Great chicken is both juicy and flavorful – this hits the nail on the head in both of those categories. Pesto is one of my favorite sauces, basil and toasted pine nuts give a fantastic fresh and nutty flavor that pairs extremely well with poultry.
As you all know, I like to use citrus when I can, so I’ve added some lemon zest to give citrus notes throughout the chicken. This pairs very well with the floral notes of the basil, and contrasts perfectly with the rich fats of the cheese.
I served this with a spicy chipotle mayo, consisting of homemade mayonnaise, chipotle seasoning, chili garlic paste, and some sweetener. It goes very well with the chicken – but if you’re not a fan of spice then it’s not needed. You can also make extra pesto filling and use that as a sauce.
You could easily pair this with some Bacon Jammin’ Green Beans and have a fantastic meal on your hands – let me know what you do with it and what twists you put on it!
Yields 4 total servings
The Preparation
- 16 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 1/4 cup pesto
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon fresh garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 150 grams halloumi cheese
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, for frying
The Execution
1. Pat your chicken breasts dry of any moisture using some paper towels.
2. Pound the chicken breasts out to 1/8″ thickness using a metal meat hammer.
3. In a bowl, combine 1/4 Cup Pesto (I am using Classico Brand) and 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil.
4. Spread your pesto out on the chicken breasts and zest 1 lemon over the chicken.
5. Chop your Halloumi cheese into small pieces and spread it out into the chicken.
6. Roll your chicken up end to end as best as you can.
7. Tie the chicken together using either butchers string, or securing it with toothpicks.
8. Preheat your oven to 450F, and then bring 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil to its smoke point in a cast iron skillet.
9. Add your chicken to the pan and cook it on all sides, making sure you get a nice sear on the whole outside of the chicken.
10. Put the cast iron in your oven for 6-7 minutes to allow the chicken to cook through.
11. Once the chicken’s juices run clear, remove from the oven, let rest for 5-6 minutes, and serve.
This makes a total of 4 servings of Chicken Pesto Roulade. Each serving comes out to be 421 calories, 25.3g fats, 2g net carbs, and 43.8g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 16 ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast | 748 | 16.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 140.6 |
| 1/4 cup pesto | 216 | 21.1 | 4 | 1.2 | 2.8 | 2.4 |
| 1 tablespoon olive oil | 119 | 13.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 teaspoon lemon zest | 2 | 0 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 1 teaspoon fresh garlic | 4 | 0 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 0.2 |
| 1 teaspoon salt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 teaspoon black pepper | 5 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.2 |
| 150 gram halloumi cheese | 450 | 33.5 | 3.3 | 0 | 3.3 | 33.3 |
| 2 tablespoon olive oil | 239 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 1784 | 111.6 | 10.2 | 2.2 | 8 | 176.7 |
| Per Serving (/4) | 446 | 27.9 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 2 | 44.2 |
Chicken Pesto Roulade
Ingredients
- 16 ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast
- ¼ cup pesto
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon fresh garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 150 gram halloumi cheese
- 2 tablespoon olive oil for frying
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450F. Pat the chicken breasts dry with paper towels.
- Pound the chicken breasts with the flat side of a meat hammer until about 1/8" thick.
- Combine the pesto and olive oil in a bowl. Spread the pesto over the chicken breasts and add the lemon zest, garlic, salt, and black pepper.
- Chop the halloumi cheese into small pieces and spread them out over the chicken.
- Roll up the chicken and secure with toothpicks or butcher's twine.
- Bring the remaining olive oil (for frying) to its smoking point in a cast-iron skillet.
- Add the chicken to the pan and cook evenly to get a nice sear on all sides.
- Place the skillet in the oven for 6–7 minutes to allow the chicken to cook through.
- Once cooked and the juices run clear, remove from the oven and let rest for 5–6 minutes before serving.
You really should get your own YT channel because there is next to nothing on there of any real quality, especially when it comes to doing cooking vids because your recipes for Keto cooking are the best I have seen.
Thanks Paul!
I currently don’t have the proper setup to do video shooting in my kitchen. It would most likely involve a lot of movement of the camera, or another person (which both are fine). But the real problem is not having an actual camera that can shoot reasonable video quality, or having the lighting setup I’d want to actually shoot video. Hopefully, within the next few months, I will be able to order all of that stuff and start the video expedition. If not, I will still post recipes every day in picture form 🙂
If you are able to do it in the near future you should because potentially there is good money too be made from a quality Keto cooking channel if done correctly. Also just think about the countless thousands of people who would get to here and potentially buy your book and visit your website as well
Oh trust me, I’ve thought about it and that’s why I have plans for it. But it’s like you said – it requires some degree of quality, professionalism, and it has to be done correctly. Without the proper equipment, lighting, and planning it wouldn’t turn out how I would want 🙂
So, in due time, I will for sure be looking into a more media oriented outlet to do all of this!
Do you think mozzarella would be an ok sub for the halloumi? I’m just trying to use what I already have in the fridge this week and out of the 8 cheeses I already have, halloumi is not one of them.
For sure Alicia. Any creamy style of cheese with not too much sharpness to it would work just fine!
This is really good – made it with mozzarella cheese as I didn’t have haloumi and it was great! Very very tasty and my husband cleaned his plate – should have found these recipes years ago!
Thanks Sue! If only you’d have found it years ago – you’d have been combining with high carb too, so that wouldn’t have been so great anyways 😛
What is the sauce that looks to be drizzled over the chicken in the photo?
Thanks 🙂
Oh never mind about the sauce…I just saw it. Sorry!!
Hehe, was just about to say that 😛 No problem!
That was delicious! The hardest part was browning all the sides with the toothpicks sticking out all over the place. Next time I might try wrapping it in bacon or pancetta.
I tend to agree. I found that the toothpicks got in the way some, but I was able to flip them relatively easily. I will try to find a better solution for this – but the one that comes to mind is using some bakers or butchers twine instead of toothpicks 🙂
I made a bootleg version of this with brie instead of halloumi (didn’t have any). I didn’t have a hammer and used the end of a rolling pin. Tied it up with dental floss (no string. no toothpicks around) and just covered it on medium heat until thoroughly cooked. It was a little messy in the pan (no doubt because it was bootleg), but overall yummmmmy!
Fantastic! I did have to substitute the cheese with half mozzarella and half parmesan. For the spicy mayo, i simply combined Frank’s Red Hot with regular mayo. We’ll definitely make again.