Whole30 Pesto Chicken Zucchini Noodles are a delicious, simple dinner. Paleo and gluten free, this easy dinner comes together in under 30 minutes!
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Click here to read my policy and more about affiliate links.
Juicy, sweet tomatoes, yummy zucchini, basil…. these are the things I live for! This Whole30 Pesto Chicken Zucchini Noodles recipe is the best way to use all of them up while making a cozy meal.
Zucchini Noodles with Pesto and Chicken
This Whole30 Pesto Chicken Zucchini Noodles recipe has only 10 simple ingredients including chicken, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, basil, and the real star of the show: Trader Joe’s Vegan Kale Cashew Pesto.
I think that this is one of the BEST Trader Joe’s products out there. Even if you’re not vegan, paleo, or doing a whole30 – this pesto is absolutely delicious and tastes super fresh.
It’s on my Best Whole 30 Trader Joe’s Shopping List, but really it should be on everyone’s shopping list.
Why We Love Chicken Zucchini Pesto Pasta:
When you cook up cherry tomatoes, with garlic, olive oil, fresh herbs, and pesto… It’s automatically going to be delicious.. but throw in some chicken and zucchini noodles and you’ve got the ULTIMATE dinner!
- Veggie Loaded – This dish has 1.5 servings of veggies per serving! It’s one of our favorite ways to enjoy our veggies.
- Diet Friendly – this recipe is paleo, gluten free, dairy free, and can even be keto if you decrease the tomatoes in the dish (although that would just be sad cause they’re SO delicious).
- One Pan-I love any meal that can be made with only one pan. I’m always looking for ways to do fewer dishes!
If you’re looking for other healthy zucchini recipes – check out these 30 Healthy Zucchini Recipes!
Ingredients for Chicken Pesto Zoodles
To make this pesto chicken pasta recipe you’ll need:
- olive oil
- chicken breasts
- minced garlic, cherry tomatoes
- pepper
- salt
- fresh basil & parsley
- Trader Joe’s Kale Cashew Basil Pesto or homemade pesto
- zucchini
- you’ll also need a spiralizer
You can find substitutions for all of these ingredients below in the green shaded box.
How to Make Zucchini Noodles with Pesto and Chicken
In addition to being delicious, this dinner is ridiculously simple to make (only 7 real steps). Here’s how to make it:
- Heat olive oil in a pan. Sauté chicken until browned on all sides, about 20 minutes.
- While chicken is cooking, halve tomatoes, spiralize zucchini and chop garlic/herbs
- Once the chicken is browned, remove it from the pan and set it aside.
- Add an additional tablespoon of olive oil to the same pan. Heat olive oil, and add minced garlic. Sauté until fragrant.
- Stir in cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper, and herbs into olive oil/garlic mixture. Sauté for 5 minutes.
- Once tomatoes are softened, stir in pesto and return the chicken to the pan.
- Using tongs, gently toss in raw zucchini noodles, coating evenly in tomato/pesto mixture. Sauté for an additional 1-2 minutes over medium heat until zucchini starts to soften.
Substitutions for Pesto Chicken Zucchini Pasta
Chicken: You can use chicken thighs, tenders, or chicken breasts in this recipe
Pesto: You can sub any pesto in this recipe. If you don’t have a TJ’s near you don’t worry – you can use our favorite nut free pesto recipe.
Zoodles: You can sub pasta for zoodles but this recipe will not be paleo or whole30
Fresh Herbs: If you don’t have fresh herbs you can substitute with 1 teaspoon dried basil and 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
Additional veggies: You can add mushrooms, onions, or corn to this recipe for more vegetables.
Can I use pasta instead of zoodles with pesto?
Sure, you can use pasta instead of zucchini noodles in this recipe. It will, however, not be whole30.
For paleo pasta, I like Trader Joe’s Cauliflower Gnocchi or Capello’s fettuccine and will sometimes even add them into this dish for extra volume/carbs.
For gluten free pasta, I like Modern Table Meals. You can also do half past and half zucchini noodles. I would just cook the pasta while the chicken is cooking and toss it in when you would toss in zucchini noodles.
Can I make the Pesto nut free?
Yes, you can make this dish nut free by using a nut free pesto. I like this nut free pesto.
Help! How do you cook a zucchini noodles recipe so they are not soggy?
I commonly get asked how to avoid watery zucchini noodles. I have two tips for you on how to avoid soggy zucchini noodles.
- REALLY squeeze the water out of them. I use a thick, absorbent (and clean!) dish towel and squeeze the water out of the noodles hard. The towel should be damp when done.
- Lay the zucchini noodles out on a paper towel lined baking sheet. Typically I will squeeze them again and then add them to whatever dish I’m making.
- If you are going to meal prep this dish, I recommend not adding the zucchini noodles to the dish until you are ready to serve. You can place the chicken/veggie mixture into a container and place your raw zucchini noodles on top. When you’re ready to eat, microwave or heat over the stove to avoid mushy noodles.
Is safflower oil whole30?
