Easy one pan meal with bold caprese flavors. Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken with Balsamic Vegetables is delicious and low on cleanup!
Perfect weeknight meal for busy families. Throw everything on the pan and dinner is done!
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What’s not to love about pesto?
I loooove pesto. I could probably wear basil as perfume – it is one of my favorite smells. So, of course, pesto is right up there for me. It’s delicious.
We recently were sent some of the most delicious pesto from Moms Meet. Barilla Creamy Genovese Pesto is ah-mazing. As the name would suggest, it is so creamy. It is perfect and full of flavor for cooking or marinades, and is pleasant and mild enough for sandwiches or dips.
One really fantastic thing about this Barilla Creamy Genovese Pesto is that a little truly goes a long way. We made two full meals of our Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken and Balsamic Vegetables and even had some leftover.
Summer Veggies
It’s summer, so we have an abundance of beans in our garden. To use all of the beans, our go-tos are Ground Turkey and Green bean Stir Fry and Sheet Pan Chicken and Veggies.
This Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken and Balsamic Vegetables is definitely inspired by that last recipe. We love the simple chicken, green beans, and tomatoes, but this steps it up a notch and brings it to a whole other level.
One of our favorite veggies in our family are roasted carrots. I never was a carrot fan growing up, but I know I can throw carrots into most meals and our family will not put up any sort of fuss. Plus, I just feel like roasted carrots are in their own category – they’re so good!
Also Read: Easier Meal Time: 5 Super Strategies
I’m a sucker for caprese flavors
So, the whole reason for this meal – and taking an old favorite up a few notches – is this delicious Barilla Creamy Genovese Pesto.
To me, basil or pesto just screams for tomato, mozzarella, and balsamic vinegar. I can’t get enough of caprese flavors.
Also Read: Warm Caprese Christmas Tree: Easy Holiday Appetizer
That’s what makes this work so well. You have the pesto and mozzarella on the chicken, the roasted veggies, including tomatoes, with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
My favorite!
Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken and Balsamic Vegetables
As with anything I cook for my family, this recipe is very forgiving and easy to make substitutions. You can absolutely switch up some vegetables depending on what you have.
You can keep it very simple like our One Pan Chicken and Veggies, add some veggies like we did, and make it with or without the cheese. Most important is the pesto and balsamic vinegar in my opinion. It makes the whole dish!
For our Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken and Balsamic Vegetables, we started with 8 ounces of baby carrots. You can definitely cut your own carrot sticks or even cut them in bite-size pieces if you prefer.
Next, we had about 1 pound each of grape tomatoes and green beans from our garden. Depending on the size of your green beans, sometimes it helps to break them in half.
This meal is so easy because you can drop everything on the sheet pan instead of dirtying a lot of dishes.
You NEED this pan!
If you don’t have a USA Pan, you’re missing out! These are the best pans and I have a lot of them. The non-stick of these pans, along with the ridges, work like magic. I’ve even cooked a full sheet pan of eggs for breakfast sandwiches and they work great!
With your veggies on the sheet pan, you can toss everything with about a tablespoon of olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Pro tip: If you love garlic like we do, it’s really handy to keep a mix of 1 part garlic powder, 1 part black pepper, and 2 parts sea salt. We use that for the majority of our seasoning.
Also Read: Sheet Pan Fajitas {Comfort Food}
Here is where you can make some changes for your preferences…
We typically use large chicken breasts and cut them in half to serve smaller pieces. You could use chicken tenders or the whole breast. You just have to adjust the cook time accordingly.
Similarly, you might want to adjust your cook time for your vegetables. Carrots typically take longer, so if you like them softer, I have started roasting the carrots while prepping the other vegetables in the past.
In this case, we cooked the veggies at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes while cutting and prepping the chicken breasts.
However, I have placed everything in at once and the chicken and veggies got done at about the same time. It really depends on the size of your carrots (ours were very thin baby carrots) and it helps to break your green beans in half. The key to trying to cook everything as once is to not stir your veggies too much or the roasted tomatoes will fall apart.
Then, at the end, top each piece of chicken with a small slice of mozzarella cheese just so it can melt over the top during the last 10-15 minutes or so.
If you like a little color on your melted cheese, you can even choose to switch to Broil for just a minute or two.
Then, it’s time to serve it up!
Easy to adapt for picky eaters!
In our family we only have one picky / less adventurous eater. She has decided she doesn’t like basil or balsamic vinegar so I made up another sheet pan (because we had so many veggies to use) of plain chicken and vegetables.
The fantastic thing was that I then had healthy lunches for myself for the week. However, I was really missing the fantastic flavors of the other dish.
The great news is that the Barilla Creamy Genovese Pesto can even be used as a spread or dip, so it’s very easy to just add a little to the top after everything is cooked. Same with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. So, it works out great!
Recipe: Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken with Balsamic Vegetables
Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken and Balsamic Vegetables
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts cut in half
- 8 oz baby carrots
- 1 lb green beans
- 1 lb grape tomatoes
- 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
- 1tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 6 tbsp Barilla Creamy Genovese Pesto
- drizzle of balsamic vinegar
- 6 slices of mozzarella cheese (about 4 ounces)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Cut chicken breasts in half, pat dry, and set aside
- Add carrots, tomatoes, and green beans to a sheet pan
- Toss with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic
- Roast vegetables for 15 minutes
- Add chicken breasts to the sheet pan and top each with 1 tablespoon of pesto
- Cook another 15 minutes
- Remove from oven and top each piece of chicken with mozzarella cheese and drizzle balsamic vinegar over the vegetables
- Cook another 15 minutes, or until the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees.
What is your favorite way to use pesto?
I’m planning to try the Barilla Creamy Genovese Pesto with some egg and tomato on a breakfast sandwich next! I saw a pesto breakfast sandwich that I can’t stop thinking about. This will be perfect, and I can’t wait to try this one out!