Chicken Pesto Sandwich with Easy Tomato Soup

A New Year calls for a new lunch! And this Chicken Pesto Sandwich with my Easy Tomato Soup Recipe is just the thing to switch things up. You can also prep both on the weekend to have for easy lunches to last through the week! For an alternative to the Chicken Pesto Salad, try my Healthy Chicken Salad with Greek Yogurt, it’s just as delicious and healthy, with no mayo!

For more soup ideas that would pair well with these sandwiches try my Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup or my Potato Leek Soup. 

The Soup Ingredients:

• Cherry Tomatoes This time of year cherry tomatoes will give you the best flavor they are also easy to find and will keep well in your fridge until you have time to make this soup. Cherry Tomatoes also make a great quick and easy pasta sauce recipe too. 
• Yellow Onion I find you’ll get more flavor from the yellow onion than the white onion
• Shallots  Shallots are onion’s sweeter cousin and when roasted they get even sweeter. They are a wonderful thing to add to any soup recipe that calls for onions.
• Garlic The garlic will roast and sweeten in the oven
• Salt and Pepper will bump up all the flavors
• Olive Oil will allow the vegetables something to roast in when in the oven, adding additional flavor
• Vegetable stock I prefer the richer flavor of the stock over the broth. But if the broth is all you have you can use that too.
• Tomato Puree will enhance the tomato flavor of the cherry tomatoes
• Tomato Paste will sweeten the soup, and reduce any acidic flavor
• Italian Seasoning Blend it’s the best deal for getting a lot of different flavors out of one jar, but if you don’t have any you can also use half dried basil and half oregano

The Secret To a Great Tasting Tomato Soup

• Is to roast the vegetables first! It brings out all their flavors and will give your soup more complex flavors.
• The vegetables should be cut to be roughly the same size so they roast at the same rate
• You’ll also roast them at 450F. The high temperature will concentrate their flavor and make them cook up quickly too! In under 15-minutes typically
• You’ll know when they are done when the tomatoes blister and start to release their juices and the onions are caramelized and translucent

What Makes These Sandwiches So Easy

• You’ll roast the chicken breasts and then shred the meat off the bone
• Then all you need to do is toss the chicken with store-bought pesto (or you can follow my recipe for Homemade Pesto Sauce too), sundried tomatoes, and pine nuts, and you are done! 
• Use the chicken salad in sandwiches, or topped on greens for a light salad

Packaging up The Soup for Work or School

• As a Mom, who has packed school lunches for over 13 years, I can say I’ve tried just about every Thermos under the sun! 
• And these MAXSO 2 Pack Vacuum Insulated Food Jar Hot Food Containers are the best! They come 2 to a box, one in each size.
• They have a wonderful little cup that you can use for a bowl and they also come with a foldable spoon and spork too! 
• The best part is they keep food cold or hot for 24-hours! 

Containers For Packing Up Lunch

• The nice thing about the Take and Bake rolls for the sandwiches is the fact that they fit so nicely in these food storage containers
• Leaving room in the other compartment for a snack or dessert.
• This time of year I love to pack blood oranges because they are in season and are so delicious and refreshing after a soup and sandwich lunch.
• Buy a few extra blood oranges to make my Blood Orange Poundcake, you’ll be so glad you did! 

A Great Lunch For Home or for Packaging Up

• What I love about this lunch is how easy it is to enjoy at home, for a work-from-home lunch, or package up for work or school
• If you end up buying the food containers and thermos, they fit beautifully in this tall and deep lunch bag I found on Amazon
• The bag is also insulated so you can purchase one of these thin Igloo Ice Packs to line the bottom of it, and place the food storage container on top to keep the sandwich and fruit chilled.
• Then rest the Thermos, sideways on top.

More Great Lunch Ideas!

• Healthy Chicken Salad Recipe
• Minestrone Soup
• White Bean Soup with Parmesan Encrusted Grilled Cheese
• Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

If You Enjoy the Soup and Sandwich Lunch Idea

Please Leave a Rating and A Review Below!

Continue to Content

Chicken Pesto Sandwich with Easy Tomato Soup

Yield: 6

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

A delicious Chicken Pesto Sandwich and Easy Tomato Soup make the perfect soup and sandwich combination for taking to work or school.

Print

Ingredients

FOR SOUP:

• 20 ounces cherry tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups white onion
• 1 shallot, quartered
• 2 cloves garlic, cut in half
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 3/4 cup tomato puree
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning Blend (or 3/4 tsp dried basil and 3/4 tsp dried Oregano)

FOR SANDWICHES:

• 2 bone-in, skin on chicken breasts
• 4 Tbsp store-bought pesto
• 2-3 Tbsp sliced sundried tomatoes in oil
• 1-2 Tbsp Pinenuts
• Take and Bake Rolls
• Mayonaise to taste
• Fresh Greens

Instructions

FOR THE SOUP:

Place the tomatoes, onions, shallots, and garlic on a sheet pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste and drizzle with olive oil.

Roast at 450F for 15 minutes until tomatoes are blistered and slightly charred. Transfer to a blender. Add the vegetable stock and blend until smooth. Transfer to a large soup pot.

Whisk in tomato puree and tomato paste, add Italian seasoning.

FOR THE SANDWICHES:

Roast chicken at 400F until cooked through. Allow to cool, shred the chicken off the bone, ross with pesto, sundried tomatoes, and pinenuts.

Bake the take and Bake Rolls according to package instructions. Slice in half spread each half with mayonnaise. Spoon in the chicken pesto salad, top with greens serve with the soup!

Notes

For a low-carb diet skip the bread and dress the greens with a drizzle of olive oil and place the Chesto Pesto Salad on top.

For a Vegetarian option, replace the chicken with sliced mozzarella, spread the pesto on a bun, add sundried tomatoes and greens.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 219Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 4mgSodium: 408mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 5gSugar: 9gProtein: 6g