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Creamy Philly Pesto Chicken

"Add a bit of cream cheese to purchased pesto for a spicy herb sauce that really dresses up sauteed chicken breasts."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and cream cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 380 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep10 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Pat the chicken breasts dry and season lightly with salt and pepper if desired.

  2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.

  3. Add the chicken and cook about 5 to 6 minutes per side, until golden and the thickest part reaches 165°F (74°C).

  4. Transfer the chicken to a plate and cover loosely with foil to keep warm.

  5. Pour the chicken broth into the same skillet and simmer over medium heat, scraping up browned bits, for about 1 minute.

  6. Reduce heat to low, then stir in the cream cheese spread and pesto until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.

  7. Return the chicken and any juices to the skillet, spoon the sauce over the top, and simmer 2 to 3 minutes until heated through.

  8. Serve the chicken immediately with the pesto cream sauce spooned over it.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Chicken + cream cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together380 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Cream cheese + spreadtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together102 recipes
  3. Chicken + spreadtop 16% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together72 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl acetate (pineapple, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs