Baked Pesto Chicken Parmesan takes minutes to prep and just 30 minutes to bake. This comforting, flavorful chicken dinner is a winner!
Got a case of the Mondays, aka busy busy and no time to think nor prep ahead for dinner?
I’ve got you covered with Baked Pesto Chicken Parmesan!
This simple yet flavor-packed chicken dinner requires just 4 ingredients, 5 minutes of prep work, and 30 minutes of baking time. It’s a busy weeknight dinner dream come true!
Cheesy Pesto Baked Chicken Thighs
Baked Pesto Chicken Parmesan is boneless, skinless chicken thighs tossed in prepared pesto, topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese, then baked. So unbelievably simple! Like I said, five minutes to prep then 30 minutes to bake.
If you need a quick and flavorful dinner idea – this is your recipe.
Start with trimmed, boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 8 thighs) seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper.
Boneless skinless thighs are not only less expensive than chicken breasts but they’re incredibly tender and juicy — especially when baked.
Place the seasoned thighs into the bottom of a 8×8 or 9×12 baking dish then add prepared pesto and turn to coat with your hands.
You can absolutely use your own fresh pesto though, in the spirit of keeping this meal extremely quick and easy, jarred pesto works great.
Next spread marinara sauce over the thighs then top with sliced fresh mozzarella. Shredded mozzarella is fine too.
Cover the baking dish tightly with foil then bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove the foil then cook for 10 more minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly, and the chicken is cooked through. That’s it…dinner is served!
You will adore how tender the chicken is, and how delicious each bite of pesto mixed with marinara and mozzarella cheese is. Pure, easy comfort food — enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, about 8
- salt and pepper
- 1/3 cup prepared pesto
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper then add to a 8x8" or 9x12" baking dish. Add pesto then use hands to evenly coat.
- Spoon marinara sauce over top of thighs followed by mozzarella cheese then cover tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil then bake for 10 more minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and cheese is golden brown and bubbly.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
Chicken parm is my absolute weakness! Have to try this recipe out asap!
This looks so good! And I think it will happen soon here because I already have a jar of pesto!
Oh my yum! I love pesto chicken, but I’m often waaaay too lazy to make pesto, so this is perfect!
— Alex at Cashmere Kangaroo
AMAZING! A revelation! I tried making something similar once but the recipe called for a TUB of pesto (maybe 8 oz.?) and it was just gross — I am a pesto-lover through-and-through, but the recipe I used just made an oily mess. I thought that I would never try making something like that again, but now I will for sure be trying this! Less pesto=delicious, easy chicken. Thank you!!
Your little man is such a cutie, and yeah for mommy night out. Sometimes its hard to detach from the little one and get out to just pamper yourself, glad you were able to do that. Now… do it more!!! {and I speak to myself on that one too}
Love this dish, easy peasy and looks delicious. My kinda meal! Pinned girl!
Thighs are totally the way to go! That’s all we buy anymore and they work in everything. BTW, my little man, now 18-months, always yells back when we hear little kids yelling a few aisles over in the grocery store. He hears his people and he’s talking back! = )
HA! That is hilarious!
Awesome recipe! I’d love to make for my meal swap group! So in order for it to be freezer-friendly would you just put all together and freeze without baking first?
That’s what I would do!
I miss going to Jordan Creek! I knew it instantly when I saw the picture of you and Lincoln! There are no movie theaters here where you can mix your own drinks like you can (or used to be able to….not sure if they still do that there) at Jordan Creek.
Random question: Where do you find boneless chicken thighs? I want to make this later this week, but have never seen them in the meat section at our grocer. We mostly buy SMART CHICKEN, but didn’t know if these were previously frozen etc?
My local grocery stole sells all the packaged brand of thighs – Just Bare, Smart Chicken, etc, as well as the store brand. You can usually also find them in the butcher case!
I have walked around the Jordan Creek Mall before, too! It turns out walking/window shopping is MUCH easier on the credit card than actual shopping ;)
Omg this looks like such a great dinner!! N
It’s actually kind of unfair how cute Lincoln is–so much competition for the other kids!
Ugh, your post makes me miss Des Moines (especially La Mie and the mall) so much! Also, totally making pesto chicken this week. The husband loves chicken thighs and I don’t use them nearly enough.
This recipe looks very yummy. I haven’t seen the boneless thighs at my local Hy-Vee or Fareway – I will have to look harder next time I am there.
I adore Lincoln’s sock monkey onesie, can you tell me where you got it at?
It was actually a gift, but I THINK maybe it was from Younkers??
Ashley, I was just at Hy-Vee on Sunday and they have the Bare brand boneless/skinless thighs. Also today I was at Target and they had them as well – different brand though and the package was larger (8-10) in each one.
I just noticed someone else mentioned Aldis, which I never remember to go check. Darn!