Pesto Chicken with Corn & Bean Salsa

Delicious Pesto Chicken bowls with lemon chicken, and an amazing avocado and corn salsa. This easy dinner recipe is made with great ingredients and whips together quickly!

Why You’ll Love Pesto Chicken

• Delicious and Healthy: Fresh pesto and grilled corn create a flavorful, nutritious dish.
• Quick and Easy: Ready in minutes with simple ingredients and preparation.
• Diet-Friendly: Adaptable for vegetarian, dairy-free, and various proteins.
• Unique Salsa: Avocado-Corn Salsa adds a special twist.
• Quality Focus: Emphasizes fresh, high-quality ingredients for superior taste.

How To Make Pesto Chicken

1. Pesto couscous: Couscous is fast and easy to make. In fact, it can be ready in about 10 minutes, which is a nice break from other grains that take 20+ minutes. To infuse the couscous with plenty of flavor, we stir in some pesto and a little bit of lemon juice.
2. Chicken: The chicken is made with a 1-ingredient marinade (yes, really!) and then sprinkled with lemon pepper seasoning before cooking. (More on the chicken prep below.)
3. Avocado-Corn Salsa: This salsa simple and is the highlight of this dinner. It doesn’t require a lot of chopping which is a nice departure from most salsa recipes.
4. Assemble: Pesto couscous goes first, chicken next, plenty of the avocado corn salsa, and finish it all off with a nice big scoop of pesto!

Quick Tips

• Fresh Pesto: The pesto you use is key. Skip jarred pesto and choose fresh basil pesto from your store. (I like Buitoni® basil pesto—not sponsored). While store-bought pesto makes this dish quick and easy, you can also make your own.
• Sun-Dried Tomatoes: These are another essential ingredient. Choose julienne-cut, oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes for quicker salsa prep. The oil will be used in the salsa too.
• Grill the Corn: Grilling the corn adds incredible flavor!
  • To grill: Peel back the husks and remove the silk. Rub vegetable oil on the corn and season with salt and pepper. Grill at 400°F, rotating every 3-4 minutes until charred. Let cool, then slice off the cob. This can also be done on a grill pan.
  • (Alternatively, sauté the corn: Use drained or thawed corn kernels. Sauté in a preheated large cast-iron skillet over high heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly, until lightly charred. Let cool completely before adding.)

Dietary Modifications

• Vegetarian: We’ve made this meal without meat countless times. Simply leave out the chicken and serve the pesto couscous with salsa on top plus more pesto! It’s surprisingly filling just like that and the beans provide the protein. Plus, it’s even quicker to make vegetarian (20-minute prep time or less!).
• Dairy free: This meal is naturally dairy-free (as long as the buttermilk marinade is not used) and the pesto is cheese free.
• Change up the protein: Grilled steak would also be delicious in this meal. You can also use thighs in place of breasts for this Pesto Chicken meal.

Variations On Pesto Chicken

• Change up the salsa: Try this Mango Salsa in place of the corn and white bean salsa.
• Don’t want beans? Try this corn and avocado salsa instead.
• Different base: Use quinoa (how to cook quinoa guide here) in place of the couscous.

More On The Chicken

• Marinate: Use the marinade recipe below or my famous grilled chicken marinade.
  • For the QUICKEST marinade ever: submerge (halved and pounded to even thickness) chicken breasts into buttermilk for 30 minutes or up to 8 hours. Remove, pat dry, and proceed with the recipe!
  • If you don’t have buttermilk, but do have regular milk, you can even make your own DIY buttermilk.
• For the lemon pepper seasoning, use your favorite blend (I like McCormick’s® lemon & pepper seasoning best or Mrs. Dash’s®.) You can even make your own if you like.

Similar Chicken Dinners

• Cuban Mojo Chicken with a citrus salsa
• Chicken Taco Bowls with an avocado-corn salsa
• Bruschetta Chicken
• Cilantro Lime Chicken with a mango salsa
• Pesto Chicken Tortellini made in one pot

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5 from 12 votes

Pesto Chicken with Corn and Bean Salsa

By Chelsea Lords

Pesto Chicken Bowls pair zesty lemon chicken with a fresh avocado-corn salsa for a quick, flavorful dinner made with simple, wholesome ingredients!

