Easy Mediterranean Chicken Skillet with juicy chicken and fresh Mediterranean flavors. This one pan meal comes together in under 40 minutes for the perfect weeknight dinner!
Healthy skillet recipes like chicken with tomatoes and chicken and corn are lifesavers in my busy household.
Take a quick culinary escape to the Mediterranean with bite-size tender chicken, juicy veggies, and briny olives. I love serving this Mediterranean chicken skillet over plain boiled baby potatoes to soak up all the flavors, especially when you mash them up with a fork on your plate.
It can also be served as-is for an easy low carb meal, or over a bed of brown rice or quinoa for a heartier dish. You’ll want this one-pan chicken dinner recipe in your weeknight rotation 100%!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Quick: This chicken skillet is simple, effortless, and great for the beginner chef.
- Less cleanup: One pan means less washing after dinner, that’s always good!
- Versatile: You can easily tweak it to your liking and customize the ingredients.
- Healthy and flavorful: Full of clean, healthy ingredients and bright, fresh flavors. It’s also low-carb and low-fat without skimping on taste.
Ingredients for Mediterranean Chicken Skillet
To make this recipe you’ll need a number of pantry staples and fresh ingredients. The list may seem long, but you’ll likely have most on hand.
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts: Quick and easy to cook, use cubed chicken, so it sears quickly and cooks evenly.
- Onion: Adds depth of flavor. Yellow onion is the best all-around cooking onion, you can also use red onion.
- Bell peppers: I used yellow and red peppers for their sweeter taste.
- Fresh mushrooms: Add a wonderful earthy flavor. I find Portobello mushrooms and baby bella mushrooms to be the most flavorful.
- Olives and olive brine: I like Kalamata olives but you can also use green olives.
- Baby potatoes: Keep the peel on! It contains many vitamins and nutrients.
- Tomatoes: For its sweet and juicy taste. I love the taste and juice San Marzano whole tomatoes add to this dish. In a pinch, you can use canned diced tomatoes too.
- Olive oil: Extra virgin olive oil has the most health benefits and is great for searing chicken.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic adds incredible taste at the end.
- Seasonings: Sugar, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes for a pinch of heat.
- Fresh herbs: Add another layer of flavor and a pop of color. I chopped up some fresh parsley but oregano or fresh basil are good too.
How to Make Mediterranean Chicken Skillet
This recipe couldn’t be easier to make. Prep, sauté, simmer, and enjoy! Full recipe card is below.
- Sauté vegetables: Start with a hot skillet, I love my large deep skillet. Swirl oil to coat. Then sauté onion and bell pepper for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add mushrooms and sauté for another 3-4 minutes.
- Cook chicken: Add cubed chicken breasts and cook for 3-4 minutes. Each piece should be opaque and separated from each other.
- Add remaining ingredients: Add in tomatoes and their juices, olives and their brine, sugar, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Stir all ingredients to combine, cover with lid and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Cook potatoes: Meanwhile, add baby potatoes to a large pot with enough cold water to cover them and add a pinch of salt. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are soft when pierced with a fork. Drain and set aside.
- Garnish and serve: Turn off heat, add garlic and stir. Let chicken skillet rest for 5 minutes, garnish with parsley and serve.
Variations and Additions
The best part of any skillet recipe, including this Mediterranean chicken skillet, is that they are incredibly versatile!
- Use chicken thighs: Boneless skinless chicken thighs would taste great, and the cook time would be the same. Make sure they’re cut into bite size pieces.
- Bone-in chicken: Pre-cook and sear bone-in chicken before sautéing veggies.
- Add artichokes or capers: Add up to 1 cup canned artichokes or 1/4 cup capers, they add amazing flavor.
- Add white wine: Adds flavor and moisture. Pour 1/4 cup of wine in the skillet along with tomato juices.
- If you don’t love tomatoes: Not everyone’s a fan, and that’s OK! You can substitute with jarred roasted red peppers.
- Using fresh tomatoes: I recommend using 1.5 pounds of chopped fresh tomatoes to maintain that Mediterranean taste.
- Add fresh lemons: For a pop of flavor. It’s best to add them at the end, if the lemon juice simmers long the taste will be bitter.
- Add other vegetables: Add more veggies to meal time and sauté broccoli, zucchini, asparagus, or cauliflower along with the peppers.
What to Serve with Mediterranean Chicken?
Juicy chicken and fresh vegetables mean this recipe has everything you need for dinner.
