Pesto Grilled Chicken with Fresh Tomato Pasta

This Pesto Grilled Chicken with Fresh Tomato Pasta is a perfect summer dish!  Fresh and flavourful!

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We love chicken grilled on the BBQ…there’s just no better summer meal.  Two of our absolute faves are BBQ Chicken Kabobs, and BBQ Beer Roasted Chicken.  So good.  But I’m always looking for new chicken recipes, so when I stumbled on this recipe for Pesto Grilled Chicken I just knew I had to try it.  Basil + chicken + BBQ = Heaven on Earth.  This recipe is especially delicious if you use all your fresh garden basil, and make a batch of pesto – the flavour from homemade pesto is unreal!

By adding the pesto sauce before grilling, it has a chance to infuse this chicken with flavour while it’s grilling, and it also makes it so moist.  Then pair it up with a simple fresh tomato and basil pasta.  This is a gorgeous summer dinner.

Now just picture yourself sitting on your deck on a warm and sunny summer night enjoying this meal!  Summer on a plate.
And as an added bonus, leftovers make a great lunch – just shred any leftover chicken and toss it with the pasta and you have lunch the next day!

Pesto Grilled Chicken with Fresh Tomato Pasta

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This recipe is from 125 Best Chicken Recipes by Rose Murray, published by www.robertrose.ca.

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Chicken:

• 4 in bone (skin on chicken breasts)
• 1/2 cup pesto sauce (I like homemade)

Fresh Tomato Pasta:

• 4 cups of fusili pasta
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 ripe tomatoes (chopped)
• 1/4 cup red onion (coarsely chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• salt & pepper

Instructions

Grilling the chicken:

1. Gently poke your fingers under the skin of each chicken breast, and lift the skin slightly. Gently stuff about 2 tbsp of the pesto under the skin, and massage it to even it out.
2. Starting with the pesto side up, grill the chicken for 5 minutes. Turn the chicken and grill for another 5 minutes. Turn again and finish on the grill with the pesto side up for another 5 – 7 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink inside.

Making the Fresh Tomato Pasta:

1. In a large pot boil your pasta until it is tender but firm.
2. Drain well and toss with the 1 tbsp olive oil.
3. Toss the pasta with the chopped tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic, vinegar, brown sugar and salt & pepper.
4. Serve with the BBQ pesto chicken and enjoy!

Notes

The chicken can be prepared up to 8 hours ahead of time. Just cover and refrigerate, then remove and bring to room temperature for about 30 minutes before you BBQ.

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For more delicious recipes, you need to check out chicken.ca!  This site is one of the best online resources I have found for chicken recipes…for real.  Not only will you find delicious dishes like this Butterflied Herb and Lemon Grilled Chicken or this Barbeque Chicken Sandwich, but you can also find great tips for grilling!

Make sure to follow Chicken Farmers of Canada on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram to stay up to date!

Have a delicious day!

Disclosure: I am participating in the Chicken Farmers of Canada campaign managed by SJ Consulting. I received compensation in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own.