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Chicken Pesto Tenders

May 10, 2010

One of the best ways to get kids excited about what they eat is to plant your own garden together. It doesn't require a lot of room -- a window box works beautifully -- what's most important is allowing kids to take part in every stage of the process, from planting the seeds through preparing the meal. My favorite part of having a garden is picking the produce when it is ready with my family and figuring out together what we should make with our harvest.

Summer is fast approaching, and that means basil will be growing abundantly in our garden. Most herbs are relatively easy to grow, but basil in particular grows like a weed -- which is good news because I love cooking with it. Basil is a great compliment to so many foods, but the thing I like to make all summer long is pesto. It's a great recipe to prepare and eat together as a family. It's also extremely kid-friendly because of it's nutritional balance -- the greens, nuts and cheese provide plenty of protein and are packed with vitamin A and magnesium to boot.

You will be amazed at how versatile this pesto is. I normally make a big batch and keep it in the freezer so I have it on hand year-round to use as a spread on sandwiches, toss with pasta, put on fish or shrimp or dip chicken in it and roll in bread crumbs like these delicious Chicken Pesto Tenders!

Chicken Pesto Tenders  (Serves 4)

  • Prep Time:5 minutes,
  • Cook Time: 4 minutes,
  • Total Time: 9 minutes,

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1 1/4 lb. chicken tenders, cleaned and rinsed
  • 1/4 cup pesto

Preparation

  1. 1. Preheat broiler.
  2. 2. Combine first 3 ingredients in a bowl.
  3. 3. In another bowl, combine chicken tenders and pesto and toss to evenly coat.
  4. 4. Bread each tender with the bread crumb/parmesan mixture and place on a cooking rack with a foil-lined cookie sheet under it.
  5. 5. Broil for 2 minutes on one side, turn tenders over and broil another 2 minutes then take them out.
  6. 6. Cool and serve.

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Comments






  1. zaeaton

    July 25, 2012 at 6:31 pm

    I should add that the flavor and the pesto were delicious. I will absolutely make this again!

  2. zaeaton

    July 25, 2012 at 5:03 pm

    Ok, Catherine must have a really hot oven (or maybe skinnier chicken? I did buy the tenders)! I did these tonight at 3 minutes a side because I thought 2 wouldn’t be enough. My broiler was turned to high and my rack in the closest to the top spot.

    Despite looking golden brown on the outside, the chicken was pink on the inside. This left me very confused as to what to do. So I turned the oven to 350 and baked them 10 more minutes.

    • Lani

      July 27, 2012 at 6:58 pm

      Thank you for the tip! Making these right now and running into similar issues (re: chicken still raw). Will bake as you suggest.

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  8. Brandon Gianopoulos

    November 8, 2010 at 10:15 am

    I’m so worried about the direction our kids are headed in nowadays. Watching Jamie Olivers food revolution tv show scared the thingies out of me. I suggest we all start cooking some healthy recipe like these at home if we’re going to fix this horrible situation. The ones on that site seem pretty easy, I tried last night and it’s the first time my family has eaten well in ages, I just feel great.

  9. Lorrie

    October 26, 2010 at 1:33 pm

    Is the cook time for raw chicken? I can’t imagine 4 minutes is enough??? Pls let me know…was hoping to make these tonight.

  10. Jenny

    September 28, 2010 at 9:56 am

    Do you use fresh grated parmesan cheese (string like) or the the kind in a container that you sprinkle on pasta?

    • catherine

      September 28, 2010 at 1:21 pm

      I used the fine grated kind – that looks like crumbs :)

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  12. Amanda

    August 14, 2010 at 9:16 am

    Thanks for the idea! My grandfather always freezes his pesto that he makes for us in ice cube trays. Each cube is a serving size and can easily be defrosted when needed.

  13. Catherin Ziyad

    May 15, 2010 at 8:25 am

    Hey, cool website. I actually came across this on Ask Jeeves, and I am really happy I did. I will definately be returning here more often. Wish I could add to the post and bring a bit more to the table, but am just taking in as much info as I can at the moment.

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