These Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls are a delicious low carb lunch idea that comes together in 30 minutes!
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How to make Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls
Just like the short ingredient list, the instructions to make these pesto chicken meal prep bowls are relatively straightforward. Here's how to make this recipe:
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Meanwhile, blend ingredients for your pesto if making it from scratch.
- Add your chicken and mushrooms to large sheet pan and toss with 1 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of pesto. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven, drain liquid from the mushrooms, then add your remaining vegetables and pesto. Toss to combine then bake another 10 minutes until chicken is fully cooked.
Ingredients in Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls
These pesto chicken meal prep bowls are SO simple to make and you can pretty much use any type of veggie you want – you can also change up the protein as you see fit. Really, there's no way to mess this recipe up! Here's what you need below:
- Pesto (homemade or store bought)
- Chicken breasts
- Vegetables (I used mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini and cherry tomatoes)
- A bit of olive oil
What type of pesto?
You can use store bought pesto from your local grocery store if you don't want to make it fresh yourself. Take a look in the pasta aisle of your local grocery store with all the spaghetti sauces – I like the jarred Classico pesto as an easy sub in for homemade pesto.
However, if you are going with homemade pesto, you should know it's super easy to make!
Most classic pesto recipes are a combo of fresh basil, olive oil, parmesan cheese, garlic, pine nuts, and salt & pepper. I usually leave out the nuts since they are so expensive and add extra fat, plus I find you don't really miss the nuts. Blend up the rest of the ingredients in a small blender, Magic Bullet or food processor and you're good to go!
Leftover homemade pesto will last in the fridge up to 5 days, whereas store bought should last a couple weeks. Just make sure you don't contaminate your pesto with raw chicken if you have some leftover that you'd like to re-use.
What veggies to use
You can literally use ANY type of vegetable in this recipe! If using mushrooms as I did, I recommend that you cook for a full 20 minutes along with the chicken and drain the excess liquid halfway through. You can cook heartier root vegetables for 20 minutes so do them with your chicken – I'm talking anything from beets to parsnips, potatoes and sweet potatoes.
For other types of vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, etc. you will only want them to cook for 10 minutes in the oven, so add them in halfway through the cooking time. You don't want to overcook them!
Making this recipe on the stovetop
You can also make this recipe in a pan on the stove if you don't want to turn the oven on! Simply saute the chicken and mushrooms (and/or any other hearty vegetables) for 5-6 minutes with olive oil in a large pan over med-high heat, then saute the rest of your vegetables for another 10 minutes, along with your pesto.
Because the chicken is cut into 1-inch pieces, it will cook super quickly! Just make sure you are attending the stove at all times and stirring occasionally to avoid burning.
What to serve with pesto chicken
You can serve this pesto chicken alone to make it a low carb meal, or you can add some sides to make it a larger meal. Here are some serving suggestions:
- Pasta
- Rice
- Quinoa
- Roasted potatoes
- Repurpose the leftovers and turn it into a pita pizza
More seasoning suggestions
The seasonings you use with this recipe can easily be changed! You don't have to use pesto – even just a sprinkling of Italian seasoning, lemon pepper or taco/fajita seasoning would change the flavours nicely and allow you to experiment with what you like. This easy sheet pan chicken recipe is a great template for other seasonings.
Storing and reheating
You can store this recipe in meal prep bowls in the fridge up to 5 days. To reheat, simply sprinkle a tiny bit of water overtop to avoid drying out the chicken, and microwave for 1-2 minutes. You can also mix in some extra fresh/jarred pesto for more flavour!
Can you freeze this recipe?
I have not tried freezing this recipe but you can give it a try – the texture of the veggies may end up being very different, but chicken on its own does freeze well so it's worth a shot if you have too many leftovers. This recipe only serves 4 though, so this shouldn't be an issue. I would recommend enjoying fresh in this case.
More easy sheet pan meal prep
Here are some of my other fave sheet pan meals below:
Meal prep tools
- Grab some Glass meal prep bowls for your leftovers.
- I get all my free-range chicken breasts from Butcher Box
- You can also buy store bought pesto instead of making your own (I like Classico)
Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 cup basil, packed
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 3 chicken breasts, diced
- 1 cup mushrooms cut in half
- 1 cup Cherry tomatoes
- 1 head broccoli, cut into florets
- 1 small zucchini, cut thickly
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F. In a Magic Bullet, blender or food processor, blend 1 tbsp olive oil, basil, parmesan cheese, garlic, salt and pepper together until smooth (you may need to add 1-2 tsp of water to get it to blend).
- Add chicken and mushrooms to large sheet pan and toss with 1 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of pesto. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and drain excess liquid.
- Add remaining vegetables and the rest of pesto. Toss to combine then bake another 10 minutes until chicken is fully cooked. Remove from oven and divide among 4 meal prep bowls. Keeps in fridge up to 5 days.
Video
Nutrition
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Carol L says
Oops! Think you left something out: • 3 olive oil, divided
I’m gonna guess it was 3 TBSP, but don’t want to be wrong!
Taylor Stinson says
Sorry about that Carol! I have just fixed it – yes it is 3 tbsp!
Wolf says
How much is a serving??
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Wolf – divide the recipe into 4 containers…the recipe has four servings!
Lauren says
Thank you for this delicious, nutritious and super easy recipe! I occasionally have flare-ups of depression that make it really hard to feed myself healthy food or bother to cook anything at all, so I really appreciate how quick and simple this is. It’s also SUPER tasty – in case anyone is wondering, you can also use frozen broccoli florets and it still turns out great (I just added them to the pan right away witht he chicken and mushrooms).
Lauren says
Oh, and I also cheated and used store-bought pesto. to make it extra easy.
Taylor Stinson says
LOVE IT!!! Thanks so much for sharing with me Lauren – I love that you used store-bought pesto to cut some time and I’m glad to hear you can use frozen veggies too! I’m so glad you find my recipes helpful, you’ve just made my day!
Kim says
Do you cook chicken first or is it raw chicken diced?
Taylor Stinson says
It is raw diced chicken!
Jill says
I plan to try this recipe really soon!! 🙂 Wondering if “3 chicken breasts” is one lobe (average weight, per Google search, 5.25 ounces) or if you mean three full breasts (a double lobe, per Google, at 10.5 ounces each). Since the recipes makes 4 servings, I’m guessing you mean three – 5.25 lobes, or just about 1 pound… but just wanted to be sure!
Thanks for delish-looking plan-ahead meals!!
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Jill – each chicken breast I use is around 5-6oz, so about 1 lb would be correct 🙂
Cassie says
Does the pesto still have a nice consistency and flavor without the addition of pine nuts/other nuts? I know traditional pesto recipes include nuts, but I would love to try it without them!
Taylor Stinson says
It definitely does have a similar consistency due to the parmesan cheese which thickens it up. Definitely a cheaper and more efficient way of making pesto 🙂