Are you ready for this? Because I wasn’t quite ready for how easy and delicious this meal was. When I sat down to eat my first bowl of these Pesto Chicken and Vegetables I was like, “Oh yes, I’m going to make this every single week.” It’s the perfect light, flavorful, and fast recipe for meal prep. And it’s just SO SIMPLE.
Vegetable Options
I used a summery mix of yellow squash, zucchini, red bell pepper, green beans, and red onion for this quick sauté, but there are a lot of options when it comes to the vegetables. Here are some other vegetables you could add:
- Broccoli
- Carrots
- Grape tomatoes
- Mushrooms
- Fresh corn
- Asparagus
- Spinach
The key thing to keep in mind when using different vegetables is when to add them to the skillet. For this recipe you don’t want to fully cook the vegetables. They should be just tender-crisp. So, keeping that in mind, add sturdy vegetables first and tender vegetables later to make sure they don’t get overcooked.
Can I Substitute the Chicken?
Yes, there are options for that, too! I think shrimp would be absolutely awesome in this recipe, as would tofu. If using tofu, I would do a cornstarch coating and fry it separately (see the technique used in this recipe) before tossing it together with the vegetables and pesto at the end.
How to Serve Pesto Chicken and Vegetables
I ate this dish as-is, just a bowl of flavorful chicken and vegetables. But there are more options! You could eat this over a bowl of rice, stir in some cooked orzo or quinoa, or even add them to a bed of greens. Honestly, I would probably even add them to a flat bread and top with mozzarella as a sort of vegetable pizza!
How Long Does it Stay Good?
I got about four days out of my pesto chicken and vegetables, but this can vary depending on the conditions in your refrigerator, freshness of the ingredients, and how long you cook the vegetables. As I mentioned above, you want to barely cook the vegetables for this recipe. Just make them tender-crisp so they don’t get too wilted. Not only does this give them great texture and a fresh, bright flavor, but they last a little longer in the fridge, too.
Easy Pesto Chicken and Vegetables
Servings 4 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 1 red bell pepper ($1.50)
- 1 zucchini ($0.60)
- 1 yellow squash ($0.50)
- 1/2 red onion ($0.19)
- 1.3 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast ($6.67)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.08)
- 1 cup frozen green beans ($0.67)
- 1/3 cup pesto* ($0.73)
- 1/8 tsp salt* ($0.01)
- 1/8 tsp freshly cracked pepper* ($0.01)
- 1 Tbsp grated Parmesan* ($0.11)
Instructions
- Chop the bell pepper, yellow squash, and zucchini, and slice the red onion. I like to make different shapes for each vegetable, but aim to make the pieces all around the same size.
- Cube the chicken breasts into ½-inch pieces.
- Add the cooking oil to a large skillet and heat over medium-high. Once the skillet and oil are very hot, add the chicken and sauté until the chicken pieces are opaque (3-5 minutes – the chicken will continue to cook as you add vegetables).
- Add the green beans to the skillet and sauté for 1-2 minutes more, or just until thawed.
- Add the bell pepper and red onion to the skillet. Sauté for 1-2 minutes more. If water is beginning to pool in the skillet, turn the heat up slightly. It should be hot enough that the water released from the vegetables evaporates quickly.
- Add the yellow squash and zucchini to the skillet and continue to sauté 2-3 minutes more, or just until the squash softens slightly.
- Turn the heat off, add the pesto to the skillet, and stir until everything is coated. Give the vegetables a taste and add salt, pepper, or more pesto if desired. Top with a light sprinkle of Parmesan just before serving.
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Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Pesto Chicken and Vegetables – Step by Step Photos
Chop the vegetables first so they’re ready to go. Chop one red bell pepper, one yellow squash, one zucchini, slice ½ of one red onion and measure 1 cup frozen green beans. I like to do different shapes for the vegetables, but aim to keep them roughly the same size.
Cut 1.3 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast into ½-inch pieces.
Add 2 Tbsp cooking oil to a large skillet and heat over medium-high. Once very hot, add the cubed chicken and sauté just until the chicken is opaque (3-5 minutes – it will continue to cook as you add more vegetables). Next, add the frozen green beans and sauté for a couple of minutes more, or just until thawed.
