Lemon Pesto Chicken

If you're a regular blog follower of mine, you know that I love to cook chicken in the crock pot. It's such a easy, no fuss way to cook chicken that always turns out great. In fact, I rarely use my crock pot for anything other than chicken. So, I come to you with yet another crock pot recipe. I hope you don't mind.

This recipe is so simple, but sounds so fancy. I love those kinds of recipes, don't you? When I say simple, I mean really ridiculously simple. All the ingredients (except for the chicken itself) are pictured right here:

Why are lemons so pretty in pictures?

I mixed the chicken with the pesto and lemon juice in a separate bowl before putting it all in the crock pot. Looking back, this was silly. I didn't need to get that extra bowl dirty - I should have just mixed it all right in the crock pot.

Add a few extra lemon slices and the red onion on top, pour in a little water, and set.

6 hours (on low heat) later...

Wine + salad (and a constant remind that we REALLY need to get to sanding and finishing this table of ours).

Mushrooms and cherry tomatoes were sautéed until tender and tossed with some shell pasta. The chicken was served on top, but this was by no means crucial to the dish. The chicken would be great by itself, or over plain pasta, marinara pasta, couscous, rice, or any other type of grain. 

Completed dish.

Dinner is served!

Lemon Pesto Chicken Recipe

Serves 4

- 4 small to medium chicken breasts

- 3 tablespoons pesto (we used classico brand, but home made or another brand would work fine too)

- 2 lemons (one for juice, and one sliced into 1/4 inch rounds)

- 1/2 red onion, sliced into 1/4 inch half moons

- 1/2 to 1 cup of water

Directions:

- Place the chicken in the crock pot.

- Put the pesto and the juice of one lemon onto the chicken and toss to coat.

- Place the lemon and red onion slices on top  of the chicken.

- Pour enough water in the crock pot to cover the bottom and almost cover the chicken breasts (see picture above).

- Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours, or high heat for 4 hours.

- Let cool and serve over your favorite pasta or grain.