Baked Basil Pesto Chicken

If you've never had a good pesto sauce then you my friend are in for a treat!! Pesto is a very traditional Italian sauce make from crushed basil, garlic, Parmesan, olive oil, and pine nuts. There are many variations you can make from scratch. Or you can do like me and find an amazing fresh Artesian basil pesto locally. I have tried many decent to good pestos over the years but my absolute favorite is found at my local Sam's Club.

There are many great recipes with pesto and here is one of my family's favorites. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!!

Ingredients

FOR THE Chicken:

• 4 chicken breast or 8 chicken breast portions, thawed
• 1.5 cups (24 Tbsp) Basil Pesto 
• Salt and Pepper
• Mozzarella Cheese
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Utensils Needed

• 9x13 baking dish
• Spoon for dishing out pesto

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Trim fat off of chicken breasts. I use chicken breast portions because neither I or the kids can ever finish off a whole chicken breast. If you are using whole chicken breasts then you want to cut them in half for this recipe.                                                         Eww look at all that fat!
3. Place chicken in 9x13 baking dish, salt and pepper 
4. Spoon about 3 Tbsp pesto over each chicken breast. You can't really have too much as this will serve not only as flavoring for the chicken but also sauce for your pasta.  Depending on the pesto you bought it may need to be stored well first so you aren't spooning only oil onto your chicken. 
5. Cover dish with tin foil and bake on middle rack for 25-45 minutes depending on the thickness of your chicken. Set you timer for 25 minutes and keep checking for done-ness. 
6. Once cooked through, remove tin foil, cover chicken with as much or as little cheese as you'd like (I like LOTS of cheese)                                                                                         
7. Place dish back in oven and turn to Broil. Keep an eye on this stage the whole time! Do not leave the oven! You are only melting and browning the cheese and this only takes minutes (like 2 minutes). 
8. Once cheese is brown, remove from oven and start making your favorite pasta per package instructions. My favorite pasta is angel hair but spaghetti, fettuccine, and linguine would all work just as well.                         
9. Once pasta is cooked and drained, serve up like you would spaghetti. Pasta covered in pesto sauce. Topped with a chicken breast. 
10. Enjoy!!!