Dress up your weeknight chicken dinner with a fancy, but simple, twist! Four ingredient pesto chicken is a fast and delicious dinner option. Add in some lemon green beans for an easy side dish (recipe included)!
Jump to RecipeWhen it comes to making dinner on a weeknight, it can be challenging to find an easy meal that you haven't already made multiple times that month. I've been challenging myself lately to create recipes with minimal ingredients because let's face it, even I come home from work and would rather lay on the couch instead of cook.
Quality Ingredients
When it comes to creating simple meals with minimal ingredients, you'll want to make sure the ingredients you use are high quality. For this recipe, we've elevated chicken thighs by adding:
Prosciutto: Italian dry-cured ham
Asiago Cheese: Italian cow's milk cheese with a mild flavor
Pesto: Italian sauce typically consisting of crushed garlic, pine nuts, basil, and hard cheese such as Parmigiano-Reggiano
All of the above ingredients should be readily available to purchase at your local grocery store.
Easy Dinner with a Side
To bulk up this dish and make a complete meal, I've added some lemon green beans. They are seasoned with just a bit of lemon and red pepper flakes. That's it! Keeping it simple for our dinner tonight.
While we oftentimes will just eat dinner with a protein and a vegetable side dish (we are light dinner eaters), you could always make a starch to round out the meal and make it a bit more filling. Pasta or quinoa topped with some of the leftover pesto and asiago cheese would be a great starch option!
This four ingredient pesto chicken comes together so quickly! However, if you wanted to save even more time before dinner, you can prep your chicken in the morning or the night before. All you need to do is prep the chicken rolls (steps 2 & 3 in the instructions below). Then, I like to store them covered with plastic wrap & sealed in a glass container in the refrigerator. According to the FDA, raw chicken should only be kept in the refrigerator for 48 hours max - so make sure to bake them up soon!
Four Ingredient Pesto Chicken
Ingredients
Pesto Chicken
- 2.5 lbs chicken thighs boneless, skinless
- salt
- pepper
- 8 slices prosciutto
- ¾ cup Asiago cheese shredded
- 6 oz pesto
Lemon Green Beans
- 1 lb green beans
- 1 lemon
- ¼-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (depending on desired spice level)
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
Instructions
Pesto Chicken
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Trim excess fat from chicken thighs. Season both sides with a dash of salt and pepper.
- Lay out a slice of prosciutto, and place a chicken thigh on top. Spread about 1 tablespoon of pesto on top of chicken. Top with about 1 tablespoon of shredded Asiago cheese. Roll the chicken so the prosciutto is on the outside. Secure using toothpicks. Repeat process with remaining chicken thighs.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
- If desired, top with additional pesto and Asiago cheese.
Lemon Green Beans
- Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil in a 5 quart pot. Once the pot of water is boiling, add green beans and cook for 6-7 minutes in the boiling water. Drain.
- Add the juice of one lemon, along with red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper on top of the green beans.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?!
Let me know how you liked the recipe! Comment below, or share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #HomebodyEats. Happy cooking, Homebody family!
Yum
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