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.
Kristin, this was amazing and so easy! Left off the cheese for our DF family and used some homemade pesto made with the bounty of basil from our garden last summer. I agree that chicken thighs are delish!
I wanted to like this recipe but it most certainly did not cook in 30 minutes. Our chicken was completely raw at 30 minutes and I followed the recipe exactly. An hour and a half later and the chicken not surprisingly was terrible.
First time on your blog and this is the first recipe I tried – what a winner! As someone above mentioned if you buy pre-trimmed halved chicken breasts (usually the chicken schnitzel “cut” in Australia) then this meal is incredibly quick to prepare, but oh so delicious! Thank you very much for sharing!
(PS I served mine with panzanella, an Italian bread salad, and the combination was fantastic!)
Made this tonight and I have to say I am still not a fan of chicken thighs…They have a weird taste and the texture is slimy
The chicken pesto parm was amazing! I made it for my family this week and then made it again for guests. It was such a hit!! So easy, delicious and only 30 mins!! Thanks for sharing! BTW your son is adorable, but you already know that;)
This was amazing! We have one very picky eater who took one look at his plate & started whining that he didn’t like it. Guess who asked for seconds?!? He loved it! There are very few meals that we all like, this one just shot to the top. Thank you!!!
I just have to second your idea. I love boneless, skinless thighs. So easy. Pinned.
I made a big batch of homemade marinara sauce on Monday and as soon as I saw this recipe, I knew it would be a perfect use for it. I made this last night and my boyfriend and I loved it. I used two chicken breasts sliced in half and pounded thin, and served it on a bed of spaghetti. Best 30 minute meal I’ve had in a long time!
I made this last night using Perdue’s “thin cut chicken breasts” and they turned out great! I only baked them for about 16-17 minutes too.
For those who don’t want to pound out chicken breasts or use chicken thighs, those are a great option.
I am going to try this in the crockpot!
I made this last night and we had it with tortellini, but then tonight I made paninis with the leftovers and They. Were. So. Good! Thanks!
Hi! I absolutely love your blog and all the recipes I have tried I have always been a hit. However this one just didnt work out for me..there was so much liquid and oil that the chicken didn’t cook. I had to switch baking dishes and cook an additional 20 minutes…any suggestions on what I might have done wrong??
I followed the instructions and even used the same pesto you did…
Oh no! Hmmm…I doubt you did anything wrong! Does your oven tend to need extra time to cook dishes? That’s the only thing I can think of!
Made this last night… Same deal as above. Soooo watery after 30 minutes in the oven. My chicken, however, appeared to be cooked fine, and we ate it with no problem. It was delicious! But still so watery… I think it was because of the fresh mozzarella? Fresh motz usually has a lot of water and when cooked makes anything watery. I’ve experienced this many times trying to use fresh motz on pizza. What brand of motz did you use in your dish? I just went with the long log of store brand fresh.
It”s so strange – the recipe turns out just fine for half the people who try it, then water for the other half. Total mystery! :/ I usually use Bel Gioioso brand mozzarella cheese.
I’m having the same problem… took it out and it wasn’t close to cooked. Wondering what I did wrong ;(
Lauren, I had the exact same issue! I was using my mother’s gas oven. I put the dish togeher the night before so I cooked it covered an extra five minutes since it went in cold, then uncovered and baked another 10 minutes. When I checked it, it was nowhere near done so I recovered it and put it back in for another 15 minutes. It finally got done but was extremely soupy and most of the cheese had melted into the soup. It tasted good but didn’t look much like Kristin’s. Normally I have good luck with her recipes. Will have to tinker with this one if I do it again.
I too had tons of liquid!! The chicken cooked fine but there was so much liquid, the dish was watery. It’s like all the water released from the tomatoes in the marinara? It was ok, but would have been so much better if it wasn’t so liquid-y.
I tried this tonight and it was so easy and delicious. Thank you!!