The best serving tip I can give you is that this chicken is so flavorful, you’ll want a bed of something plain. Boiled sweet potatoes, pasta, quinoa, and rice would be perfect!
I love using plain baby potatoes to soak up the flavors, I even mash them up with a fork, but my boys like to keep them in chunks like a chicken stew. You can use regular potatoes, I just like the convenience of baby ones, they even come pre-washed.
It’s a delicious low carb meal on its own, or you can pair it with a simple spring mix salad and crusty bread on the side.
How to Store and Reheat
Store: Place Mediterranean chicken skillet leftovers in a sealed container and refrigerate for 3-4 days.
Freeze: Once completely cooled, freeze leftovers without baby potatoes in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Potatoes do not thaw well and will have unpleasant texture. Cook them fresh, it takes minutes!
Place in the fridge overnight to thaw, or on a counter for a few hours and reheat.
FAQs
Rubbery chicken usually means it is overcooked. When you first sauté the chicken, make sure it is opaque in color and not browned, it will continue cooking while it simmers.
Your chicken skillet is ready when veggies are tender and chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 F.
Yes! You can pre-cook the potatoes and dice up everything to go in the skillet, and dinner will be on the table in 30 minutes.
More Chicken Recipes to Try
- Chicken quinoa skillet
- Chicken and zucchini recipe
- Pesto chicken and vegetables
- Chicken and mushrooms
- Mexican chicken and rice
- Chicken burrito skillet
- Cashew chicken
Mediterranean Chicken Skillet
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 large bell peppers seeded and cubed
- 2 portobello mushrooms cubed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin
- 28 ounces whole tomatoes coarsely chopped
- 1 cup Kalamata olives pitted
- 1/2 cup olives brine
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 garlic cloves grated
- 1/4 cup parsley finely chopped
- 2 pounds baby potatoes
Instructions
- Preheat large (12 inch) deep skillet on low-medium heat and swirl oil to coat. Add onion and bell pepper; saute for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add portobello mushrooms and saute for another 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add chicken breasts and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often, until each piece of chicken is separate and opaque. No need for chicken to be browned.
- Add tomatoes and their juices, olives and their brine, sugar, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Stir, cover and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
- While skillet is cooking, cook baby potatoes. In a large pot, add potatoes and enough cold water to cover them plus a pinch of salt. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are soft when pierced with a fork. Drain and set aside.
- Turn off heat, add garlic, stir and let skillet stand for 5 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve over baby potatoes.
Video
Notes
- I use San Marzano whole tomatoes because they and their juice taste the best. I prefer to cut them instead of using canned diced tomatoes but in a pinch you can use the latter as well.
- Nutritional information is without baby potatoes.
- Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 – 4 days.
- Freeze: Freeze leftovers without baby potatoes in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight or on a counter for a few hours.
- To reheat: Simmer on low heat in a skillet for 5 minutes covered.
This is a new favourite, the flavours are outstanding. I use capers, and agree with you re: cut-up whole tomatoes vs. diced (not a fan of those things).
The last time i made this there was way more liquid in the pan at the end of the cooking process, I suspect the chicken was watery, so I ladled some of the liquid into a saucepan, reduced it, returned it to the skillet. Perfect
So awesome to hear! Glad you use the whole tomatoes – best flavor. Sometimes if you let the dish sit for 10-20 minutes, especially uncovered, liquid reduced itself. But maybe your chicken was extra watery, very true.
How can I share this to save to my phone ?
Best way would be to click a heart on middle right side and create an account on the website and save all your recipes there.
I tried this today exactly according to the recipe. It turned out OK My family felt it was little too sour, probably because of the tomatoes and olives. Overall not bad. We also didn’t like the squishy taste of mushrooms. Nevertheless, I’ll prepare it again maybe using less tomatoes and less olive brine. I think it would taste good with sour cream.
If you don’t love mushrooms in sauce you can leave them out. Taste it today or a few hours later as acidity may have settled and you would like the taste more. I’m thinking maybe your olive brine was more acidic than mine, same goes for tomatoes brand… You can also add a little bit more sugar to offset the acidity. Sure, make it your own and adjust ingredients to your own taste.:) Next time you make it let it sit longer to allow the flavors to settle a little bit and marry each other. Hope this helps and enjoy!
SO good even tho I didn’t have any bell pepper, I also used Cajun seasoning because, well, I use it in most everything. this is what I call an OMG good recipe and will be added to my absolute favorites!
I’m so glad you enjoy this Mediterranean chicken recipe so much.