They are so easy to make. You can even prep ahead of time and bake when you’re ready. Start by rinsing, drying and cutting up your chicken into bite-sized pieces. Full printable recipe below.
Once your chicken is cut place it in a bowl and add your pesto (I love this homemade basil pesto).
Now just mix the chicken bites until they’re coated evenly.
Next, in a separate bowl or dish mix buttermilk and eggs (salt and pepper if you’d like). In another bowl or dish mix bread crumbs, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese. Now make a little assembly line starting with the chicken, then the egg mixture and finally the bread crumb mixture.
Once the chicken has been coated, dunked, and rolled in the bread crumb mixture, place them on a greased or lined cookie sheet.
Bake and serve with your favorite marinara or ranch sauce. You and your family or guests are going to love these!
If you are looking for a cool appetizer or want a fun new way to serve chicken nuggets, this is it. These will become a fast go-to family favorite; plain chicken nuggets won’t cut it with the kids anymore.
Basil Pesto Chicken Bites
Yield:
8 servings
Prep Time:
5 minutes
Cook Time:
13 minutes
Total Time:
18 minutes
A grownup chicken nugget with fresh basil and savory Parmesan flavors with a beautiful vibrant green hue.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breast, boneless, skinless, cubed 1"x1"
- 1/3 cup basil pesto
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs, crackers, panko, crushed
- 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- pan oil spray
- dipping sauce (marinara, ranch, etc)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cookie sheet with liner or spray with pan oil spray.
- Place chicken in a large bowl. Add basil pesto and mix until coated.
- In small bowl beat eggs and buttermilk together. Set aside.
- In another small bowl mix bread crumbs, cheese, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Blend and set aside.
- Form assembly line by taking a piece of chicken carefully dipping it into the egg mixture then rolling in the bread crumb mixture. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining chicken pieces.
- Lightly spray chicken with oil spray.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes until chicken reaches 165 degrees internally.
- Serve hot with your choice of dipping sauce.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 559Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 201mgSodium: 1060mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 2gSugar: 4gProtein: 57g
Lots of comments but has anyone actually made these?!
These chicken bites look so delicious. These would be the perfect appetizers to serve at any dinner party or family gathering.
I can’t wait to try these and with the super bowl coming up, I’m so glad to have this recipe! Looks like a recipe everyone will love!
Thank you Megan!
Thanks Heather! I hope you like it.
Thanks Silvia! This would make for a great Super Bowl recipe.
Jessica, you are so welcome. I hope you guys enjoy them!
Thanks Erica!
Thanks Jessi!
Looks delicious! I love pesto so I’m so glad to find a baked chicken recipe like this! Perfect bite size appetizers for our next party! Thanks for sharing!
Yum! Those look really great! Perfect for a quick dinner or an easy appetizer for the Super Bowl.
These do sound yummy. i may try this out for Super Bowl this year.
What a yummy dish! This recipe looks pretty easy and I bet my family would love it!
If it’s bite size, its for me! These looks so yummy, i know my family would g crazy for them!
These pesto chicken bites look delicious! I really like pesto sauce so I’m sure I’d really enjoy this recipe.
I’m a huge chicken fan. Definitely something I can whip up that’s different for the family.
These chicken bites look really good! I love anything with pesto. I’m going to try making these. Thanks for the recipe!
These look sooo delicious! I’ll definitely be trying out this recipe over the weekend.
Those look delicious! I am always looking for new ways to make chicken fun, and this one looks awesome! Definitely going on my list for next week!
Delicious! I love pesto because it’s so easy to make at home, and these little chicken bites look like a great app or dinner!
These look awesome! I can’t wait to try. I sneak things into my kids chicken nuggets all the time. I wonder if they will let me get away with pesto. 😉
These look so yummy! i have never had much less cooked anything like this1 Thanks for sharing i can’t wait to try!
These would make a great Super Bowl appetizer. I would make them for my boys as a meal though too. They love chicken.
These sound SO good! I cannot wait to make them!
WOOOW! That looks so good. I love baked chicken recipes because they’re so much healthier. I would love to give this a try and because the kids love chicken, I’m sure they’re going to adore this one.
This is such and easy and super delicious recipe! This would even be perfect for the upcoming Super bowl party we will be having!
Thanks so much for sharing your recipe my husband loves anything chicken I’m looking forward to trying it out
WOW! These look awesome and so easy to make too! I totally just pinned the recipe for later!
Yum! That looks good and so easy to make! I need to try this at home! I am sure my family will love this.
Belle | One Awesome Momma
I really like pesto, but I haven’t put it on chicken before. This looks like a delicious way to enjoy it!
These look delicious and so easy to make. We grow basil so this will be a great addition to our recipes.
Oh wow! That recipe sure is easy yet the results is so fab! I never thought of doing that with my pesto sauce before! Thanks for sharing! Will give it a try!
this looks amazing! It is definitely something my family would love! I will be adding this to the need to try soon list
These sound so good. They are perfect to serve at our superbowl party in a few weeks.