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Healthy Pesto Chicken Zoodles

By: Mihaela MetaxaAlbu from blondelish.com
Healthy Pesto Chicken Zoodles

"Make your own pesto sauce. I know it may seem easier to just buy a ready-made one from the store, but trust me it isn’t. It literally takes just 10 minutes to make homemade pesto sauce and you have full control over what goes in it. Plus, you get to play with different ingredients and find your favorite combo. I made it with Pistachios but you can make the classic pesto recipe with pine nuts, or you can experiment with cashews, pecans, walnuts or even peanuts. And instead of basil, you could try it with parsley, mint, kale or spinach. Homemade pesto sauce makes a huge difference in this chicken zoodles recipe so you really need to try it. Adjust the recipe to your taste. As you probably know, I think the ability to cater to everyone’s taste is very important when it comes to cooking. Hence, I would like to give you some alternatives to adjust this healthy pesto chicken zoodles recipe to your taste. So if you are not a huge fan of chicken breast, you can always replace it with thighs. Or, if you want it even lighter, you can replace it with shrimps. But if you want to go further and make it vegetarian, just replace the chicken with corn as I did a while back. If you don’t like the green pesto you can go for a red, tomato-based one. And you can also spiralize more veggies, such as carrots, and mix them with zoodles. A few little, but helpful tricks. I used raw zucchini in this healthy pesto chicken zoodles recipe but if you prefer it cooked, you can sauté the zoodles in a pan for 1-2 minutes before mixing them with pesto. Careful though! Zucchini cooks up really fast so don’t overcook it, ok? And if you don’t mind a few extra carbs then you can replace the zoodles with pasta. Admittedly, you’d have to call it pesto chicken pasta, but the essence is more important than the name, right?!"

Serves4 Servings

Preparation Time15 min

Cooking Time10 min

Ingredients

  • 3 large zucchini, spiralized
  • 1 pound chicken breasts, skinless boneless
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 2 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, shredded
  • fresh basil, to garnish
  • INGREDIENTS FOR PESTO SAUCE:
  • 1 cup Pistachios, No Shells
  • 1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup fresh basil
  • 1 garlic clove
  1. Place a skillet over medium-high heat and rub the chicken on both sides with salt, pepper and 1 Tbsp of olive oil.

  2. Once the skillet is hot, add the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and no longer pink on the inside. Set aside and let it rest for a couple of minutes, then shred.

  3. Meanwhile, add all the pesto sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

  4. Place the spiralized zucchini in a large bowl and top with chicken, cherry tomatoes, and pesto sauce.

  5. Garnish with shredded parmesan and fresh basil, then toss and serve immediately.

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