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.
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Yields:
6 serving(s)
Prep Time:
15 mins
Cook Time:
40 mins
Total Time:
55 mins
Cal/Serv:
493
Ingredients
700g
chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite-size pieces
1Tbsp.
plain flour
1Tbsp.
vegetable oil
150g
smoked pancetta lardons
2
carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm rounds
3
garlic cloves, crushed
200ml
dry white wine
400ml
hot chicken stock
200g
frozen peas or petits pois
200g
full-fat cream cheese
4Tbsp.
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
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An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
