Super easy and healthy Baked Italian Chicken with cherry tomatoes and sliced black olives topped with fresh herbs. Enjoy this chicken as is with a side of veggies or slice it up and add to pastas, salads, sandwiches or wraps!
Shoutout to all my fellow lazy cooks who hate washing dishes and would rather be doing A N Y T H I N G other than making dinner at 5PM on a weeknight.
I mean, cooking is fun and all but sometimes you’d just rather go sit on the couch and turn off your brain after a long day at work. No shame in it!
Whether you’re firmly in the lazy cook club, the busy cook club, the simple + healthy cook club, etc this one pan Italian chicken dinner is for you. It’s
✔️healthy
✔️delicious
✔️easy to make
✔️with simple ingredients
✔️& is ready in about 30 minutes with very little hands on prep time
Let’s get to it!
How to Make this Italian Chicken with Tomatoes & Olives
Altogether this one pan dinner is incredibly easy to make with only 10 ingredients, prepped in one bowl and cooked all inside of one pan.
Once you’ve set your oven to preheat, add all of the ingredients to a large mixing bowl: chicken, herbs, aromatics, veg an all. Add everything to a bowl and simply mix it all together.
Use a pair of cooking tongs if you have any available so that you can move your chicken around making sure to coat well in herbs and spices.
Once everything has fully mixed together, remove the chicken from the bowl and transfer to a prepared baking sheet. Lay out the chicken leaving a little bit of space in between each piece and bake for about 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes remove the pan from the oven and add the remaining contents of your mixing bowl to the pan: tomatoes, olives, garlic and oil. Spread of the veg around the chicken and return to the oven to bake once more for a final 10 or so minutes.
When the chicken has reached an internal temp of 165°F you’re good to go. Take out the chicken a final time and season with additional pepper and herbs for good measure. Fresh basil and/or parsley make good additions to this chicken but you can also just stick to the dried herbs if that’s easiest.
Q&A
What to serve with this chicken?
- Keep it keto
- As it is this Italian chicken is a great, low carb and paleo friendly recipe. If you’d like to keep it that way you can serve this over top a bowl of creamy mashed cauliflower or fresh zucchini noodles.
- Slice up the chicken breasts and toss it into salads – tomatoes, olives and all.
- If you’re not as concerned about keeping things low carb you can slice up the chicken and mix this into cooked pasta. This would go well in a gluten free penne or spaghetti.
- Add to sandwiches and wraps. I made a panini out of our leftovers using some sun dried tomato pesto leftover from another recipe.
Can I use chicken thighs instead of breast?
- Sure thing! Do everything the same except cook the chicken thighs on their own longer. Increase the initial chicken bake time from 15 minutes to 25 minutes. I also recommend turning the oven up to broil for 2-3 minutes at the end to crisp up the skin.
How long does this recipe keep?
- Once completely cooled, store leftovers in an airtight container for up to four days in the fridge.
Enjoy!
Baked Italian Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes
Super easy Baked Italian Chicken with cherry tomatoes and sliced black olives topped with fresh herbs. Enjoy this chicken as is with a side of veggies or slice it up and add to pastas, salads, sandwiches or wraps!
Ingredients
- 2 large (5-6 oz) chicken breasts cut in half lengthwise
- 10 oz (about 2 cups) cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 1/4 cup (45 g) black olives, sliced
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) olive oil
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) lemon juice
- 1 heaping tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Fresh basil or parsley for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F/205°C and lightly grease a large, rimmed baking sheet. Set aside.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients to a large bowl and mix together. Make sure to evenly coat the chicken and tomatoes in all the spices.
- Remove the chicken from the bowl and lay out on the prepared baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the oven and add the remaining tomatoes, olives and juices to the pan surrounding the chicken.
- Place the baking sheet back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes or until the chicken has reached an internal temp of 165°F.
- Sprinkle some more black pepper over the top of the chicken along with some additional dried herbs if desired. Top the chicken and tomatoes with fresh parsley or basil and serve.
Notes
- Use bone-in thighs instead of breast: Increase the initial chicken bake time from 15 minutes to 25 minutes. I also recommend turning the oven up to broil for 2-3 minutes at the end to crisp up the skin.
- How long does it keep? Once completely cooled, store leftovers in an airtight container for up to four days in the fridge.
Virginia says
Really good and very easy! I’ve just started cooking again after 50 years and I’m trying to get as many simple, but delicious recipes as possible. This will definitely be on regular rotation! Thank you!
Sarah Nevins says
That’s wonderful to hear! I’m so glad you were able to enjoy this – thank you so much for taking the time to come back and let me know what you thought!
Sheila says
When you say to cut the chicken breasts in half, do you mean slice lengthwise so they are thinner or simple cut in half width wise so they are smaller?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Sheila! Sorry about that – I should have been more clear! You want to cut the chicken in half lengthwise so they’re thinner. Thanks for asking – I’ve clarified that in the recipe now 🙂
Dani says
My family loved this chicken dish. I cut up the chicken breasts before putting them in the slow cooker so it didn’t need to cook as long. I tried the variation and added the pinto beans so it was enough for us to eat for 2 nights. Yummy!
https://cutt.ly/YWQgoYW
https://youtube.com/channel/UC8uRdOBjHve7-94j9eLt4dg
Sarah Nevins says
Ooh – love what you did with this! I’m trying this your way next with the pinto beans! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know what you thought!
Kat says
Simple. Easy. Delicious. Love it.
Sarah Nevins says
Thanks Kat!