Pesto Chicken Party Sandwiches

Saturday night was the Grand Re-Opening Celebration at Yoga at Tiffany’s Norman. We recently finished an expansion and remodeling project at the studio, so a party was definitely in order! It also happened to be the owner’s birthday. Even more of a reason to celebrate!

There was food, music, give-aways, and lots dancing. It is always fun to see instructors and students out of yoga clothes. The only time we see each other is when we’re not wearing make-up, hair in a bun, and dripping in sweat. I’ll admit I did a double-take more than once. So fun!

All of the instructors brought food or drinks to share. We have lots of vegetarians in the group and quite a few with dietary restrictions, so I was STRUGGGGLING to decide on what to bring. I asked a couple of girls at the studio and they said BRING MEAT! Ok, meat it is! Now what? I knew I wanted it to be easy to eat, didn’t have to be heated, and would stay yummy after sitting out for a couple of hours. I was back to square one.

Late Friday night, I was going through the pantry and saw a jar of pesto. Then I went to the freezer and saw a bag of chicken breasts. Perfect! Chicken pesto sandwiches. I took that bag of chicken breasts and threw them in the crock pot Friday night so the chicken would be ready when I woke up Saturday morning.

Saturday morning, after breakfast for me and The Carnivore, I pulled the chicken breasts out of the crock pot and let them cool on a plate while I got to making cookies. I made my oatmeal, chocolate chip, coconut, and pecan cookies because I knew if they didn’t get eaten at the party, my husband would finish them off as soon as I got home. 😉

A few hours before the party, I decided I wanted to make a spread to go on my sandwiches. Back to the pantry! I found a jar of sun-dried tomatoes (Light bulb!). Sun-dried tomatoes and feta would be perfect with pesto chicken!

Into the food processor went equal parts sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese. I processed the mixture until it was a spreadable consistency. This mixture is also really delicious spread on a cracker – not that I would know or anything. I wouldn’t do that….

Now to the chicken. I pulled the chicken breasts out of the refrigerator, peeled off my jewelry, and got to shreddin’.

I know, jarred pesto. Please don’t think less of me. Sometimes convenience wins…

Into the bowl of shredded chicken went pesto and greek yogurt. I tossed the chicken around until it was coated evenly.

Next, I pulled out a bag of slider rolls and got to assembling.

First, slather on the sun-dried tomato and feta spread.

Then pile on some of that oh-so delicious pesto chicken mixture.

And finally top it with some greens. The greens give it much needed color and crunch. I used an arugula-spinach mixture, because that’s what I had on hand – this is exact science!

There you have it! Pretty little sandwiches all in a row…

The sandwiches took me all of 10 minutes to mix up. You can certainly use homemade pesto (overachievers), but convenience won for me today. There are a total of 7 ingredients in this little bite of heaven, that’s including the roll and greens. So easy. Assembling them took me longer than anything else.

These pesto chicken sandwiches would be perfect for showers, birthdays, tailgates, appetizers, luncheons, and everything in between. Even The Carnivore said “yeah, I could eat these.” Sans greens, of course. Let’s not get crazy.

Pesto Chicken Sandwiches (PRINT ME!)

Servings: 24 mini-sandwiches

Sun-dried Tomato & Feta Spread

• ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil
• ½ cup feta cheese

Pesto Chicken

• 24 slider rolls
• 5 cups shredded chicken (I used 5 small chicken breasts)
• 1 ½ cups pesto
• ½ cup greek yogurt
• Arugula for topping

Directions

For the spread: Drain the sun-dried tomatoes, but save the oil! Add your drained sun-dried tomatoes and feta to a food processor, process until smooth. Slowly add in some of the reserved oil until it reaches a spreadable consistency, about 1 tbsp.

For the chicken: Combine the shredded chicken, pesto, and greek yogurt in a bowl. Mix until the chicken is coated.

To assemble: On the bottom half of your slider roll, spread on the sun-dried tomato and feta spread. Then pile on some of the pesto chicken (roughly 2 Tbsp.). Then add a small handful of arugula leaves, and top it off with the remaining slider half.

Store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve.

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