One-Pan Chicken Pesto With Vegetables (Whole30, Paleo, AIP)
This one-pan chicken pesto with vegetables is the perfect thing to make on a weeknight. It’s paleo, Whole30, AIP, and incredibly delicious.
One Pan Chicken Pesto with Vegetables
As life gets busier, I begin to appreciate one-pan meals more and more! I love cracking open my favorite cookbook and going to town on a fun recipe as much as anyone else, but sometimes the cleanup and cooking are a bit too much more than I’m willing to handle. With my job, my kitchen is basically always a wreck, to begin with… why mess it up even more and create more work for myself?
This chicken pesto is made easily on one pan and features a simple to blend homemade pesto that you’ll love topping everything with! It’s a great dinner option any day that you’re wanting something delicious but with less work. The pesto on this one-pan meal is totally nut-free, and the meal is gluten-free, Paleo, AIP and Whole30-friendly.
The Ingredients for this One Pan Chicken Pesto with Vegetables
For the Sheet Pan
- Chicken Thighs: You’ll want them bone-in, skin on. You can also sub bone-in & skin on chicken breast if you prefer.
- Carrots
- Zucchinis
- Broccoli Florets
- Red Onion
- Sea Salt & Black Pepper: Omit the pepper for AIP.
For the Mint Basil Pesto
- Arugula
- Fresh Basil
- Fresh Mint
- Avocado Oil: You can sub olive oil, if you prefer.
- Fresh Lemon Juice
- Garlic Clove
- Sea Salt
How to make One-Pan Chicken Pesto with Vegetables
- Make the Pesto: Combine the pesto ingredients in a blender until thoroughly combined and set aside.
- Bake the Chicken & Veggies: Preheat the oven to 400 F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place all of the sheet pan ingredients on the pan and evenly space them, not to overcrowd the pan (see notes). Evenly coat the chicken and vegetables with the pesto, reserving about 1-2 tbsp of the pesto on the side for later topping if desired. Place in the oven and periodically flip the veggies every 10 minutes or so to evenly bake. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 F.
- Finish & Serve: Remove from the oven and top with additional pesto if desired before serving.
What kind of chicken should you use?
I use bone-in chicken breast. You can use breast or thigh, but I highly recommend using bone-in. It really enhances the flavor and keeps the chicken from getting too dry if you choose to use this as meal prep.
How do you reheat this recipe?
Reheating under the broiler for a few minutes works!
How long will it keep in the fridge?
3-4 days.
Can you freeze this recipe?
I think this recipe is best frozen raw and then prepared according to the recipe rather than freezing prepared. This helps keep the vegetables tender and fresh!
Can you use other veggies in this dish?
I use red onion, zucchini, yellow squash, and carrots. However, you can also swap out other veggies like brussels sprouts, mushrooms asparagus, or more. Just make sure that the veggies are all around even thickness and take about the same time to roast.
You’ll also love…
- Slow Cooker Chicken Pesto
- Turkey Pesto Meatballs
- One Pan Sausage & Vegetables
- Asparagus, Turkey & Sweet Potato Skillet
One Pan Chicken Pesto With Vegetables (Whole30, Paleo, AIP)
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Ingredients
For the sheet pan
- 2 lb chicken thighs, bone-in, skin on (sub chicken breast)
- 2 carrots, chopped into thin circles
- 2 medium zucchinis, sliced
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 medium red onion, roughly chopped
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp black pepper, omit for AIP
For the mint basil pesto
- 1 cup arugula
- 1 cup fresh basil
- 2 tbsp fresh mint
- ½ cup avocado oil, sub olive oil if you're okay with cooking with it
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
- ½ tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Combine the pesto ingredients in a blender until thoroughly combined and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
- Place all of the sheet pan ingredients on the pan and evenly space them, not to overcrowd the pan (see notes). Evenly coat the chicken and vegetables with the pesto, reserving about 1-2 tbsp of the pesto on the side for later topping if desired.
- Place in the oven and periodically flip the veggies every 10 minutes or so to evenly bake. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 F.
- Remove from the oven and top with additional pesto if desired before serving.
Notes
Recipe by Michelle, Unbound Wellness. Photos by Eat Love Eats
This post originally appeared on Unbound Wellness in 2018 and was updated in March 2021.
I made rhis recipe twice already and really like it, it just draws so much liquid from the chicken and the zucchinis. I left out the zucchinis the second time and used a higher heat in the oven, still so much liquid. What can I do to avoid in the future? The pesto itself was deemed better than a real pesto by my busband and son, not often I get unanimity on an AIP dish. I used the pesto on other things as well.
Wonderful recipe! Thanks for posting. The pesto is bright and tasty. You would never know that there is so much arugula in it. I used the extra pesto as a salad dressing and it was lovely. We will definitely be having this again.
So I rarely ever leave comments on dishes I’ve made. But I feel I need to for this one! This was my first recipe I made from Unbound Wellness. I just decided to start an AIP diet the other day for my autoimmune symptoms I’ve been having but still undiagnosed as of right now. This was really good! My husband said he really liked the flavor of the pesto. My 11 year old twins both said they really liked it (one of them is a chicken hater so that means a lot, she said it was her “new favorite way to eat chicken”) and my 3 year old actually ate it! I made the zucchini and squash slices too thin so they didn’t come out so good. Next time I will slick them thicker. The carrots were so good! I made the pesto without mint. It was yum! Next on the menu is Unbound Wellness lettuce wraps.
SO glad it was a hit! Thank you, Rebekah!!
Wow! This made for a delicious meal! I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts and I did not have any mint on hand and STILL. I could easily have eaten the whole pan in one sitting. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I am rounding out week three on AIP and the feelings of being deprived were starting to creep up. This recipe definitely helped me feel normal again. I will make this again!! Thank you, thank you!
Thank you so much, Madison! I’m so happy you liked it!!
Easily the best AIP recipe I’ve tried! WOW! I was not getting my hopes up because I’ve tried so many things that were just ok…but this is going in the rotation! I used zucchini, mushrooms, and Brussels sprouts. Sampled a mushroom while it was still in the over and then I couldn’t wait for it to finish cooking. That was the juiciest chicken! I wanted to go back for seconds, but controlled myself and put everything in containers so I would have meals later. Thank you thank you thank you!
I am SO happy you liked it! It’s one of my favorites too!!
Do you think the pesto would still be tasty if I left out the mint?
For sure! I do it without the mint all of the time 🙂 Enjoy!
Excellent and easy recipe! I used bottled (Classico) basil pesto because I didn’t have time to prepare my own. It still turned out wonderful. I’m putting this recipe into my Best of 2019 file. The veggies were so delicious and the chicken turned out perfectly. I used skinless chicken thighs. Thank you!
Yay! Thank you so much, Kathy!
I made this for my family and everyone loved it! It was great because my husband is AIP and he could enjoy it as well! Thanks Michelle!
Does this recipe hold well in the fridge if extra is remaining for leftovers the next day? I find that chicken can go off very quickly when kept for leftovers.
Hi Alex! It does work well as a meal prep dish for me… especially just for one day!
This was really good! I love that I can mix the vegetables up. Definitely going to make it again and again!
Thank you so much, Stephanie! So glad you like it 🙂