You can’t beat this sheet pan Pesto Chicken and Cauliflower for a fast weeknight meal! This healthy paleo, keto, and Whole30 dinner is ready in only 30 minutes.
One pan. 25 minutes in the oven. Amazing flavors. Healthy AF.
This Pesto Chicken and Tahini Cauliflower sheet pan dish is so dang good! It comes together in a flash and even got the thumbs up from my picky AF nine-year-old.
If you love chicken, check out these Whole30 Chicken Recipes for more delicious dinner ideas.
What’s in Pesto Chicken and Cauliflower?
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Vegan pesto (don’t be scared, it’s a thing. See below)
- Liquids – olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar
- Tahini
- Garlic, because your life is worth living
- Cauliflower – fresh or frozen. I use frozen because convenience is lovely. Related: Roasted Frozen Cauliflower
I picked up a tub of Trader Joe’s vegan and kale pesto when I was at the store doing research for my Trader Joe’s Whole30 shopping list. I was highly skeptical of it, but it turns out it is freaking delicious. Hand to God, it tastes just like regular pesto.
If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you, feel free to use your favorite pesto. Want to make your own? Check out this Vegan Pesto for a version you can whip up in 5 minutes at home.
Where Can I Get Affordable Free-Range Chicken?
I use boneless skinless chicken breasts from our Butcher Box order, but you could also use their chicken thighs. Butcher Box sources only organic and free-range meat for their customers and ships them to your home once a month. The meat is super high-quality and we’ve always had an amazing selection sent each month.
Here’s How to Make It
*Detailed and printable recipe card is available at the bottom of the post.
Lightly toss the chicken with pesto and place in the middle of a sheet pan. Mix the cauliflower with olive oil and add to the sheet pan. Bake for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, toss the tomatoes with remaining pesto and set aside. Combine the ingredients for the tahini sauce. Add the tomatoes to the sheet pan. Place under the broiler for 4-5 minutes.
To serve, lightly salt and toss the cauliflower with the tahini sauce. Slice the chicken and serve with a dish of cauliflower.
Pro Tips/Recipes Notes
- The cooking time is the same whether you use fresh or frozen cauliflower.
- Tahini is located in most grocery stores near the peanut and almond butter. It can be expensive, so you can use smooth unsweetened almond butter in place of. You will likely need to thin almond butter with a bit more water. Start with 1 tsp at a time until it has reached the consistency of Elmer’s glue. Sorry, I know that sounds disgusting. But I thought for 10 minutes and couldn’t think of a better analogy.
More Recipes Like This
- Sesame Sheet Pan Pork Fajitas {Whole30, Paleo, Keto, Gluten-Free}
- Sheet Pan Sausage and Veggies {Whole30, Gluten-Free}
- Crispy Oven-Fried Gnocchi and Veggies
- Baked Chicken Teriyaki Dinner {Whole30, Paleo, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free}
- Simple Shepherd’s Pie With Turkey {Whole30, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free}
- 21 Easy Whole30 Dinner Recipes
Pesto Chicken and Cauliflower WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS
One serving of Pesto Chicken and Cauliflower has 4 WW Freestyle SmartPoints.
Pesto Chicken and Cauliflower {Whole30, Paleo, Keto, DF}
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds chicken breasts cut into 4 servings
- 3 tbsp pesto
- 16 oz cauliflower fresh or frozen
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Tahini Sauce
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 4 cloves garlic very finely minced
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees with the rack on the upper third of the oven.
- Lightly toss the chicken with pesto and place in the middle of a sheet pan.
- Mix the cauliflower with olive oil and add to the sheet pan. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, toss the tomatoes with remaining pesto and set aside. Combine the ingredients for the tahini sauce.
- Add the tomatoes to the sheet pan. Place under the broiler set to high for 4-5 minutes.
- To serve, lightly salt and toss the cauliflower with the tahini sauce. Slice the chicken and serve with a dish of cauliflower.
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This was a quick and easy meal to throw together with stuff that we already had on hand from our freezer and pantry!
I KNOW you have pesto in your freezer. 🙂
I made this for dinner tonight and it was so good!! My favorite part was the cauliflower. Will definitely be making the tahini sauce in the future for roasted cauli!
Glad to hear it was a hit Amy! I agree with you on the tahini sauce. I plan to make just the sauce for other veggies in the future!
We use T Jo’s vegan pesto on your cauliflower gnocchi recipe too and it’s equally amazing!
It’s such good stuff! I can’t believe it’s not regular pesto.
This looks yummy! I often think how little food it looks like it makes but then I realize most people don’t have to cook for 6-8 children every night.. haha 🙂 I love some easy and delicious dinners! Def gonna try this one!
Ha! Bennett is in the “I don’t eat food” mode. It’s hard for me to make sure my serving estimates are accurate for the recipe cards. Because Troy eats big portions and we always make sure that there are leftovers for lunches.