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 large servings

Equipment

• Grill or grill pan or regular pan
• Small pot

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

Chicken (see note 1)

• ▢ Salt and pepper
• ▢ 1-1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
• ▢ 1 cup buttermilk optional, for marinade
• ▢ 1/4 cup flour optional, for cooking in a pan
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lemon pepper seasoning
• ▢ 1 tablespoon unsalted butter optional, for cooking in a pan
• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil optional

Bean and Corn Salsa

• ▢ 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1 (15-ounce) can fire-roasted corn or 2 ears fresh corn, see note 2
• ▢ 1 large avocado pitted, peeled, and chopped
• ▢ 2/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil plus 2 teaspoons oil from the jar, julienne cut, see note 3
• ▢ 2 tablespoons fresh basil chopped
• ▢ 1 large lemon

Bowls

• ▢ 2 cups couscous
• ▢ 2 cups chicken stock or veggie stock; water also works
• ▢ 2 teaspoons butter
• ▢ 1 (7-ounce) container basil pesto sauce store-bought or homemade
• ▢ 2 large lemons plus wedges for serving if desired
• ▢ Fresh basil optional, for topping

Instructions 

• Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally to form 4 chicken cutlets. Cover with plastic wrap and pound (use the bottom of a frying pan or meat mallet) to get the halves into even pieces (not super thin, just equal thickness throughout). If marinating, place the chicken in a large plastic bag or similar container and cover with buttermilk. Refrigerate for 30 minutes up to 8 hours. When done marinating, remove from buttermilk, drain, and pat dry with paper towels. Lightly sprinkle both sides of chicken with salt.
• Grill/Grill Pan: Preheat grill to about 400°F (grill pan to medium-high heat). Make sure your grill grates or ridges of grill pan are clean and greased. To grease, dredge a paper towel in vegetable oil and, holding it with tongs, rub it all over the grate. Evenly sprinkle both sides of the chicken generously with lemon pepper seasoning. Grill the chicken until cooked through (about 4–6 minutes per side, depending on the heat of the grill and thickness of chicken) Chicken should be 165°F at its thickest part. Tent with foil and rest 5–10 minutes. Slice thinly or cut into small pieces.

  Skillet: In a shallow bowl, whisk together flour and lemon pepper seasoning. Heat the butter and oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Dredge chicken breasts in the flour mixture, turning to coat evenly. Place chicken in the pan and cook 5–6 minutes per side or until done (add more oil if needed). Remove chicken from the pan, place on a plate, tent with foil, and rest 5–10 minutes. Slice thinly or chop into small pieces.
• Combine drained and rinsed white beans, drained corn (or corn cut from the cob) chopped avocado, julienned sun-dried tomatoes, 2 teaspoons of the oil from the tomatoes, chopped basil, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste in a medium bowl. (I add about 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.)
• Meanwhile, pour the stock in a small pot. Add the butter and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat. Stir in couscous and cover the pot with a lid. After about 2–3 minutes, the liquid should be absorbed; fluff with a fork. Stir in 1/3 cup pesto, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and about 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper (again to personal preference).
• Fill 4 bowls with even amounts of pesto couscous. Arrange cooked chicken on top and add generous amounts of the salsa to the side. If desired, add a wedge of lemon to each bowl. Spoon the remaining pesto evenly over the bowls. Enjoy immediately.

Recipe Notes

Note 1: You can marinate the chicken in buttermilk or forgo a marinade entirely. Also, the flour and butter will only be used if you’re cooking the chicken in a skillet. If grilling/using a grill pan, the flour and butter are not necessary.

Note 2: To grill corn on the cob, peel back husks and remove silk. Rub vegetable oil on all sides of the corn and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Place on heated grill (400°F) and rotate every 3–4 minutes or until charred. Remove, let cool, and slice off the cob. You can also use this method for a grill pan.

Note 3: I buy the julienne-cut sun-dried tomatoes to save some chopping time, and they’re perfect for the salsa.

Nutrition

Calories: 786kcal | Carbohydrates: 92g | Protein: 49g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 109mg | Sodium: 467mg | Potassium: 1463mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 591IU | Vitamin C: 40mg | Calcium: 132mg | Iron: 3mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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