Have you discovered Pesto Chicken?! These chicken pesto roll ups are stuffed with cheese, juicy tomatoes and pesto sauce! This pesto chicken tastes like fine dining with Tuscan flavors but they are so easy to make.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
This is my sister, Svetlana’s pesto chicken recipe. She sent me a photo of her dinner last week and I set out to recreate it right away. My Mother (who was trained in the culinary arts), was particularly smitten with this recipe. Mom’s rave reviews are especially valuable to me. 🙂
Chicken Pesto Roll Ups Recipe:
These chicken roll ups are simple enough for weeknight cooking but are also special occasion worthy!
Ingredients for Pesto Chicken Roll Ups:
The list of ingredients in this pesto chicken is short and uncomplicated: Chicken, simple seasoning, shredded mozzarella and tomatoes. P.S. We fell in love with homemade pesto sauce but the one from Costco also works really well.
How to Make Chicken Pesto Roll-Ups:
1. Preheat oven to 425˚F. Cut each chicken breast in half lengthwise so you have 8 thin chicken cutlets. Pound each cutlet in a quart sized ziploc bag or between 2 sheets of plastic wrap to 1/8″ thick. Season both sides of your thin cutlets with garlic salt and black pepper.
2. Spoon and spread 1 Tbsp pesto in the center of each cutlet, top with 2 thin slices of tomato and sprinkle with 2-3 Tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese. Roll the chicken up as tightly as you can and seal ends with a toothpick.
3. Preheat a large oven-safe skillet over medium/high heat with 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter. Add chicken roll-ups and sear on both sides until golden (4 min per side for a total of 8 minutes on the stove).
4. Sprinkle tops with remaining cheese and scatter 1 cup of baby tomatoes over the top. Place the oven-safe skillet on the center rack of your preheated oven and bake 425˚F for 13-15 minutes (13 minutes for these medium chicken breasts and 15 minutes for larger chicken breasts, or until internal temperature of chicken reaches 160˚F on an instant-read thermometer.
To serve, remove toothpicks then plate chicken pesto roll ups, spooning pan juices and roasted tomatoes over the top and garnish with freshly chopped basil. Serve with mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus for a fancy (but simple) dinner!
Watch How to Make Chicken Pesto Roll Ups:
Is your mouth watering yet??
⬇Print-Friendly Chicken Pesto Roll-Ups Recipe:
Chicken Pesto Roll-Ups (VIDEO)

Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breasts, (4 medium/large chicken breasts)
- 1 tsp Garlic Salt, (or to taste)
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper, (or to taste)
- 1/2 cup Pesto sauce, (about 8 Tbsp total)
- 8 oz Mozzarella cheese, shredded,, (reserve 2 oz for topping)
- 2 tomatoes (medium), thinly sliced into 16 rings
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, optional
- 1 Tbsp Fresh basil leaves, shredded, optional garnish
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425˚F. Cut chicken breast in half lengthwise so you have 8 thin chicken cutlets. Pound each cutlet in a quart sized ziploc bag or between 2 sheets of plastic wrap into 1/8" thick cutlets. Season both sides of chicken with garlic salt and black pepper.
- Spoon and spread 1 Tbsp pesto in the center of each cutlet, top with 2 thin tomato slices and sprinkle with 2-3 Tbsp mozzarella cheese. Roll the chicken up tightly and seal ends with a toothpick.
- Preheat large oven-safe skillet over medium/high heat with 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter. Add chicken roll-ups and sear on both sides until golden (4 min per side or 8 minutes total on the stove).
- Sprinkle tops with remaining cheese and 1 cup of cherry tomatoes. Place the skillet on the center rack of oven and bake 425˚F for 13-15 minutes (13 min for these these medium chicken breasts and 15 min for larger chicken breasts, or until internal temp of chicken reaches 160˚F on instant-read thermometer.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Q: Have you tried Pesto Chicken?
P.S. These chicken pesto roll ups reheat really well if you’re lucky enough to have leftovers! I hope you and your family love these easy, excellent chicken pesto roll-ups.
