Chicken Caprese Zoodles with Avocado Spinach Pesto

When it comes to summer go-tos, one of the first dishes that comes to mind is a beautiful Caprese salad. In my opinion, there is truly nothing more refreshing and delicious. The one drawback? If I eat a whole plate of Caprese, I don’t feel like I’m getting the full nutritious dinner that I need. That’s where this recipe comes in.

This recipe is my spin on my fave salad, but instead of just being a starter, now you can have Caprese for the whole meal! (I mean, I’ve definitely had Caprese salad for dinner before, but this recipe has more nutritional components. I added some garlic chicken as a protein and then sautéed spiralized zucchini noodles in a skillet with olive oil, salt and pepper. While those were cooking, I made my avocado pesto recipe in a food processor. And finally, I sliced sweet cherry tomatoes and ciliegine cheese in half to top everything off.

Chicken Caprese Zoodles with Spinach Avocado Pesto

A light and nutritious way to eat your favorite caprese salad. Sweet cherry tomatoes and ciliegine mozzarella with fresh basil, on top of a bed of creamy avocado pesto zucchini noodles with seared garlic chicken.

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 15 mins

Course Main Course

Servings 2

Equipment

• Two large skillets

Ingredients

  

Chicken + Zoodles

• 2 chicken breasts
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 large zucchinis, spiraliized (or two boxes of pre-spiralized zucchini noodles)
• Olive oil for pan
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Avocado Spinach Pesto

• 1 cup fresh basil
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2 cup spinach raw
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup oliive oil
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Water optional, for texture thinning

Caprese

• 10 ciliegine mozzarella balls halved
• 10 sweet cherry tomatoes halved
• Fresh cut basil to taste
• Balsamic vinegar to taste

Instructions

 

• Season your chicken generously with sea salt and pepper. Cut into slices and set aside.
• Season two large skillets with olive oil over medium heat. Let the olive oil sit for 1-2 minutes until properly heated.
• In a large bowl, combine zucchini noodles, olive oil, salt and pepper.
• In one skillet, add garlic and sautée for 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the chicken and let it cook on medium heat.
• In the other skillet, add zucchini noodles and sautée on medium low heat.
• While the chicken and zucchini noodles are cooking, add all avocado pesto ingredients to a food processor and blend until creamy. If the mixture is too creamy, add a little bit of water to thin it out.
• Flip the chicken to cook the other side.
• Turn the heat off of the zucchini noodles and pour the avocado pesto onto the noodles, flipping them around until fully coated.
• Plate the noodles and top with chicken, ciliiegine, tomatoes and fresh basil. Drizzle balsamic vinegar and enjoy!

Keyword gluten-free, grain-free