Pesto Chicken Salad with Summer Veggies (Updated)

This is an old recipe from the Foraged Dish — originally posted in 2016. But the original recipe was a bit more complicated, so when I revisited it this year, I decided to make some edits. As long-time readers may know, I am a sucker for anything pesto. I often keep store bought pesto around, but if you’re feeling ambitious (or your basil plants are out of control), make your own. This one is perfect for a picnic on a hot summer day, and the leftovers make a great lunch in the middle of a work day.

Pesto Chicken Salad with Summer Veggies

Published July 1, 2020 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

2 zucchini

1 tablespoon cooking oil, such as avocado

Salt

1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1 pound chicken, cooked and diced into bite sized pieces

1/2 cup black olives, sliced in half

1/3 cup feta cheese crumbles

1/2 cup pesto sauce

Optional: 2 cups baby arugula for serving

Optional: basil leaves for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Slice zucchini into bite-sized pieces, and toss in oil. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Roast zucchini for 15-20 minutes, until browning on the edges. Set aside to cool. (Note: Too hot to turn on the oven? You can slice the zucchini into strips and grill them. Dice into bite-sized pieces after they cool).
2. While zucchini cools, prep the rest of the chicken salad: in a large bowl, combine diced, cooked chicken, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced olives, feta cheese crumbles. Add zucchini and pesto sauce, and stir until everything is well mixed and coated in pesto.
3. To serve, place a handful of arugula on each plate, and then top with several spoonfuls of chicken salad. Garnish with basil leaves.

Chickpea Antipasto Salad

In the kitchen, there is the sound of a ticking clock. From the open sliding door on my right, the leaves rustling in the breeze. The high today is seventy-one degrees. The last time I could say that was probably early April, and it feels like a treat. 

We had no idea what to expect when we arrived in McCall. Boise is surrounded by golden dry hills, the city itself an sprawl of big box department stores. But the further north you go the more trees you find, and the grasses begin to turn green. As you coast down the road into McCall's center you spot Lake Payette, like a gem in the rough. 

Here, I'm going to be soaking up the cooler weather -- currently drinking orange cinnamon tea - but back home, I'm still defaulting to no-cook, no-bake, minimal effort meals, like this Chickpea Antipasto Salad. 

This dish is a bit like pasta salad, minus the pasta, and all you do is mix. That's right: skip the oven, skip the stove, and even skip dishes -- it's a one-bowl wonder. 

Antipasto pasta salad is a picnic classic, with olives, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, and cheese. But I wanted to make a version that didn’t use pasta. Something gluten-free with more nutrients per bite. Chickpeas are the perfect option here — they have a starchy quality that makes them a good filler, though they are also filling, more so than pasta, and in a good way. So there you have it, a way to fill those pasta salad cravings when you don’t want to fill your stomach with pasta.

You can make this salad ahead of time and chill it. Served over a few fresh lettuce leaves, it makes for a great make-ahead lunch in the middle of summer! Or, put everything in a large serving dish and tote your chickpea antipasto salad along to a potluck.

Chickpea Antipasto Salad

Published August 23, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 4-6   |    Active Time: 10 minutes

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Ingredients:

2 sixteen-ounce cans chickpeas, drained

1/4 cup red onion, minced

1 cup artichoke hearts, quartered and drained

1/2 cup sliced sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained

1/2 cup sliced kalamata olives, pitted and drained

1/3 cup pesto

1/4 cup fresh basil, minced

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/2 cup feta crumbles

Optional: serve over a bed of butterhead lettuce

Directions:

1. In a medium size mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and stir to combine.
2. Serve immediately, or make a day ahead of time, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. Optionally, serve over a bed of butterhead lettuce leaves.

Paleo Creamy Basil & Tomato Chicken

UPDATE 6/27/2017: This one of the most popular recipes on Foraged Dish, but for a long time I've felt that the images just didn't do it justice! I have updated several of the images below, but it's still the same recipe. 

Yup, I've been on an aggressive pesto kick lately. A bit out of season, but still delicious! For breakfast, lunch, and now dinner, pesto has been on everything in this house over the last few weeks. 

I managed to transfer this summer's basil plant to a pot when the weather started to turn, along with some thyme and some rosemary. The basil, which I was sure would last only a short while, thrived. We even moved the plant to our new place! 

And then... ugh, then my basil plant's days came to an end. It was an easy mistake -- I just grabbed the wrong spray bottle (we have two white spray bottles, one filled with water and the other filled vinegar). And that's the end of the story: I grabbed the wrong bottle, doused my basil plant in vinegar, and two days later found it had transformed into a basil graveyard. Shriveled. Black. Droopy. 

I guess this pesto kick is like a mourning for my poor little plant. But, I guess this is exactly what's so good about plants: once the days are warm again, the light bright, I'll grow a new one, and the pesto days will be back! Until then, it's store-bought basil for me. 

Paleo Creamy Basil & Tomato Chicken

Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    |    Print This Recipe

Seared chicken is smothered in a creamy pesto sauce and served with warm cherry tomatoes.

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 pound chicken boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon arrowroot powder
• 1/3 cup cold water
• 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
• 1 batch nut-free dairy-free pesto, recipe below (or use your favorite pesto, store bought or homemade)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half


Nut-Free Dairy-Free Pesto:
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 package fresh basil (2/3 oz)
• 1 tablespoon avocado oil

Directions:

1. Prepare the pesto: place the garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the garlic is finely minced. Add the sunflower seeds and pulse serval times. Add the nutrition yeast, a sprinkle of salt, and a dash of pepper to the food processor. Finally, add the basil and avocado oil. Pulse until the basil is well minced. Set pesto aside while you prepate the rest of the dish.
2. Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it sizzles. Slice the onion into strips while the oil heats, and then add it to the pan. Cook until translucent.
3. Once the onion is translucent, add the chicken to the pan. Cook for 12 minutes, then flip over and cook for 13 more minutes. (To get the best sear, avoid moving it around too much between flips). Chicken should be cooked through. If it is not, continue to cook until chicken has no pink in the middle and juices run clear.
4. In a small bowl, whisk the arrowroot powder into the water. Add the coconut milk, and then whisk in the pesto. Pour the sauce into the skillet with the chicken. Bring to a gentle simmer.
5. Add the sliced cherry tomatoes. Allow to simmer for 1-2 more minutes, until tomatoes are warmed, and serve.
6. Optional: serve over zoodles or spiralized sweet potatoes.

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