I love eating chicken breast as it’s a healthy, low-fat, high-protein meat. But chicken breast can quickly turn out very dry and difficult to chew on. My absolute go-to for tender chicken breast is to bake it in the oven. It takes more time than when you bake it in a pan, but the result is worth it!
There are indefinite ways that you can marinade your chicken for in the oven. The critical ingredient is lemon juice, as this will tenderise the chicken.
You’ll need to marinate your chicken breast for at least 4 hours. You could even already marinate your chicken the evening before.
As you can see in my picture, I use a silicone reusable ‘zipper’ bag to marinate my chicken. I have several sizes of these, which are so practical in the kitchen. I recommend Stasher bags. I have had them for a while now, and I love them!
Check out this recipe to make your own pesto that you can use for this recipe.
Recipe Variation
You can make the recipe as described in the recipe card below. But you could also make a variation where you don’t add the pesto before putting your chicken breasts in the oven. And just add a dash of pesto afterwards to provide extra taste.
When you add pesto before putting the chicken in the oven, I would recommend using store-bought pesto. Fresh-made pesto has a massive amount of taste, so I would recommend only adding it after your chicken is done.
Side dishes this tender chicken breast goes well with
- Easy oven baked carrots with thyme
- Easy oven roasted tenderstem broccoli (broccolini)
- Easy Air Fryer Pumpkin Cubes
Super tender chicken breast with pesto
This chicken breast is super tender. A variation could also be to prepare this chicken without the pesto, and only add the pesto as an extra taste once the chicken is already done.
4
servings10
minutes30
minutes4
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
4 4 chicken breasts
2 cloves 2 cloves garlic
1 jar 1 jar green pesto, or this self made pesto
1 1 lemon
Pine nuts
Dried oregano
1 tablespoon 1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon 1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt & pepper
Directions
- Marinade
- Add the olive oil to a mixing bowl
- Add the juice of 1 lemon to the olive oil, and mix well until it’s properly blended
- Add salt, pepper and oregano and mix well
- Add the garlic (pureed) and mustard and mix well
- Add the chicken breasts to the marinade, make sure your entire chicken breasts are covered in the marinade
- Cover the chicken breasts and let it marinade for at least 4 hours in the fridge
- Final preparation
- Pre-heat the oven at 180°C
- Cover your entire chicken breasts with the pesto and put them in an oven tray
- Lay some pine nuts on top of the chicken
- Bake the chicken for 25 minutes in the oven. Your chicken is ready when its core temperature is at least 65°C