Pesto Chicken and Spinach Panini

Pesto Chicken Panini Ingredients

The ingredients for this recipe are pretty self explanatory: you’ll definitely need pesto, chicken, and spinach! But you’ll also want to grab a loaf of high-quality, fresh bakery bread (like sourdough) and some mozzarella cheese while you’re at the store. Here’s the full list of ingredients for making a pesto chicken spinach panini at home:

• Chicken breast
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Pesto
• Sourdough bread
• Butter
• Fresh mozzarella cheese
• Shredded mozzarella cheese
• Baby spinach

We use both fresh and shredded mozzarella to have two different textures of gooey cheese in this sandwich, but you can easily use just one type of mozzarella if you prefer. If using fresh mozzarella only, skip the extra shredded mozz on top of the chicken. But if you’re using only shredded mozzarella, give this panini a solid layer of cheese on the bottom and the top!

How To Make A Pesto Chicken Panini

For this delicious sandwich recipe, you’ll combine chicken, olive oil, and pesto to cook up a small batch of juicy pesto chicken. Then, you’ll assemble your panini on fresh sourdough bread with more pesto, baby spinach, and mozzarella cheese before toasting. Here’s a complete breakdown of how to make a pesto chicken panini:

1. Make the pesto chicken: Toss chicken with olive oil and pesto, then sauté in a frying pan over medium-high heat until cooked through.
2. Assemble the sandwich: First, butter one side of one slice of bread, then place it butter side down on a pan. Spread pesto on the top surface of the bread, then layer with slices of fresh mozzarella and spinach leaves. Top with pesto chicken and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella, then close the sandwich and butter the top surface of the bread.
3. Cook the panini: There are a few different methods you can try, depending on what tools you have available. Keep reading for more details!

How To Make A Panini At Home

Obviously, one of the best methods for toasting paninis is with a panini press. If you happen to have one, that’s great! Simply toast your pesto chicken and spinach panini until the cheese is melty and the bread is a crispy golden-brown.

However, it’s totally possible to make delicious panini sandwiches at home without a panini press. Here are a few tried and true ways we recommend for making crispy, gooey, cheesy paninis without a press:

• In a frying pan: You can easily make a panini in a frying pan, just like how you would make a grilled cheese sandwich. Cook over low heat until the bottom is golden-brown, then carefully flip and cook until the bottom is toasted and the cheese is gooey. You can also do this on a griddle or cast iron pan.
• With a cast iron grill press: These nifty tools make it easy to cook paninis in a frying pan or on a griddle without having to flip them. Just preheat the sandwich press ahead of time (get it nice and hot!) and set it on top of your panini while it cooks.
• Between two cast iron pans: Similar to using a cast iron grill press, you can set a hot cast iron pan on top of your panini as it cooks. This method works great if you’re toasting multiple paninis at once! We like to use this 2-in-1 cast iron pan.

To help ensure success when making homemade paninis, remember these two important tips:

• If you’re using cast iron – Cast iron gets hot very quickly and holds heat well, so keep an eye on your paninis to make sure they don’t burn. They may cook faster than you’d expect.
• No matter what – Cooking paninis over low heat ensures your cheese will melt at the proper rate so you don’t end up over-toasting the bread. As a general rule of thumb, since the heat on different stoves varies, start cooking paninis over low heat and increase to medium-low if necessary.

Recipe Shortcuts & Variations

With just a few simple ingredients and two slices of bread, paninis are one of the easiest and most versatile meals you can make at home. You can easily customize this recipe to suit your tastes or use whatever ingredients you have on hand, and there are a few shortcuts you can try to make this recipe even easier. Here are some suggestions:

• Use pre-cooked grilled chicken breast or shredded rotisserie chicken. Simply toss to coat the chicken in pesto before adding it to the panini!
• Make (or order) pesto chicken for dinner and use the leftovers in this panini for lunch the next day.
• Try making our nut-free basil pesto at home for an easy and budget-friendly alternative to store-bought pesto.
• Spread olive oil on the outside of the bread (instead of butter) for a healthier alternative and unique flavor.
• Try making paninis with different types of bread and see what you like best.