Pan seared chicken thighs are smeared with a hearty pesto sauce, then topped with thinly sliced tomato and bubbly mozzarella cheese. Serve these with zucchini ribbons or our eggplant based monkey breads.
Any time I’ve ever tried caprese style chicken it was made with chicken breasts, which too easily turn dry. With the chicken thighs you don’t have to worry about that, these come out tender and juicy. The toppings are really just a bonus.
When I calculated the nutrition I left in all ingredients used, but quite a bit of the olive oil is left at the bottom of the pan when you complete the baking. You could measure it and remove that number for the olive oil used, or try and use it up for a side dish. (Cook up some eggplant pasta perhaps.)
Yields 6 servings of Caprese Chicken Thighs
The Preparation
- 1/2 tablespoon butter
- 16 ounces boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- salt and pepper
- 2 cups fresh basil
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 5 ounces fresh tomatoes, sliced
- 6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese
The Execution
1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Preheat a cast iron (or other oven-safe) skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and allow it to melt.
2. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper then lay them down in the skillet.
3. Let the chicken thighs brown for several minutes until they are golden, before flipping over and cooking the other side.
4. In a food processor blend the basil leaves, olive oil, and pine nuts. Season with additional salt.
5. Turn off the heat under the skillet. Spoon the pesto sauce over the chicken thighs.
6. Layer with the tomato and mozzarella.
7. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked all the way through and the cheese is melted and browned.
This makes a total of 6 servings of Caprese Chicken Thighs. Each serving comes out to be 405 calories, 36g fats, 1.9g net carbs, and 20.4g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 1/2 tablespoon butter | 51 | 5.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
| 16 ounce boneless, skinless chicken thighs | 649 | 40.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 76.9 |
| — salt and pepper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 cup fresh basil | 11 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| 1/2 cup olive oil | 955 | 108 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/4 cup pine nuts | 227 | 23 | 4.4 | 1.3 | 3.1 | 4.7 |
| 5 ounce fresh tomatoes | 26 | 0.3 | 5.5 | 1.7 | 3.8 | 1.3 |
| 6 ounce fresh mozzarella cheese | 510 | 38 | 3.7 | 0 | 3.7 | 37.7 |
| Totals | 2428 | 215.8 | 14.9 | 3.7 | 11.2 | 122.2 |
| Per Serving (/6) | 405 | 36 | 2.5 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 20.4 |
Caprese Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon butter
- 16 ounce boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- salt and pepper
- 2 cup fresh basil
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- 5 ounce fresh tomatoes sliced
- 6 ounce fresh mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Heat a cast iron (or other oven-safe) skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and let it melt.
- Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper, then lay them in the skillet.
- Let the chicken thighs brown for several minutes, until they are golden, before flipping over and cooking the other side.
- In a food processor blend the basil leaves, olive oil, and pine nuts. Season with additional salt.
- Turn off the heat under the skillet. Spoon the pesto sauce over the chicken thighs.
- Layer with the tomato and mozzarella.
- Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked all the way through and the cheese is melted and browned.
My kids loved this and so did I. Adding it to my favorites. Thanks
fyi – Don’t try this with Quorn Chicken. 🙁
what is quorn chicken and why not?
A protein product that looks and tastes like chicken. I think for vegetarians. So my guess is the product probably does’t hold up well with this style of cooking.
Made this last night and it was delicious!! I did however make a classic pesto sauce.. so I added garlic and parmigiana to it.. I also drizzled a little balsamic vinaigrette on top of the finished product to add a little acid to it!! My kids loved it and it’s definitely a recipe I’ll use again!!!
I’m so pleased with this recipe! The chicken
thighs were juicy. I couldn’t find fresh basil leaves so I used jarred pesto. My calculations came out pretty much the same as yours. This was so tasty and flavorful. I’ll keep this in my regular rotation. Thanks for being an exceptional resource for me while on my keto journey!
Glad you enjoyed it and found a new recipe for your rotation! Thanks for the feedback 🙂
Made this tonight with jarred pesto, canned fire roasted diced tomato drained and patted dry, and a bag of mozzarella cheese. Sometimes you just have to use what you have in the kitchen lol. Still came out amazing!!! Definitely a great recipe. Next time I shop, I will buy the proper ingredients. Well done!
Very happy to hear you enjoyed it!
We have used this recipe for years! So good! Two of my family doesn’t like the tomatoes, so I substituted pepperoni, lol. It’s just an all around solid recipe! Use as is, or substitute the chicken, use store bought pesto. I am thankful for this recipe. It is on our meal rotation!