This delicious pesto chicken stew is full of spring flavours and plenty of greens, making it the perfect option for a weeknight dinner.
The best part is that it can be batch cooked and then frozen ahead of time to ensure you always have a nutritious, homemade meal ready for those late nights home from work.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Yields:
6 serving(s)
Prep Time:
15 mins
Cook Time:
40 mins
Total Time:
55 mins
Cal/Serv:
493
Ingredients
700 g chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite-size pieces
1 Tbsp. plain flour
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
150 g smoked pancetta lardons
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm rounds
3 garlic cloves, crushed
200 ml dry white wine
400 ml hot chicken stock
200 g frozen peas or petits pois
200 g full-fat cream cheese
4 Tbsp. basil pesto
finely grated zest and juice 1 lemon
3 spring onions, finely sliced
Directions
Step 1In a medium bowl, combine chicken pieces with flour and some seasoning and toss to coat. Heat oil in large pan over medium heat and brown the chicken all over, in batches if necessary. Remove to a plate with a slotted spoon.
Step 2Add lardons to the pan and cook until golden and crisp. Add carrots and garlic and cook for 2min, until fragrant. Pour in the wine and bring to the boil, scraping with a wooden spoon to loosen any caramelised bits from the bottom of the pan. Bubble to reduce by 1/2.
Step 3Return chicken to the pan with the stock. Bubble for 15min, until the chicken is cooked through and the liquid reduced.
Step 4Stir in the peas or petits pois and cook for 2min, until tender. Stir through the cream cheese, pesto, lemon zest and juice and spring onions. Serve.
GH TIPS:
Freeze ahead: cool completely, transfer to an airtight container and freeze up to 1 month. To serve, defrost overnight in fridge then reheat gently until piping hot.
Feel free to use any leftover vegetables you have. Courgette, leek and spring greens would work well in this if you wanted to serve it in spring.
We have so many delicious stew recipes to try if you're in the mood for something a little bit different.
Per serving:
Calories: 493
Protein: 31g
Total fat: 34g
Saturates: 13g
Carbs: 10g
Total sugars: 5g
Fibre: 3g
Our ultimate chicken recipes 🍗 from Sunday roasts and hearty pies to midweek pasta bakes
The GH Kitchen Team are Good Housekeeping’s resident recipe developers and all-round food obsessives. GH Kitchen Director Sarah Akhurst is our resident hosting pro and loves nothing more than putting on a foodie feast for friends. Our GH Kitchen Manager Linzi Pucino is our very own Italian food expert (originally hailing from the North East of Scotland!) and can be found working her way through midweek recipes that cover all bases, from haggis to ragu! Our Kitchen Editor Nadine Brown loves digging into the stories behind her favourite foods and enjoys applying her eclectic tastes to more modern, flavour-forward recipes - just don't give her too much chilli! Our Junior Food Content Produce Frankie Prichard combines a love of beautiful presentation and flavour-led, seasonal cooking in her recipe development, along with a passion for bringing people together through food. With a wealth of professional kitchen experience between them, they’re dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work every single time
