Chicken and Peppers recipe is a true crowd-pleaser comfort dish where boneless chicken breasts or thighs are baked with sauteed peppers, onions, and mushrooms under a blanket of cheese until gooey!
Check out this chicken zucchini casserole, Tex Mex chicken skillet, and baked chicken parmesan for more chicken-and-cheesy dinner ideas.
Table of contents
- Why Make Chicken and Peppers in the Oven?
- Ingredients for Chicken with Peppers and Onions
- How to Make Chicken and Peppers Recipe
- Optional Add-In’s and Variations
- Tips for Best Results
- FAQs
- How to Serve Chicken Bell Pepper Recipe?
- Low Carb Side
- How to Store Bell Pepper Chicken Recipe?
- More Favorite Chicken Recipes
Baked chicken and peppers use just a handful of fresh healthy ingredients, which is my favorite way to cook. Meat, veggies, fresh seasoning, and a bit of cheese all come together in this healthy chicken dish to celebrate the essence of pure ingredients!
A baked chicken dish ready in under 1 hour is made without any high-sodium, sugar, or preservatives that are often found in our food these days. Let’s get back to basics and enjoy a home-cooked, simple, and hearty food made with juicy chicken, earthy veggies, and some gooey cheese to top it off!
Why Make Chicken and Peppers in the Oven?
- Pure and simple: This dish reminds me of Caprese chicken and zucchini or chicken breast in tomato sauce both with real food ingredients, which is the way I ate growing up in Europe.
- Delicious: It tastes amazing, and not just because of the gooey cheese! Tender juicy seasoned chicken and flavourful veggies help!
- Perfect for weeknights: Having dinner on your table in under 1 hour is a life-saver for busy households.
- Leftovers: Reheating leftovers may just taste even better the next day!
- Customizable: I love this dish the way it is, but by all means, tweak the veggies and seasonings to how you like it. Make it dairy-free and omit the cheese.
- A complete meal: Serve on top of creamy mashed potatoes or perfect brown rice with the juices and everyone will be blown away!
Ingredients for Chicken with Peppers and Onions
- Chicken: Boneless and skinless breast or thighs.
- Seasoning: Salt, pepper, and garlic cloves. Easy peasy.
- Veggies: Finely chopped onion, chopped brown or portobello mushrooms, as well as chopped large bell peppers.
What bell pepper is the healthiest? While each bell pepper definitely has a ton of nutrients and is good for you no matter what colour you decide, the red has the most bang for your buck. Then the orange, then yellow, then green. This is because the green is harvested first and the red last, giving it a longer chance to develop its nutrients. It’s also the sweetest!
- Oil for frying: Coconut, avocado, grapeseed, or olive oil all work. This is used to sauté the veggies over medium-low heat so you can use an oil that doesn’t require a high smoke point.
- Cheese: Any sharp cheese will do. Cheddar, marble, gouda, or gruyere will work. Shred your own to avoid packaged pre-shredded cheese that comes with anti-clumping agents.
- Garnish: Optional addition is to throw in some finely chopped parsley. If you don’t have it, don’t sweat it.
How to Make Chicken and Peppers Recipe
- Prep: If you’re using skinless chicken breast, cut them in half lengthwise. Preheat the oven and grab your baking dish. You want a dish big enough to fit all your chicken and the delicious toppings.
- Add to the dish: To the large baking dish, add the chicken, garlic, salt, and pepper and combine everything. Using your hands or a pair of tongs, mix everything, making sure all pieces of chicken are coated. Even though this dish uses very little seasoning, chicken is one thing that needs it!
- Bake chicken: Cover the dish and bake until the chicken is completely cooked through.
- Saute veggies: While the chicken is baking, get a large ceramic non-stick skillet out and get it preheated. Drizzle in your oil and swirl to coat it. Once it’s nice as hot, add the onion and sauté for a few minutes. Stir occasionally. Add the mushrooms and continue to cook, then add the bell peppers last. Continue to stir occasionally until your veggies are soft and their natural flavours and sweetness have been brought out.
- Top the chicken: When your chicken is done baking it will be pale and won’t have the crispy sear marks, but that’s ok, we’re not looking for that! You’ll know when it’s cooked because it will be surrounded by its own clear juices. Get excited because those juices add another layer of flavour to this dish! Take it out of the oven and turn on the broiler.
- Broil: Separate the chicken pieces just slightly to allow any veggies to sit around the chicken as well as on top. Top each piece with sauteed veggies and then top with cheese. Broil until the cheese is gooey and melted.
Serve: This dish is as good served cold as it is hot! So you get to decide how you want to serve it. I do recommend you keep the juices with it when serving it hot on a bed of brown rice, quinoa, zucchini noodles, or a side salad. It’s like its own healthy gravy!
Optional Add-In’s and Variations
- Seasonings: Feel free to add additional seasonings to your chicken! For an Italian taste, go with Italian seasoning or oregano (my go to with spaghetti). Add some paprika or smoked paprika like I do in air fryer chicken breast or add southwest vibes with taco seasoning.
- Mushrooms: Use brown or portobello for more flavour than white mushrooms. Either will work and each one will have great texture. But if it’s the taste you want, opt for the brown mushrooms.
- Cheese: Sharp cheese works well and adds a bold flavour to this dish. You can, however, use a milder cheese such as mozzarella or provolone.
- Parsley: Totally optional. If you have it, great. If not, also great. It will add a level of freshness but will not make or break this dish!
- Heat: Throw in a dash of red pepper flakes for some extra heat.
Juices: The fact that this chicken dish makes its own flavourful juices is such a bonus! It’s delicious as is, but when you have a bed of rice or quinoa that soaks up all that goodness, it’s just so…mmmm!
