Chicken Pesto & Peppers Recipe | Clean Eating Kitchen with Jan D’Atri

Follow along with RM’s official culinary chef, Jan D’Atri, as she prepares a delicious & nutritious Chicken Pesto with a side of peppers.

Chicken Pesto & Peppers

Ingredients:

• 3.5 oz thinly sliced or whole chicken breast
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• salt & pepper (to taste)

Pesto:

• 3  cloves raw garlic
• ¼ cup fresh basil leaves
• 2  tsp apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup chicken broth or water
• 2  tsp lemon juice
• ¼  tsp fresh or dried oregano
• salt & black pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken in lemon juice, salt and pepper for one hour or overnight for best results.
2. Place in a pan and fry until lightly browned and cooked thoroughly.
3. For the pesto sauce, puree fresh basil, garlic, chicken broth, and lemon juice in a food processor.
4. Add pesto mixture to chicken, add a little water and cook on medium heat coating chicken with pesto mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.

For the Red Pepper Side:

Roast peppers on a baking sheet in oven at 400 degrees until peppers begin to soften and the skin blisters. When done, remove from oven and place in zip lock or paper bag for 1 hour. (This will allow the skin to sweat off making it easier to remove.) Remove the skins and slice the red peppers into strips. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Video Transcript:

Nutritious and delicious: Chicken with pesto sauce!

Hi, it’s Jan D’Atri and today chicken gets an Italian accent. This is clean eating, The Red Mountain Way!

It’s full of flavor and loaded with nutrition — and pesto chicken’s great taste happens with just a few ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need:

• a chicken breast, organic or air chilled is the tastiest
• one large lemon
• some fresh garlic, minced fine
• apple cider vinegar
• chicken broth
• salt & pepper
• & herbs — basil and oregano, fresh or dried

Now, here are 2 helpful tools for this dish: a mini prep to make the pesto, and a scale so you can weigh out a 3.5 ounce piece of chicken.

So, let’s get cooking!

Squeeze enough lemon juice for 3 tablespoons. For the chicken breast, you can leave it whole or make slices halfway through. Then, place it in a glass dish and pour the lemon juice over top. sprinkle with salt and pepper and then refrigerate to marinate for several hours or overnight.

For the pesto, it starts with delicious herbs! not only do herbs spice up this dish, they’re so good for you. For example, basil is a powerful antioxidant. It’s high in vitamin A and C and calcium and omega-3 fatty acids. And oregano is considered a super spice because it has the highest amount of antioxidants than any other herb!

You’ll prep all of your ingredients and then add them to the mini prep. 1/4 of a cup of basil, 3 cloves of the minced garlic, 1/4 of a teaspoon of oregano, 1/4 of a cup of chicken broth, 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice; you can also use salt and pepper to taste.

Now blend it all together! You know, this combination brings a delicious brightness to the meal.

And now let’s pan grill the chicken. Spray your skillet with some zero-calorie cooking spray. Cook the chicken until browned on both sides and the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

The pesto chicken will pair beautifully with a nutritious red pepper! I roasted the pepper, then peeled off the skin and sliced it in strips. Then, all you need is a little salt and pepper.

When the chicken is just about cooked, spoon the pesto over the top — and your dish is done!

This pesto chicken is so light and satisfying, and the perfect meal to keep you on your diet regimen without giving up a thing! Another great idea from the Red Mountain clean eating kitchen.

For more great recipes for clean eating the Red Mountain Way, visit redmountainweightloss.com

Jan D’Atri is Red Mountain’s official Culinary Chef, providing patients with a variety of instructional videos regarding how to cook healthy meals.

With an extensive background in the food industry as a restaurant owner, gourmet food distributor, and cookbook author,  Jan’s expertise is in high demand. In fact, she has been featured in various Phoenix media outlets including radio host on 92.3FM KTAR, Arizona Midday, Sonoran Living, Phoenix Magazine, and more.