You can read the full article here from the Whole30 team but here is the short answer: Corn oil, rice bran oil, soybean oil, and peanut oil are banned from a whole30.
It is encouraged to limit your use of the other oils like safflower, sunflower, canola, grapeseed, or sesame at home, while not specifically excluding them on the program.
There is a very tiny amount of safflower seed oil in this pesto (only used to roast the cashews in it) so you can enjoy this pesto while on your whole30. Of course, you can also make your own and use a great quality olive oil too! It’s up to you!
Other delicious Whole30 Dinner Recipes:
We have a whole category dedicated to whole30 recipes but here are some of our favorite Whole30 dinner recipes:
Whole 30 Pesto Chicken Zucchini Noodles Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cubed
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 lb cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup fresh basil finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley finely chopped
- 1/2 cup Trader Joe’s Kale Cashew Basil Pesto or homemade pesto
- 2 large zucchini spiralized with water squeezed out – about 4 cups
Instructions
- Heat one tbsp olive oil in pan. Sauté chicken until browned on all sides, about 15 minutes.
- While chicken is cooking, halve tomatoes, spiralize zucchini and chop garlic/herbs
- Once chicken is browned, remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add an additional tablespoon of olive oil to the same pan. Heat olive oil, and add in 1 tbsp minced garlic. Sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper and herbs to olive oil/garlic mixture. Sauté for 5 minutes or until tomatoes are soft
- Once tomatoes are softened, stir in pesto and return chicken to the pan.
- Using tongs, gently toss in raw zucchini noodles, coating evenly in tomato/pesto mixture. Saute for an additional 1-2 minutes over medium heat until zucchini starts to soften.
- Serve + enjoy.
- Optional if not whole30 – top with parmesan cheese!
Video
Notes
- I commonly get asked how to avoid watery zucchini noodles. I have two tips for you for how to avoid soggy zucchini noodles. The first one is REALLY squeeze the water out of them. I use a thick, absorbent (and clean!) dish towel and squeeze the water out of the noodles hard. The towel should be damp when done.
- I then lay the zucchini noodles out on a paper towel lined baking sheet and sprinkle with salt until I’m ready to use them. Typically I will squeeze them again and then add to whatever dish I’m making.
- If you are going to meal prep this dish, I recommend not adding in the zucchini noodles to the dish until you are ready to serve. You can place the chicken/veggie mixture into a container and place your raw zucchini noodles on top. When you’re ready to eat, microwave or heat over the stove to avoid mushy noodles.
Charlie Theron says
Thank you so much for your helpful post!
The Clean Eating Couple says
No problem! We hope you love the recipe!
Andy Bishop says
I made the noodles based on your recipe for dinner the other day. The family enjoyed it! Thanks for the share! Keep ’em coming.
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad to hear it, Andy! This is one of my favorite recipes 🙂
Alexis Gregg says
Tried this for dinner tonight and it was wonderful! My kids (who I can’t get to eat anything) even ate it. We will definitely be having this one again. Thank you!
The Clean Eating Couple says
I’m so glad you + your family liked this!! It’s one of my favorite recipes to make for a quick dinner!
Britnee Kellogg says
This recipe was amazing!!! So so so easy, clean, and delicious. Shopping all in one place made it really easy, which as a mom of three I love! Can’t wait to try more.
The Clean Eating Couple says
I’m so glad you liked it, Britnee!! It’s definitely one of my favorites too 🙂
Lindsey says
I am a huge pesto fan and not being able to have it on whole30 used to be tough, but thank you so much for introducing me to Trader Joe’s compliant pesto and this amazing dish! I absolutely love it!
The Clean Eating Couple says
I’m so glad you liked it, Lindsey!! Their pesto is one of my favorite things – it’s so delicious!
Sara B says
SO good! I made this with your nut-free pesto recipe and it was divine. Thanks so much for the recipe!!
The Clean Eating Couple says
I’m so glad you liked it, Sara! That makes me so happy to hear 🙂
Kari M. says
For meal prepping the zoodles.. do you recommend still salting, laying them on the paper towel, and then putting them on top of the chicken and veggies? Or just squeezing the water out and putting them on top of the chicken and veggies?
The Clean Eating Couple says
I would should squeeze the water out regardless of whether you’re eating the zoodles right away or meal prepping. No matter what you do, if you meal prep this dish and sauté it ahead of time, the zoodles will still release some water when you reheat again!
Melinda says
This recipe is amazing! It is quick and easy to make and super delicious! I made half of the Whole30 compliant recipe and it is enough for me for 3 small meals. I will definitely make this again!! I love the TJ Pesto, btw!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you SO much, Melinda! I’m so glad you liked it! The TJ pesto is seriously my fav!!
