Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls


These Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls are a delicious way to enjoy your veggies and basil pesto, and they're a low carb lunch idea that comes together in 30 minutes! Jump to Recipe

Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls

Ingredients in Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls

These pesto chicken meal prep bowls are SO simple to make and you can pretty much use any type of veggie you want you can also change up the protein as you see fit. Really, there's no way to mess this recipe up! Here's what you need below:

  • Pesto (homemade or store bought)
  • Chicken breasts
  • Vegetables (I used mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini and cherry tomatoes)
  • A bit of olive oil
FREE 4-WEEK MEAL PREP EBOOK!
Subscribe for my 4-Week Meal Prep Magic eBook - it comes complete with grocery lists, recipes & 4 prep ahead plans!
Your name:
Your email:

Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls

How to make Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls

Just like the short ingredient list, the instructions to make these pesto chicken meal prep bowls are relatively straightforward. Here's how to make this recipe:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Meanwhile, blend ingredients for your pesto if making it from scratch.
  2. Add your chicken and mushrooms to large sheet pan and toss with 1 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of pesto. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
  3. Remove from oven, drain liquid from the mushrooms, then add your remaining vegetables and pesto. Toss to combine then bake another 10 minutes until chicken is fully cooked.

Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls

What type of pesto?

You can use store bought pesto from your local grocery store if you don't want to make it fresh yourself. Take a look in the pasta aisle of your local grocery store with all the spaghetti sauces I like the jarred Classico pesto as an easy sub in for homemade pesto.

However, if you are going with homemade pesto, you should know it's super easy to make!

Most classic pesto recipes are a combo of fresh basil, olive oil, parmesan cheese, garlic, pine nuts, and salt & pepper. I usually leave out the nuts since they are so expensive and add extra fat, plus I find you don't really miss the nuts. Blend up the rest of the ingredients in a small blender, Magic Bullet or food processor and you're good to go!

Leftover homemade pesto will last in the fridge up to 5 days, whereas store bought should last a couple weeks. Just make sure you don't contaminate your pesto with raw chicken if you have some leftover that you'd like to re-use.

What veggies to use

You can literally use ANY type of vegetable in this recipe! If using mushrooms as I did, I recommend that you cook for a full 20 minutes along with the chicken and drain the excess liquid halfway through. You can cook heartier root vegetables for 20 minutes so do them with your chicken I'm talking anything from beets to parsnips, potatoes and sweet potatoes.

For other types of vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, etc. you will only want them to cook for 10 minutes in the oven, so add them in halfway through the cooking time. You don't want to overcook them!

Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls

Making this recipe on the stovetop

You can also make this recipe in a pan on the stove if you don't want to turn the oven on! Simply saute the chicken and mushrooms (and/or any other hearty vegetables) for 5-6 minutes with olive oil in a large pan over med-high heat, then saute the rest of your vegetables for another 10 minutes, along with your pesto.

Because the chicken is cut into 1-inch pieces, it will cook super quickly! Just make sure you are attending the stove at all times and stirring occasionally to avoid burning.

Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls

What to serve with pesto chicken

You can serve this pesto chicken alone to make it a low carb meal, or you can add some sides to make it a larger meal. Here are some serving suggestions:

  • Pasta
  • Rice
  • Quinoa
  • Roasted potatoes
  • Repurpose the leftovers and turn it into a pita pizza

More seasoning suggestions

The seasonings you use with this recipe can easily be changed! You don't have to use pesto even just a sprinkling of Italian seasoning, lemon pepper or taco/fajita seasoning would change the flavours nicely and allow you to experiment with what you like. This easy sheet pan chicken recipe is a great template for other seasonings.

Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls

Storing and reheating

You can store this recipe in meal prep bowls in the fridge up to 5 days. To reheat, simply sprinkle a tiny bit of water overtop to avoid drying out the chicken, and microwave for 1-2 minutes. You can also mix in some extra fresh/jarred pesto for more flavour!

Can you freeze this recipe?

I have not tried freezing this recipe but you can give it a try the texture of the veggies may end up being very different, but chicken on its own does freeze well so it's worth a shot if you have too many leftovers. This recipe only serves 4 though, so this shouldn't be an issue. I would recommend enjoying fresh in this case.

More easy sheet pan meal prep

Here are some of my other fave sheet pan meals below:

Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls

Meal prep tools

Meal prep challenge

If you'd like some more help with meal planning, then you'll love my free 5-day meal prep challenge!Sign up for free below:

FREE MEAL PREP CHALLENGE!
Subscribe for my free 5-day meal prep challenge complete with printable PDF resources!
Your name:
Your email:

Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls

These Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls are a delicious way to enjoy your veggies and basil pesto, and they're a low carb lunch idea that comes together in 30 minutes!

  • 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
  • 1 cup basil, packed
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 3 chicken breasts, diced
  • 1 cup mushrooms cut in half
  • 1 cup Cherry tomatoes
  • 1 head broccoli, cut into florets
  • 1 small zucchini, cut thickly
  1. Preheat oven to 400 F. In a Magic Bullet, blender or food processor, blend 1 tbsp olive oil, basil, parmesan cheese, garlic, salt and pepper together until smooth (you may need to add 1-2 tsp of water to get it to blend).

  2. Add chicken and mushrooms to large sheet pan and toss with 1 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of pesto. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and drain excess liquid.
  3. Add remaining vegetables and the rest of pesto. Toss to combine then bake another 10 minutes until chicken is fully cooked. Remove from oven and divide among 4 meal prep bowls. Keeps in fridge up to 5 days.

These Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls are a delicious way to enjoy your veggies and basil pesto, and they're a low carb lunch idea that comes together in 30 minutes! #sheetpan #pestochicken These Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls are a delicious way to enjoy your veggies and basil pesto, and they're a low carb lunch idea that comes together in 30 minutes! #sheetpan #pestochicken These Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls are a delicious way to enjoy your veggies and basil pesto, and they're a low carb lunch idea that comes together in 30 minutes! #sheetpan #pestochicken These Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls are a delicious way to enjoy your veggies and basil pesto, and they're a low carb lunch idea that comes together in 30 minutes! #sheetpan #pestochicken

The post Sheet Pan Pesto Chicken Meal Prep Bowls appeared first on The Girl on Bloor.

**Disclaimer My article contains affiliate links. All products are ones I like. If you choose to buy one of these products through the URL provided, I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you. All proceeds help support the blog.

Leave a comment


Please note, comments must be approved before they are published