This cordon bleu-inspired chicken is stuffed with pesto/pistou, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and feta.
By Kelsey Hilts
I had some leftover pistou after a recent batch so I decided to experiment with a chicken dish. In this chicken cordon bleu -inspired dish, the chicken is stuffed with pistou/pesto, artichoke hearts, feta cheese and roasted red peppers. Ham could even be rolled up into the mix. I will definitely be making this again and pesto could easily be substituted if you have that instead. I actually ate this healthy dish plain but to complete the meal you could serve it over many things such as spinach salad, quinoa tossed with cherry tomatoes, or pasta.
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Pesto Chicken Roll-ups
This cordon bleu-inspired chicken is stuffed with pesto/pistou, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and feta.
- Prep Time: 40 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4+ 1x
Ingredients
Pistou
- 4 cups (80g) basil leaves
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup (59mL) chicken broth
- 1 Tbsp (11g) grated parmesan cheese
- 1 Tbsp (13g) olive oil
Spinach Pesto
- Roughly 1/2 cup (10g) basil leaves, washed and patted dry
- Roughly 1/2 cup (10g) spinach leaves, loosely packed
- 1/4 cup (45g) Romano or pecorino cheese, grated
- 1/4 cup (31g) pine nuts
- 2 Tbsp (26g) olive oil
- 1–2 garlic cloves, minced
Pesto Chicken Roll-ups
- Chicken tenders or chicken breasts cut in half lengthwise
- Pesto or pistou
- Artichoke hearts, chopped
- Roasted red peppers in strips
- Feta cheese crumbles
- 1/2 cup (30g) plain breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp (15mL) milk
- 1 tsp (2,5g) garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp (1g) salt
- Dash of black pepper
- Dash of cayenne pepper, optional
- Dash of thyme, optional
- 1 Tbsp (11g) Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Pistou
- Mix all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth.
- Store the sauce in a sealed container in the refrigerator or freezer.
Spinach Pesto
- In a blender, blend the cheese and the pine nuts for a few seconds.
- Drizzle in the olive oil and blend the mixture until it is smooth.
- Add the garlic and then the basil and the spinach, a little at a time, blending until smooth.
- Use the pesto sauce immediately or refrigerate it or freeze it in a sealed container.
Pesto Chicken Roll-ups
- Pound the chicken breasts until they are very thin.
- Spread pistou/pesto down the center of the breast and then top with roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts and feta cheese.
- Roll up the chicken breast as tightly as possible and fasten the roll together with a toothpick.
- Beat an egg with 1 Tbsp milk in a shallow bowl.
- In another shallow bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with the garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, thyme and Parmesan cheese.
- Dip each rolled chicken breast into the egg and then dredge it in the breadcrumb mixture.
- Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet lightly coated with cooking spray.
- Bake them at 375 degrees for roughly 10 minutes on each side, until the chicken is cooked all the way through.
