! We took The author's advice and put some cooked Angel hair pasta in the pan after baking it. We sauteed some Bella mushrooms to have on The side. We would defintely make this again!
Justin, I am so glad you tried this recipe and enjoyed it! 🙂
Will certainly make again! I made fresh pesto which I think made it even better 1
Wanda, so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Homemade fresh pesto is the best!
rated 5 stars!
Thanks!
My husband shared this recipe with me -I made it tonight and it was delicious!
I made spaghetti on the side and added the pan juices. To the spaghetti I also added some pesto, olive oil and chopped fresh tomatoes and topped it off with fresh parmesan. I will definitely make this again, it was very easy to make too.
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for the comment!
I just made fresh basil yesterday! Perfect timing. This was soooo good served with pasta, home made sauce and garlic bread. The chicken was moist & tender.
Marlene, I am so glad you liked this recipe! Thank you for the 5-star review! 🙂
Looks delicious. Can you air fry it ?
Can you use thighs instead of breasts?
30 minutes baking left the chicken half raw. 50 minutes is better.
This was so good! Will definitely be adding to the dinner rotation.
Really nice meal!! The tomatoes give it a fresh healthy texture and the mozzarella and pesto burst with flavour, would definitely recommend. Serve with garlic bread!
Love the recipe! Made this for dinner and it was absolutely delicious! Instead of pasta/rice I used cauliflower rice. So quick n easy thank you.
This is the best chicken recipe ever!
I’ve made it twice now and both times it turned out delicious! Restaurant quality!
Delicious! What an excellent quick and easy recipe. Restaurant quality!! Seasoned the chicken with lots of garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. This will definitely be added to our dinner menu.
Very good result; easy to prepare, good flavors, hubby and kids said: "this was really good, add this to the rotation of chicken meals for dinner". (we eat a lot of chicken...) Served it with thin pasta in a warm butter and fresh lemon juice sauce with pan dripping added for more flavor. Thanks for perfecting and sharing. I appreciate people like you!
Thanks for the recipe! Is the Calories off serving size for one piece of the chicken?