Sun-Dried Tomato Red Pesto Chicken is a deliciously creamy chicken casserole, full of flavour and with minimal prep time.
This one-pot tomato red pesto chicken is perfect for feeding your family and an ideal dish for entertaining. You can prepare everything in advance and the colours make it beautifully appealing. It's also gluten free.
Pesto is easy to cook with as it adds so much flavour and takes your meals to another level. Chicken and Pesto is an ideal combination and my Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake with green pesto is perfect for using up leftover chicken. For more recipes using red pesto, tomato pesto works well as a base in this easy Stromboli Pizza Recipe or try it on my easy 3 Ingredient Flatbreads.
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Ingredients
These colourful ingredients make for an impressive-looking dish.
- Chicken Breasts- use one chicken breast per person. Leaving the skin on chicken breasts in a casserole helps them stay juicy.
- Red Pesto - use any good quality sun-dried tomato red pesto.
- Black Olives - use pitted black olives
- Creme Fraiche - this adds a creaminess to the sauce without being heavy.
- White wine - a dry white wine or cooking wine adds real flavour.
- Tomato Puree /tomato paste - adds a depth of flavour and adds to the beautiful red colour of the sauce.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Red Pesto Chicken
Prepare all your ingredients including any potatoes or pasta to serve alongside.
Heat the olive oil over a high heat in a large casserole dish and brown the chicken breasts on both sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Add the onion, red pepper, courgette/zucchini and garlic to the frying pan and fry for around 5 minutes, until they start to soften.
Pour in the wine and let it bubble for 1 minute. Stir in the chicken stock, tomato puree or paste, and sundried tomato pesto.
Return the chicken breasts to the pan, lower the heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes until the chicken breasts are cooked through.
Stir in the creme fraiche and black olives and season with black pepper. Black olives and red pesto are already salty so you may not need to add extra salt.
Serve with fresh basil leaves sprinkled over the top.
Hint: If you have some red pesto leftover, add a thin layer of olive oil to the top of the jar and store it in the fridge. This will help it last longer.
Substitutions & Variations
- Chicken - instead of chicken breasts, you can use boneless chicken thighs which are cheaper.
- Olives - black olives look best but you could also use green olives.
- Creme Fraiche - use a full fat or lite version. You could also substitute with cream.
- Vegetables - other vegetables that work well in this recipe are roasted red peppers, cherry tomatoes, and spinach.
How to Serve
Tomato Pesto Chicken goes well with new potatoes, mashed, baked, or jacket potatoes. You can also serve it with pasta such as Orzo or linguine. If you don't want to cook anything else, how about some lovely crusty bread to help mop up the red pesto sauce. I also like to add a side of green vegetables such as garden peas, broccoli, or green beans.
Sustainability
Chicken is the most popular meat sold and the quality, sustainability, and even flavour can vary a lot. The best sustainable chicken you can buy is a locally sourced organic bird. If you can't manage this, try to buy locally produced free-range chicken. Buying meat from local sources reduces the carbon footprint and also helps support your local economy. Free-range chickens have more room to roam and have access to the outdoors. They are bred far slower than industrially produced chickens. This means the flavour is generally better.
Peppers, courgettes, and new potatoes are all in season in the summer months. As always, try to buy vegetables lose without packaging. Olives, as well as olive oil, can now be bought as Fairtrade. Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world.
Storing and Reheating Red Pesto Chicken
Tomato Red Pesto Chicken will keep in the fridge for 3 - 4 days. Reheat it in the oven with a lid on for about 30 minutes at 180 °C / 350°F. When reheating a chicken casserole, you should make sure it is piping hot and the meat is heated all the way through. As with all meat dishes, you should only reheat once. You can also freeze this dish for 4 - 6 months. As the sauce contains creme fraiche, you will need to give it a good stir when it is reheated as the creme fraiche may have separated when frozen.
📖 Recipe
Sun-Dried Tomato Red Pesto Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil organic, fairtrade
- 4 chicken breasts organic, boneless 130g - 175g per person
- 1 onion organic, peeled and diced
- 1 red bell pepper organic, de-seeded and diced
- 1 courgette / zucchini organic, sliced into matchsticks
- 2 garlic cloves organic, peeled and crushed
- 100 ml white wine organic, fairtrade or cooking wine
- 200 ml chicken stock organic
- 3 tablespoon tomato puree organic
- 2 tablespoon red pesto organic
- 2 tablespoon low fat creme fraiche organic
- 150 g pitted black olives organic, fairtrade (drained weight)
- 1 dash black pepper organic, fairtrade, freshly ground
- 10 g fresh basil leaves organic, chopped
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil over a high heat in a large casserole dish and brown the chicken breasts on both sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.2 tablespoon olive oil, 4 chicken breasts
- Add the onion pepper, courgette, and garlic to the frying pan and fry for around 5 minutes, until they start to soften.1 onion, 1 red bell pepper, 1 courgette / zucchini, 2 garlic cloves
- Pour in the wine and let it bubble for 1 minute. Stir in the stock, tomato puree, and red pesto.100 ml white wine, 200 ml chicken stock, 3 tablespoon tomato puree, 2 tablespoon red pesto
- Return the chicken breasts to the pan, lower the heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes until the chicken breasts are cooked through.
- Stir in the creme fraiche and olives and season with black pepper.2 tablespoon low fat creme fraiche, 1 dash black pepper, 150 g pitted black olives
- Serve with basil leaves sprinkled over the top.10 g fresh basil leaves
Notes
Ingredients
- Chicken Breasts- use one chicken breast per person. Leaving the skin on chicken breasts in a casserole helps them stay juicy.
- Red Pesto - use any good quality sun-dried tomato red pesto.
- Black Olives - use pitted black olives
- Creme Fraiche - this adds creaminess to the sauce without being heavy.
- White wine - a dry white wine or cooking wine adds real flavour.
- Tomato Puree /tomato paste - adds a depth of flavour and adds to the beautiful red colour of the sauce.
Substitutions
- Chicken - instead of chicken breasts, you can use boneless chicken thighs which are cheaper.
- Olives - black olives look best but you could also use green olives.
- Creme Fraiche - use a full fat or lite version. You could also substitute with cream.
- Vegetables - other vegetables that work well in this recipe are roasted red peppers, cherry tomatoes, and spinach.
Storing and Reheating
Tomato Pesto Chicken will keep in the fridge for 3 - 4 days. Reheat in the oven with a lid on for about 30 minutes at 180 °C / 350°F. Make sure it is piping hot and the meat is heated all the way through. Only reheat once. Freeze for 4 - 6 months. As the sauce contains creme fraiche, you will need to give it a good stir when it is reheated as the creme fraiche may have separated when frozen.Nutrition per serving
The Nutritional Values are computer generated estimates based on industry standards and are provided as a helpful guide only.
Philippa Lewis
A super easy and tasty midweek dish to make and popular with the whole family. My family prefer green olives rather than black, but obviously this is just personal preference.