Next add the bell pepper and red onion. Continue to sauté a couple of minutes more. If you see water pooling in the skillet, turn the heat up higher. The heat should be high enough that any moisture released by the vegetables evaporates quickly.
Finally, add the yellow squash and zucchini to the skillet. Sauté just a couple of minutes more, or just until the raw edge is taken off the squash.
Turn the heat off. Add about ⅓ cup pesto to the skillet and stir until everything is coated.
Give the vegetables a taste and add salt, pepper, or more pesto if needed (I added a pinch of each).
Top with a light sprinkle of Parmesan just before serving.
Perfect for meal prep!!
Great recipe! Easy to make, pretty quick to cook once I get everything chopped, and most importantly, it’s tasty :) I had some carrots that needed to be used up so I peeled those and diced them up. At the end I added a package of spinach and let it wilt a bit. As always, I appreciate how versatile many of your recipes are and the suggestions for add-ins :) Already planning on making again for my work lunch next week.
Hi – I recently found your site and this is the first recipe I cooked. OMG – great recipe and oh so easy! I am already thinking lunch prep. I forgot how much I love pesto!! Thank you for sharing such a versatile recipe!!
This sounds amazing! Question: Can I substitute the pesto for another sauce? What do you recommend?
Well, it’s basically a stir fry so I suppose you could use any stir fry sauce! Other than that, I can’t think of anything off the top of my head. :)
This dish has been an amazing base in helping me eat well! I make the pesto with kale and eat this pesto chicken and vegetables with some whole wheat pasta. I meal prep it for the week so every time I know I am getting a well rounded meal. Love your page Beth and many other of your recipes too! Thank you!
I made this with tofu and it is so good! Really filling and a great meal prep
Have people reheated this in the microwave or eaten cold?
I reheat it in the microwave. :)
Made this for my work lunches this week. Currently eating it for Monday lunch right now and it’s amazing. It was super quick and easy to prepare, and has a lot of flavour. Will definitely be making this recipe a regular thing. I packed it with quinoa on the side for a little extra sustenance.
I was disappointed with this dish — it turned out quite bland. However, that may be more the fault of the particular brand of pesto that I used than that of the recipe. (I’ve made dozens of Budget Bytes recipes before, and this is my first less-than-stellar experience, so I am inclined to blame the pesto first!)
Very happy with this recipe. My boys love pesto and pasta, but not veges. I made mostly to recipe, but used fresh beans and added 2 cups cooked pasta at end. All said they loved it – despite the veg! Will make again for sure.
This is really good! Will definitely make again.
Loved this! My favorite recipes on this site are just like this – healthy, fast, flavorful. I could see so many variations of this recipe. Different veggies, different protein (in fact I used pork cutlets instead of chicken like another commenter suggested), different sauce. I would love to see a recipe like this using ranch or jarred curry sauce or something else.
Yum! I used the veggies as listed and cut the oil to 1 Tbs. I used reduced fat Bertoli pesto. A delicious, fast, filling and low carb meal.
Made this last night— so good! Why have I never thought to add pesto to squash & zucchini?!?!? Great flavor combination! Tossed out with some (Banza) cavatappi pasta. (I made the recipe vegetarian by subbing “soy curls” for the chicken). I normally dread leftovers, but was so excited for leftovers-lunch today! It was just as good cold today as it was hot last night! Thanks for this! It’s definitely a keeper!
We made this tonight and used up a lot of odds and ends of vegetables: 1/2 a red onion, 1/2 a green pepper, a small tomato, some frozen broccoli florets, 1-1/2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables, 1/3 of a large zucchini, some green beans from the garden, 3 cloves of garlic, and half bag of fresh spinach that needed to be used up. . We added about 1/2 a box of rotini pasts too, but 3 adults pretty much annihilated it. I don’t think there’s enough left for us all to eat it tomorrow. Will be good for my daughter’s lunches.
Forgot to mark the stars.
This was so good and so easy! A much needed dose of veggies after eating like garbage most of the week. Super riffable – I used asparagus instead of green beans. Highly recommend.