Chicken and Peppers is a true crowd pleaser dish where boneless chicken thighs are baked with sauteed peppers, onions and mushrooms under a blanket of cheese until gooey. Serve on top of creamy mashed potatoes or perfect brown rice with the juices and everyone will be blown away!
Chicken and Peppers
Baked chicken and peppers uses just a handful of fresh healthy ingredients. To enjoy this healthy chicken dish is to celebrate the essence of each ingredient, without overseasoning. The combination of peppers, onions and mushrooms give an earthy, sweetness to the lightly seasoned, naturally juicy chicken. The sharpness of the gooey cheese on top elevates this dish to a level where comfort meets healthy meets delicious!
This is my absolute favorite way to cook – meat, veggies and maybe cheese. Dishes like Caprese chicken and zucchini, Mexican chicken and zucchini and chicken breast in tomato sauce remind me so much European way of cooking. That’s how we grew up.
Allowing the flavour of simple ingredients to really shine through is something we need to get back to. With so much added salt, sugar, and preservatives in our food these days, getting back to basics is the perfect way to start the new year!
Ingredients for Chicken and Peppers
- Chicken: Boneless and skinless breast or thighs.
- Seasoning: Salt. Black pepper. Grated garlic clove.
- Veggies: Finely chopped onion. Chopped brown or portobello mushrooms. Chopped large bell peppers.
- Oil for frying: Coconut, avocado, olive or grapeseed oil.
- Cheese: Any sharp cheese will do. Cheddar, marble, gouda or gruyere will work. Shred your own to avoid packaged pre-shredded cheese.
- 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 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 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 together, 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 saute for a few minutes. Stir occasionally. Add the mushrooms and continue to saute and then 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 seared 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!
Tips and Variations
- Type of chicken: If you are using chicken breast, don’t opt for butterfly cut. It’s thinner and will be quite dry. Use a plumper breast for ultimate flavour. You can also use chicken tenderloin, just bake them for 5 minutes less.
- Sautee 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.
- 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 really well and adds a bold flavour to this dish. You can, however, use a milder cheese such as mozzarella or provolone.
- 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! Got pressure cooker? You have to try this Instant Pot chicken stew. A lot of juice! 🙂
- 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!
Storing, Freezing and Reheating
Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You honestly don’t even need to heat it up 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 would make a great salad.
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 350 along with all of its juices, covered. Bake for 10 minutes, until the dish is heated through.
More Favorite Chicken Recipes
- Garlic baked chicken thighs
- Mexican chicken and rice recipe
- Roasted chicken thighs and potatoes
- Chicken pasta (Instant Pot)
- Lemon garlic roasted whole chicken
- Healthy chicken divan
- Baked caprese chicken
Baked Chicken and Peppers
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 tenderloins: You can use them, 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Nutrition
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My name is Olena Osipov. I'm a mom to 2 boys, a wife to Alex and we reside on magical Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. This is our healthy family recipes blog. Originally from Ukraine, I grew up on real food. As an adult, I struggled with diets for years because none worked long-term. Now for over 10 years, I cook easy healthy meals for my family. I can help you with “What’s for dinner?” too.