Pesto Grilled Chicken is a quick and easy weeknight preparation this is tasty served cold or hot, which means you can make it in advance!
My older son (he is in 1st grade) started cross-country this week. He LOVES it. So much so, he is pre-sad about it ending around Halloween and already asking when he will be able to sign up again.
The only downside to cross-country practice is that it ends at 4:45 PM. Yep, rush hour. Our house is about a 12-minute drive to his school (you know I’ve timed it multiple times lol) but with traffic can easily be 30 minutes or more.
Add our 20-month old sitting in his rear-facing car seat to the equation and you have a very un-fun drive home 2x a week.
My solution is to pack up our dinner and stop at a park very close to his school and have a picnic dinner. This allows us to avoid the worst part of rush-hour, lets the boys play a bit outside and gets them dinner earlier instead of after a frustrating ride home.
This means packing easy foods that can be prepared in advance, travel well and aren’t complicated to eat.
Enter this Pesto Grilled Chicken. I used a variation of my Dairy Free Paleo Pesto with extra pine nuts pulsed in but you could use any Pesto (including store bought) that you like.
Either way, you are going to love this and appreciate that it tastes just as good the next day (hello packed lunch)!
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating below!
These 5-Ingredient No-Bake Honey Nut Truffles are the perfect little treat to have on hand for after-school, after-sports or anytime you want to satisfy your sweet tooth with a healthy bite!
- 3 to 4 pounds skin-on bone-in chicken parts
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil divided
- pinch kosher salt
- pinch black pepper
- 1/4 cup Paleo Pesto or any pesto you like
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Toss chicken with 1 tablespoon of avocado oil, salt, and pepper to coat.
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Use remaining 1 tablespoon avocado oil to oil grill grates. Preheat grill to medium heat.
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Once grill reaches medium heat, reduce heat to low over one burner (this will be your cooking area). Increase heat to high on remaining burner(s). This is for "Indirect Heat Cooking"
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Place chicken pieces on low burner area and close the lid.
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Turn every 4 to 5 minutes and continue cooking with lid closed until chicken reaches internal temperature of 160F to 165F. Total cooking time will vary depending on size and type of parts used.
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Remove chicken from grill and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Once cooled, toss with pesto. Serve immediately or refrigerate and serve chilled. Enjoy!
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I love pesto on everything! This is perfect.
I looooove pesto, it seems to go with practically everything and chicken is the perfect pairing!
The drive sounds unpleasant! Gah. And this chicken looks so tasty!
We’ve gotten into a better routine and it’s not as bad but having dinner ready in advance really helps!
Pesto adds so much flavor to any dish!
Right? It’s the best!
I love pesto! So yummy!
Me too! I almost always have a bunch stashed in the freezer 🙂
Pesto is my everything! This look incredible!
Thanks Lauren!
I love pesto everything.. and this is no exception! Love that yours is dairy-free/paleo.
Same. I could put it on everything!