It’s the end of summer, the basil and tomatoes are thriving. It’s time to make them the star of the dish with this sheet pan pesto chicken with burst cherry tomatoes weeknight dinner.
Sheet pan chicken is such an easy way to make dinner, I love being able to pop the whole thing the oven and walk away for 20 minutes. I usually serve with a side of thin spaghetti, but you can serve this with just about anything, including a simple salad.
Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken – Pesto
Pesto has such a burst of flavor, fresh basil, garlic, a little lemon zest go a long way. With the end of the summer, if you grow basil, it’s the perfect time to make pesto to freeze to have year-around. We have a ton in our garden so I’ll be harvesting soon.
You can use my recipe to make homemade pesto, it’s delicious on crackers, tossed on pasta, on a grilled cheese sandwich and obviously stuffed in chicken.
Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken – Step by Step
This weeknight dinner comes together very easily and quickly. You will need thin chicken breasts, so you can either buy chicken breast cutlets or use two thick chicken breasts, cut them in half to create four thin full chicken breasts.
Scoop your pesto into the middle of the chicken breast, spread out to cover the entire surface of your chicken. Fold the chicken over and secure with a tooth pick, if needed.
Dip your chicken breasts into bread crumbs and place onto a parchment lined sheet pan. Add your cherry tomatoes and some garlic cloves, drizzle with olive oil and bake.
Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken – Burst Garlic Tomatoes
They are such a perfect pop of color. Oven-burst tomatoes are one of my favorite things to make. Sweet and simple to make with a drizzle of olive oil and few garlic cloves, they really make any dish top-notch delicious. Pesto and tomatoes are a match made in heaven so it just made sense to add them to this sheet pan pesto chicken.
Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken – Panko and Regular Breadcrumbs are a Must
I’m a strong believer that when you want something breaded you should always combine panko and regular breadcrumbs together so that you get the crunch you expect.
Panko breadcrumbs are larger in size so by including regular breadcrumbs you get the opportunity for the smaller crumbs to fall between the larger ones completely covering the chicken for the perfect baked crispy crunch.
Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken with Burst Cherry Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 1 lb Chicken Breasts (4 thin cutlets)
- 1 cup Pesto (see recipe for link to my homemade recipe)
- ½ cup Panko Breadcrumbs
- ½ cup Regular Breadcrumbs
- 1 TBSP Lemon Zest (about 1/2 of a lemon)
- ½ tsp Salt
- 16 oz Cherry Tomatoes
- 3 Garlic Cloves - peeled and smashed
- Drizzle of Olive Oil
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400F. Line your sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- If needed, trim your chicken breasts into four thin breasts.
- In a shallow bowl, mix together your panko breadcrumbs, regular breadcrumbs, lemon zest and salt. Set aside.
- Scoop about 1/4 cup of pesto into each chicken breast and spread out to cover the entire surface of the chicken.
- Fold the chicken in half so that the pesto is "stuffed" in the middle of the chicken breast. Place the chicken in the breadcrumb mixture and coat both sides of the chicken. If, needed, use a toothpick to hold it in place. Set it on your sheet pan.
- Add on your cherry tomatoes and garlic cloves. Drizzle everything with olive oil.
- Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes until your chicken is done. If you want to add more color, you can broil on high for 2-3 minutes.
