Every year we try to grow basil. I have dreams of jars and jars of homemade pesto and Caprese salad. I plan to spend the summer sprinkling basil on everything. I’ll look like the cover of a magazine, smiling as I harvest my basil surrounded by my perfectly dressed children who never fight and always obey me. Sadly, I generally kill everything I plant. Luckily, jarred pesto is getting healthier and tastier than it once was.
I love to use pesto for salad dressing, veggie dip, mixed with mayonnaise for a spread and a topping for chicken. This pesto chicken is one of my favorite uses for pesto. And it comes together in the slow cooker, which just makes life better in general.
Just drizzles avocado oil in the bottom of your slow cooker, top with chicken breasts and top each breast with jarred pesto and cook on low 4-6 hours. It’s hard to think of a recipe that’s easier.
The oil keeps the chicken moist and cooking it slowly allows the pesto to really penetrate into the chicken and give it lots of flavor. Maybe one day I’ll make this with my pesto made with home-grown basil. Then when I serve it to company and they “ooh” and “aah,” I can tell them I grew the basil myself and act like it’s no big deal. Yeah. I want to be that person.
- Drizzle avocado oil in the bottom of a slow cooker and top with chicken breasts.
- Top each breast with 2 Tbsp prepared pesto.
- Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
Ami, your commentaries accompanying each recipe are always fun to read, but this one was SO FUNNY! Maybe because I personally know those perfectly dressed, obedient children 🙂 But you have to know what a treat these articles are, in addition to the delightful recipes… Thank You!
Thank you for reading them! 🙂
Do you have a recommendation for a basil that is ‘clean’? Like no “natural flavors” and chemicals?
Adrienne, I always go for an organic version of both pesto and basil, which can easily be found in the grocery store. Just look in the “natural” section. It just takes time to read labels. The Private Selection pesto is clean as far as ingredients go, but it uses canola oil which often contains GMOs. That’s one of my main motivations for buying organic products. Any pesto contains cheese so if you’re staying away from dairy, you’ll likely have to make your own which is just a combination of basil, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and salt and pepper. Good luck! 🙂