Sheet Pan Chicken Margherita

This flavorful and juicy sheet pan chicken margherita makes for a simple, yet satisfying dinner any night of the week. Serve over angel hair pasta, spaghetti squash or quinoa for a complete meal.

What is Chicken Margherita?

Chicken margherita is a dish consisting of chicken breast, mozzarella cheese, pesto, and fresh tomatoes. It’s a light, yet hearty dish often served over pasta. Sometimes it is served with a drizzle of balsalmic vinegar to add an extra depth of flavor.

There are various methods to prepare it, but most often the chicken is grilled.

I’m putting a spin on the traditional cooking method by taking out the grill and putting the chicken in the oven. This changes the cooking time to hands-off time – making this recipe SO easy to prepare.

Is this recipe healthy?

This chicken margherita recipe is a low carb, high protein dish. Also, thanks to the olive oil in the pesto it is also fairly high on fats. However, the majority of the fats are healthy monounsaturated fats.

Extra virgin olive oil contains good amounts of vitamin E and K, as well as antioxidants. In addition, oleic acid, the main fatty acid in olive oil, has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties.

By using chicken breast you are also getting in a ton of lean protein. Top it with fresh tomatoes, which are full of the antioxidant lycopene, vitamin C, potassium, vitamin K and folate.

Lastly I wanted to touch on basil – one of the main stars of chicken margherita. My herb garden is bursting with sweet basil this year and this is the perfect dish to use it in.

Not only are we topping this dish with a bunch of chopped fresh basil, but the we use a basil pesto as well. You can make your own, like my easy basil pesto, or buy a jar from your local supermarket.

Basil is rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, including vitamin K, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc and even some dietary fiber. Plus, it adds such a unique and rich flavor profile to any dish it’s in.

How to Make this Recipe

Start off by putting your chicken breasts in a sealable plastic bag. Seal the bag and, using a kitchen mallet, pound it to about 1/2-inch thick. Open the bag and add in some olive oil, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Rub it all together until the seasonings are evenly coated on the chicken. Transfer the chicken to a sheet pan, then top with the pesto and tomatoes. 

Put it in the oven at 350°F for 25 minutes. Take it out and top each chicken breast with a slice of mozzarella cheese, then return it to the oven for another 3-5 minutes.

Remove it from the oven, sprinkle chopped fresh basil over everything and enjoy! It really is that simple.

What do I serve with sheet pan chicken margherita?

This recipe goes well over angel hair pasta, but it would be equally delicious over spaghetti squash, too. If you don’t want either of those options, quinoa would be great to serve with it or you could roast some potatoes to serve as a side dish. 

Another yummy side would be sautéed spinach or zucchini. There are so many delicious ways to complete this meal!

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