Marybeth says
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but I went to Trader Joe’s to buy the kale pesto after reading your post. OMG I AM IN LOVE! I eliminated dairy from my diet as part of the treatment for my autoimmune disease and I was really bummed to discover that most pesto contains parmesan. You cannot even tell that you’re eating vegan pesto when you eat it! It was delicious in the grilled chicken dish I made. Now I cannot wait to use it to make your Pesto Chicken Zucchini Noodles!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Isn’t it so good, Marybeth!? You really can’t even tell there is no cheese.. it’s one of our favorite things. You will love this! Let me know when you try it 🙂
Liz says
Made this for friends dinner party last night. Very fresh and flavorful. I added red pepper flakes and added small dots of goat chees at serving. I will make again@
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked it! Thanks, Liz!
Kim says
I love this recipe not only because it’s delicious but also super easy to make! Doesn’t take long especially if you have leftover chicken laying around. One of my favorites.
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you like it! It is the perfect way to reuse leftover chicken!
Jennifer says
This is one of my favorite meals! Not only is it easy & fast to make but it is so flavorful & yet still healthy. I can’t recommend this meal enough!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you so much, Jennifer! I’m so glad you like it 🙂
Jordan Held says
This recipe is AMAZING. I love everything and anything with pesto. The tomatoes and zucchini gave the disk a super fresh and light feel while keeping all of the flavor. And finally some tips to make zoodles without them being super watery!! Thank you for the perfect recipe!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked it, Jordan! This makes me so happy to hear. We’re HUGE pesto fans too and this is one of our favorite ways to enjoy it!
Holly says
This was delicious! I can’t wait to make it again!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you so much, Holly! Glad you liked it!
Lindsey says
I made this with spaghetti instead of zucchini and it did NOT disappoint! I’m definitely saving this recipe for the future and once I get a veggie spiralizer, I’ll make this Whole30 compliant!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked it, Lindsey! Thank you so much!
Bonnie says
This was even better the next day! I did make my own pesto and I used zoodles instead of a gf pasta. My husband couldn’t eat enough about this recipe!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked it, Bonnie! Thank you!!
Jen says
Can this recipe done in a crock pot?
The Clean Eating Couple says
No it can’t. Zoodles get extremely watery and would disintegrate in the crockpot. It’s super quick to make on the stovetop!
Rachel Rappaport says
Hi! I read online that each ounce of chicken is 37 calories, which would make one serving 375 calories before the other items. Can you explain how you got to the numbers you did?
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hi Rachel – Looks like there was an error with the nutrition facts on this – thanks for pointing it out. I just updated it. All of our nutrition facts are estimates through a plugin called WP Recipe Maker. If you are serious about counting calories/macros -you’ll need to measure out all the components of this dish separately and weigh it/enter via a macro tracking calculator like My Fitness Pal. Hope this helps!
Court says
I want to try this recipe ! How do you do your zucchini noodles? Do you make them at home or purchase them at the store? I.
The Clean Eating Couple says
I makee them at home using a spiralizer! You can get one on amazon- here’s a link
Debbie in Texas says
Hello!
Can you post the link for the spiralizer? I didn’t see it above.
The Clean Eating Couple says
Yes here you go – here’s a link to the spiralizer
Lia says
Delicious recipe ! We thoroughly enjoyed I will definitely make more todo your recipes
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked it, Lia! Thank you!
Amy says
This was a great weeknight meal and was delicious! Will definitely be making this again.
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thanks, Amy! So happy you liked it!
April says
Very delicious and easy to make!!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked it, April! Thank you!
Kerry Alexander says
Seriously delicious Liz!!! My son was like please make this again!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So happy you both enjoyed it!!
Jonathan says
So tasty!! Really really good. Will definitely make it again
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked it, Jonathan!
Beija C says
Tried this recipe and it was AMAZING! Can’t wait to eat it again
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you so much, Beija!
Lisa Davis says
I loved this recipe. Next time I make it I will sub out red peppers for the tomato only because that’s what my husband prefers! It was delicious with the zoodles! It was super easy to make and the chicken came out perfectly.
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thanks, Lisa! Glad you liked it!
Cynthia says
This was absolutely delicious! Thank you for introducing me to this pesto from Trader Joe’s! We are on day 4 of the Whole30 and this was the most satisfying meal I’ve had so far!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Isn’t it so yummy? I love that pesto! Glad you liked the recipe! You can stir some of the pesto into this Potato Crust Quiche if you’re looking for a yummy breakfast!
Leslie says
One of my absolute favorite recipes! The vegan pesto is my favorite Trader Joe’s find (thanks to you)! So easy, but feels restaurant-quality. I’ve made it with the zoodles, with gluten free pasta, and a half/half mix like suggested – all so yummy – and 7yo daughter approved!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Love hearing that! This is one of my favorite trader joes meals!
Jo says
I cook this tonight it was excellent lots of flavor. I used Aldi pesto and only added one large zucchini, used a mandolin slicer to make the noodles and wrapped in paper towel while chicken and other ingredients cooked.
Patricia Carolin says
So easy to make and absolutely delicious!!!
Nancy says
You never say to cut up the chicken breast.
The Clean Eating Couple says
It says in the recipe – cubed.
Alex sohn says
We love this recipe! It’s so easy to make and great for Whole30!
Regina Liggins says
Great meal and very easy to make.