Tips for Best Results
- Type of chicken: If you are using chicken breast, don’t opt for a butterfly cut. It’s thinner and will be quite dry. Use a plumper breast for the ultimate flavour. You can also use chicken tenderloin, just bake them for 5 minutes less.
- Saute the right way: You’ll notice that the recipe states you add one veggie at a time to saute. This is because adding them all together will steam them, which will cause them to become mushy. Mushrooms contain quite a bit of water, so you’ll want a bit of that water to evaporate before adding the bell peppers.
- A sear. If you are really wanting a sear on your chicken you definitely can brown it first in the skillet before adding it to the baking dish.
FAQs
All you need to do to make this dish free from dairy is omit the cheese.
Absolutely! If you have an oven-safe skillet large enough, you could definitely make this a one-pan dish and take it right from the skillet to the oven. Otherwise, you could also make this completely on the stovetop and cook it covered on low.
If you’re not a fan of mushrooms, you can leave them out altogether and add some more bell peppers or you can replace them with something else like corn, broccoli, cauliflower, or zucchini.
If you’re going for taste, you want to think about whether you want a sweet pepper (like red bell pepper) or a more bitter flavor (like green pepper). Either one would be great. You could also use a combination of both and maybe include some orange and yellow too! It would look pretty, that’s for sure 🙂
If you’re aiming for nutrients, as mentioned above, it’s the red that is packed with just a bit more than the other colours. If you love bell peppers in casseroles, try this meatless quinoa black bean dish next!
Do you have a pressure cooker? You have to try this Instant Pot chicken stew. It’s another one that makes lot of its own juice!
How to Serve Chicken Bell Pepper Recipe?
- Grain: You could serve this dish with any grain like white rice, brown rice, or quinoa.
- Potatoes: If you like potatoes you’ve got to try this dish with Instant Pot mashed potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes or roasted sweet potatoes.
- Serve it cold: On a summer evening with a side of Instant Pot potato salad!
- Keep it light: With a lemon kale salad with parmesan and a basket of bread to sop up those juices!
Low Carb Side
Try zucchini noodles, cauliflower rice or cauliflower mashed potatoes for added veggies and a low carb side.
How to Store Bell Pepper Chicken Recipe?
Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You honestly don’t even need to heat it again if you don’t want to! It’s awesome cold, so even chopping up the chicken and adding a spoonful to a bowl of dark leafy greens with avocado dressing would make a great salad.
Repurpose your chicken bell pepper recipe leftovers! Use them for taco salads, as your topping for chicken tostadas or even in a lettuce wrap.
Freeze: Can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. To thaw, place in the fridge overnight.
Reheat: To reheat, place in the oven at 350F along with all of its juices, covered. Bake for 10 minutes, until the dish is heated through.
More Favorite Chicken Recipes
Baked Chicken and Peppers {Easy Recipe!}
Ingredients
- 3 lbs chicken breasts or thighs boneless & skinless
- 1 large garlic clove grated
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 10 brown mushrooms or 2 portobellos chopped
- 2 large bell peppers chopped
- 1 tbsp coconut or avocado oil
- 1 cup sharp cheese like cheddar, marble, Gouda or Gruyere shredded
- 3 tbsp parsley finely chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. If using breasts cut in half lengthwise.
- In a large baking dish, add chicken, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix well to coat evenly and spread in a single layer.
- Cover and bake for 20-25 minutes. Chicken is cooked when pale and surrounded by clear juices.
- In the meanwhile, preheat large ceramic non-stick skillet on low-medium heat and swirl oil to coat. Add onion and saute for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms and saute for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add bell peppers and saute for 5 more minutes, stirring.
- Remove chicken from the oven and turn broiler on High. Separate chicken a bit from each other and top each piece with vegetables (sprinkle around too) and top with cheese.
- Broil for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
- Serve chicken hot with its juices (!!!) over rice, quinoa or zucchini noodles. To be honest, this chicken and peppers dish tastes cold amazing too!
Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat by baking with juices while covered for 10 minutes at 350 F.
Freeze leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight.
Notes
- Chicken: If you are using chicken breast, don’t opt for a butterfly cut. It’s thinner and will be quite dry. Use a plumper breast for the ultimate flavour. You can also use chicken tenderloin, just bake them for 5 minutes less.
- Saute vegetables adding one by one: Adding all vegetables to the skillet at once will steam them.
- Bake chicken covered until pale: It will not brown and we are not after that. We are just cooking it through. If you are really wanting a sear on your chicken you definitely can brown it first in the skillet before adding it to the baking dish.
- Mushrooms: Use brown or portobello mushrooms for more flavor rather than white.
- Cheese: You can use mozzarella or provolone cheese, it has just more mild taste.
- Dairy free: Omit cheese or use dairy free.
- Juices make this chicken: Many readers commented that especially enjoyed juices poured over their side. Yep, that’s how we do it.
- Parsley is optional: Food rather than seasonings shines in this recipe. Parsley would be great but don’t run to the store just for it. I use only if I have it. Another layer of fresh ingredient.
- Heat: Throw in a dash of red pepper flakes for some extra heat.
- Seasonings: Feel free to add additional seasonings to your chicken! For an Italian taste, go with Italian seasoning or oregano. Add some paprika or smoked paprika or add southwest vibes with taco seasoning.
Nutrition
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Hi, I am Olena.
A mom to 2 boys, a wife to Alex, and soon-to-be Certified Nutrition Coach and Cornell University Healthy Living program graduate. Welcome to our easy healthy recipes blog! I grew up in Ukraine on real food. As an adult, I tried many diets without results. Now for over 10 years, I cook quick and easy healthy meals for my family. I can help you with “What’s for dinner?” too.
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