This Pesto Creamy Chicken Skillet is a delicious dinner recipe. It happens super fast, with tender chicken and loads of veggies with creamy pesto sauce.
Creamy Pesto Chicken Skillet Recipe by Alpana
- It’s an extremely versatile dish. It can accommodate any veggies, from carrots to zucchini to peas to broccoli… anything! Loaded with veggie power for your kids.
- It happens super fast.
- It’s loaded with amazing, delicious flavors.
- You can use any cut of your favorite chicken in this dish. It works well with bone-in thighs, boneless thighs, chicken breast, tenders, and even quarters.
Ingredients For Pesto Creamy Chicken Skillet:
- Chicken – Used bone-in, skin-on thighs, boneless chicken thighs too.
- Veggies – Onions, bell peppers (the more the colors, the prettier it will look), mushrooms, zucchini, cherry tomatoes. Sliced all the veggies except cherry tomatoes.
- Garlic – Loved it sliced, but you can finely chop it too.
- Pesto
- Cream
- Seasoning – Salt, pepper, and red chili flakes.
- Oil.
Instructions For Pesto Creamy Chicken Skillet:
Start by seasoning the chicken well with salt, pepper, and red chili flakes.
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat and sear the chicken, skin side down for 5-6 minutes. Flip and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Plate it out.
In the same pan, remove any excess oil, leaving behind about a couple of tablespoons, and sauté all the veggies for 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for a couple of minutes.
Then add in pesto sauce and give it a good stir for a couple of minutes. Add in cream, stir well and cook for a couple of minutes.
Place the chicken thighs back in the skillet with the skin side up. Cover and cook till the chicken is cooked through and the internal temperature reaches at least 165°F. Like to cook chicken thighs a little more so they are fall off the bone tender, to around 190°F.
Adjust the seasoning like salt, as like to do that in the end as pesto itself is kinda salty. Add cherry tomatoes towards the last 4-5 minutes of cook time, so they still retain their crunch.
Finished! Taste and you will find they are super delicious too. You can garnish it with a few pine nuts if you have them around in your cabinet.
How long to store leftovers?
This is excellent to refrigerate for the next 3-4 days in an airtight container. Simply reheat in the microwave when ready to eat. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months. Let it thaw in the fridge and reheat gently in a pan, covered, or microwave it with a dash of water or cream.
Other recipes you might like to try: Chicken Alfredo Casserole Keto Recipe, Keto Garlic Greek Chicken, Easy Butter Chicken Keto
Pesto Creamy Chicken Skillet
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on
- 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
- 8 oz cherry tomatoes
- 1 small red bell pepper, cut into strips
- 1 small green bell pepper, cut into strips
- 1 small orange bell pepper, cut into strips
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 1 zucchini, cut into strips
- 4 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 cup pesto, store-bought or homemade (see note 1)
- 1 cup cream
- 1 tsp red chili flakes
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 1 Tbsp oil
Instructions
- Season chicken thighs with salt, pepper and red chili flakes.
- Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat and, once hot, sear the chicken skin side down for 5-6 minutes till it gets a nice golden brown color. Flip and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- In the same pan, discard excess oil if any, leaving behind 2 Tbsp oil and add in all the veggies except cherry tomatoes. Sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add in garlic and stir well.
- Add in pesto and combine well. Cook for a couple of minutes. Add in cream and mix well.
- Transfer the chicken thighs back into the skillet, skin side up. Cover and cook on medium low till chicken is cooked through and internal temperature reaches at least 165°F (see note 2).
- In the last 3-4 minutes, add in cherry tomatoes. Taste and adjust the seasonings to your liking.
Notes
- If you make this with fresh homemade pesto, it tastes so much better than a store-bought pesto bottle.
- The safe internal temperature for chicken is 165°F. For fall of the bone tender, Prefer cooking to 190°F.
