Olive Garden Grilled Chicken Margherita Recipe

Olive Garden's Grilled Chicken Margherita is grilled chicken breast topped with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, basil pesto and a lemon garlic sauce. This copy pounds a pound and a half of chicken to an even thickness, grills it for five to six minutes a side, melts a slice of fresh mozzarella on each piece and finishes it with pesto, grape tomatoes and a quick sauce of butter, garlic, broth and lemon.

What is on Olive Garden's chicken Margherita

Olive Garden's own description, in a copy of its menu page archived in August 2018, reads: grilled chicken breasts topped with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, basil pesto and a lemon garlic sauce, served with parmesan-crusted zucchini. The dish was listed as Chicken Margherita at the time, at 590 calories.

Tomato, mozzarella and basil are the toppings of a pizza Margherita, which explains the name. The description names no pasta and no breading.

The recipe is a reconstruction from that description. One serving of the chicken, without a side, comes to about 455 calories by USDA figures. MakeFoodLovely is not connected with Olive Garden.

Recipe

Olive Garden Grilled Chicken Margherita

A reconstruction of Olive Garden's Grilled Chicken Margherita — grilled chicken breasts topped with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil pesto and a lemon garlic sauce. Four servings.

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Prep

20 min

Cook

15 min

Total

1 hr 5 min

Serves

4

Cuisine

Italian-American

Ingredients

• For the chicken:
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• For the topping:
• 4 ounces fresh mozzarella (cut into 4 slices)
• 1 cup grape tomatoes (halved)
• 1/4 cup basil pesto
• For the lemon garlic sauce:
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

1. Cut the chicken into 4 portions and pound the thick ends between two sheets of parchment until each piece is about 3/4 inch thick throughout. Turn the pieces in the olive oil, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, the Italian seasoning, the salt and the pepper, and let them stand for 30 minutes.
2. Heat a grill or a grill pan over medium-high heat and oil it. Grill the chicken for 5 to 6 minutes a side, until it has reached 165°F.
3. In the last 2 minutes, lay a slice of mozzarella on each piece and cover the grill or the pan so that the cheese softens.
4. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, then add the broth and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, until reduced by half.
5. Set the chicken on plates. Spoon 1 tablespoon of pesto over each piece, add the tomatoes and pour the lemon garlic sauce over and around.

Nutrition

Calories:

455

Calculated from the ingredient quantities above using the USDA FoodData Central database, then divided by the number of servings. It is an estimate and will vary with the exact products you use.

Even chicken, hot grill

Chicken breasts are thick at one end. Pounded to an even 3/4 inch they cook through in about eleven minutes without drying at the thin end. The short marinade seasons the surface; half an hour is enough, and lemon juice left on for hours turns the meat chalky.

Without a grill, a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat gives a brown crust in the same time. The Italian seasoning can be mixed at home with the McCormick Italian seasoning copy.

Grilled chicken Margherita toppings, one by one

• Fresh mozzarella, the soft kind packed in water. Pat the slices dry. It softens on the hot chicken and does not melt flat like the low-moisture block.
• Tomatoes. Grape or cherry tomatoes are sweet all year. In summer, a ripe tomato cut into slices works as well.
• Pesto. A jar works. For a quick homemade one, blend 2 cups of basil leaves with 1/4 cup of olive oil, 2 tablespoons each of pine nuts and grated Parmesan, 1 clove of garlic and a pinch of salt.
• Lemon garlic sauce. It is thin, more a pan juice than a cream sauce. Reducing it by half concentrates it enough to taste through the pesto.

The side: zucchini, broccoli or pasta

The archived menu served the chicken with parmesan-crusted zucchini. At home: slice 2 zucchini into rounds, toss them with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan and 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs, and roast at 425°F for 15 minutes.

Steamed broccoli or a small portion of buttered pasta go with it as well.

Leftovers

The chicken keeps three days in the refrigerator. Reheat it covered in a 325°F oven for 10 to 12 minutes and add fresh tomatoes afterwards. Sliced cold, it goes onto a salad or into a sandwich.

Another Olive Garden plate on this site is the Tour of Italy, and a grilled chicken sandwich is the Jack in the Box grilled chicken sandwich.