Pesto Chicken with Zucchini Noodles

Juicy chicken marinated in pesto is the perfect protein to top these healthy and delicious zucchini noodles! A fast and easy alternative to your regular pasta dinner!

Zucchini noodles are all the rage right now. Actually any spiralized vegetable is. I for one absolutely love them! What about you? Have you tried them yet? If you haven’t I highly recommend it. Not only do they taste great, but it’s a fun way to get more vegetables into your diet.

Before I bought myself a spiralizer I simply used a julienne peeler to do the job. It doesn’t take up any space and is relatively inexpensive. However, after seeing people use the spiralizer I couldn’t resist buying one. I’ve now had mine for about a year and pull it out of my pantry at least once a week to make some sort of vegetable noodles. If you think it’s something you’ll use frequently and you have the space to store it, I definitely think it’s a good investment!

Since I’m still pulling at least 1-2 zucchini off my plant per week I’m in desperate need of ways to use them up. I’ve baked zucchini bread, stuck it in those delicious cupcakes I shared the recipe for a while back, grilled it, sautèed it, and now I’m spiralizing the heck out of it and making easy zucchini noodles.

Once the zucchini is in noodle form the rest is simple. Just toss them in a large sauté pan sprayed with cooking spray, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, and toss them around for a minute. All done. No waiting for water to boil and then waiting even longer for the pasta to cook. Start to finish you’re looking at about 5-6 minutes, you can’t beat that!

For all the doubters out there about the flavor, I’m not here to tell you that it tastes just like pasta, because it’s not pasta. It does however have the look and texture of pasta and when you top it with the delicious pesto chicken and lots of parmesan cheese, it makes a pretty darn good replacement! Not to mention the calories in one whole zucchini are between 30-50 whereas a serving of pasta is about 200 calories, sort of a big difference wouldn’t you say? If you are looking for a great alternative to pasta or maybe a way to get your kids or yourself to eat more vegetables, I highly recommend giving this Pesto Chicken with Zucchini Noodles a try!

Pesto Chicken with Zucchini Noodles

Yield: 2 servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 7 minutes

Total Time: 37 minutes

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Ingredients

Pesto Chicken

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon pesto
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Zucchini Noodles

• 2 medium sized zucchini, spiralized
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Pesto and parmesan cheese for toppings

Instructions

Pesto Chicken

1. In a medium sized bowl, combine the chicken breasts, pesto, salt, and pepper tossing together until the chicken is coated in the pesto.
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
3. Grill or sautè the chicken for about 3-4 minutes per side depending on the thickness of your chicken.
4. Remove the chicken from the heat and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

Zucchini Noodles

1. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and spray with cooking spray.
2. Add in the spiralized zucchini along with some salt and pepper to taste.
3. Toss everything together and heat through for about 1 minute.
4. Remove from the heat and divide into two bowls.
5. Top the noodles with the sliced chicken, more pesto, and shredded parmesan cheese.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 444 Total Fat: 26g Saturated Fat: 5g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 18g Cholesterol: 114mg Sodium: 1015mg Carbohydrates: 9g Fiber: 3g Sugar: 4g Protein: 45g

More Alternative Pasta Dinners:

Spicy Tomato Garlic Shrimp with Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti Squash with Feta and Herb

Zucchini Lasagna Rolls