If you love chicken, check out this popular one-pan Chicken Madeira and all of our favorite chicken recipes HERE.
Fantastic, beautiful and easy. What more could you want!
Thank you for this amazing review, Patricia!! I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
Hi Natasha, I love your cooking sight! Your recipes are simple and down to earth. I am allergic to garlic and pine nuts so I made my own pesto with spinach and fresh basil, a little lemon juice, parmasen cheese, and olive oil to put in the roll ups. Absolutely delicious! Served with zoodles!
That sounds amazing Liz! Thank you for for sharing you version with us!
Making these tonight. Didn’t have regular tomatoes but substituted baby spinach leaves. Used fresh basil from the garden and homemade pesto. It smells wonderful. Thanks for this recipe!
You’re so welcome Patricia! Thank you for the wonderful review.
Made this tonight, and it was a hit with everyone! I usually don’t like chicken breast (too dry for me), but these came out very good. We had homemade pesto and tomatoes from our garden – perfection!
That’s so great Beth! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review!
Fabulous! Will definitely be making this again. My only modifications were Provolone instead of Mozzarella (I find Mozzarella rather bland) and threw in Baby Bella mushrooms (because . . . mushrooms). Excellent!
Thank you for sharing your version with us! I appreciate the awesome review Diana 🙂
It”s really good. I’m from Belgium and i like your receipt.
Thank you so much Christine! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
Hi Natasha!
I’m curious as to what brand/model pots and pans you use to cook with. I’m in the market for a new set and I love that you always go from stove-top to over with yours!
I used this one here for this recipe! Its so perfect to use between the oven and the stove top! Thank you for the great review!
Absolutely delicious! In my house one person does not care for pesto and another does not care for cheese. Preparation of several of the roll ups without these ingredients wasn’t the challenge as much as distinguishing which was which when they came out of the oven! Next time I will use colored toothpicks to color code them!
What a great idea! I’m happy you were able to work this out for everyone!
Instead of frying the chicken pesto roll ups. Can they be baked?
I haven’t tried that Reva! If you experiment please let me know how you like the recipe!
It’s never as easy as you make it look. Lol I always make a big mess and juices leak out when I am trying to roll the chicken up. But, it’s so worth the mess and effort because the taste to great! Love your recipes and videos. Thanks so much
It does get messy with some of these! Thanks for following Jennifer!
nice idea.. the chicken roll ups. I have one request.. use less plastic baggies. simple plastic wrap ( while still plastic works. or parchment paper maybe.. just trying to get the public to stop buying so much plastic. The baggies can be washed and reused.. but once you’ve put chicken in there I can see why one would not want to do that.
Thank you Marty! We definitely try our best.
What kind of pesto did you use? Genovese (with basil and pine nuts)?
Hi Victor! We used Kirkland Basil Pesto from Costco
I did alter it a bit and used another cheese and also didn’t have small tomatoes so instead cut up a potato. The result was amazing! The flavors all went into the potatoes . Will definitely be making it again 😋😋😋
Awesome! So happy you liked it!
Very easy to make. My wife is still working and I surprised her with this meal. She said it was restaurant quality. I have to say it was delicious.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review, Buck!
I absolutely love this recipe! Follow it to a T “ no need to change anything”
It’s a Hugh hit with my family and friends.
Thanks Natasha for a great recipe
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Lisa!
Great with spagetti
Thank you for sharing your great review!
I love your recipes and wish I had more energy for all of them. 70 years old with bad back. Simple recipes are really great for seniors.
Yours are so good.
Thank you for that wonderful compliment! I’m so inspired reading your review. Thank you!
Can these be made ahead and frozen??
Hi Katy, I haven’t experimented with freezing them so its difficult to say. If anyone tried freezing these, please share your results.
Would the spinach just be put on uncooked along with tomatoes?
Hi Marlen, that is how I would do it. 🙂
Love, love, love the 🐔 pesto rollups!!! My husband was like “pile it on…” So delicious!
Thank you
Awesome! 🙂 I’m happy to hear how much you both love the recipe. Thanks for sharing your great review!