| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 30 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Cook: | 10 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds or shelled pistachios
- 1 cup packed fresh arugula leaves
- 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1 clove garlic, grated or minced
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 small pieces boneless, skinless chicken breast (tenders removed)
Instructions
- Heat a grill pan to high.
- Toast the nuts lightly in small skillet over low heat, then add them to a food processor.
- Add the arugula, basil, lemon juice, garlic, and salt and pepper, to taste, and pulse to combine.
- With the processor on, stream in the extra-virgin olive oil to form thick pesto.
- Lightly pound out the chicken, then rub all sides with the pesto. Spray the grill pan with cooking spray or rub with a little oil and grill the chicken 2 to 4 minutes on each side.
- Cook’s Note: Serve sliced on top of Caesar Spaghetti or, pile it onto ciabatta bread with sliced tomatoes and mozzarella for an outta-sight sammy.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 234 |
| Total Fat | 23 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Carbohydrates | 4 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 1 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 5 mg |
| Sodium | 122 mg |
Reviews
So tasty. I will be making this to have on hand to toss in pasta, salads and sanwiches/wraps.
When you execute this dish with the Caesar pasta, be prepared for wonderful flavors BUT a lot of dishes! Exhausted
Very tasty and easy…but next time, I think I’ll go back to the traditional pine nuts rather than pistachios. And instead of serving with the Caesar pasta, I plan to slice and serve over a romaine salad.
Divine! What a lovely dish! I made this for dinner tonight and it came out super good. I served it with Michette Rolls (sliced into halves, buttered with a spread of garlic, oregano & salted butter (all 3 churned in a processor, then topped with slices of tomato and some fresh chunks of Mozzarella – My husband and I were literally in heaven. Thanks for this recipe, Rachael Ray. We love you!
Yummmieee as Rachel always says! This recipe is a double winner: #1 a great, tasty and easy chicken meal (good leftover on salad the next day #2 a terrific basic pesto sauce for a mulitude of uses…I love pesto! I did use chicken tenders cause that’s what I had on hand. Nor could I find just a package of Arugula the day I wanted to make this. Soooo I got creative and used Spring Mix salad that had some Arugula in it along with the basil. Tasted really good and I continue making it this way.
This is delicious and very easy
Hmmm, yummy!!! I loved this dish. Very easy to make, lots of flavour, and pretty healthy. And the combo of this chicken and the Caesar Pasta was great. A definite keeper in the quick weeknight arsenal.
I’m allergic to nuts, but wanted to try this – still came out delicious just omitting the pistachios.
Made this dish yesterday and quite disappointed. I broiled chicken with pesto and tasted bland. Today I used the leftover pesto and made chicken again. This time I put salt and pepper on chicken first,then smeared pesto on poultry. Instead of broiling I sauteed in a pan with some olive oil. Tasted much better than yesterday. Grated parmesan on top when serving.
I used fresh basil from my first homegrown plant project 🙂 Wow, what a great pesto! I used pistachios as well. I used the extra pesto to coat some pasta and dinner was done in minutes! My boyfriend had seconds 🙂 Thanks RR!