Mediterranean Skillet Chicken is an easy meal packed with your favorite Mediterranean ingredients. Chicken breasts are flavored with a mixture of warm spices and zesty lemon juice and then paired with olives, artichoke hearts, capers, cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs. This meal comes together quickly with little clean-up making it a great weeknight meal for your family!
This Mediterranean Skillet Chicken is the perfect late summer or back-to-school meal.
We love meals that use fresh Mediterranean ingredients and this one does not disappoint. I love chicken skillet recipes because of how little prep work is involved.
When we crave Mediterranean chicken recipes we rotate between this Mediterranean Skillet Chicken, One Pot Mediterranean Chicken and Rice, Air Fryer Mediterranean Chicken Thighs, Mediterranean Chicken or this Mediterranean Chicken with Basmati Rice. It uses simple ingredients to create an easy weeknight meal that your whole family will enjoy.
You don’t have to invest a lot of time or money to put this dish on your table. The chicken breasts are paired with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice along with fresh tomatoes, kalamata olives and Pimento Stuffed Green Olives, artichoke hearts and capers.
The skillet chicken dish is baked in the oven and served with fresh herbs and fetacheese.
You can serve this Mediterranean Chicken with lemon wedges, alongside a side salad, potatoes and crusty bread to soak up the delicious juices. The saltiness of the capers, artichokes and olives works nice with the citrusy lemon to create a flavor packed chicken dish perfect for those busy nights.
You can have this meal on the table in under 30 minutes with little clean-up which makes the perfect meal in my opinion.
Why You Will Love this Mediterranean Chicken Skillet Recipe
- Simple, healthy ingredients. This recipe uses simple, healthy ingredients including protein packed chicken breasts, extra virgin olive oil, olives, artichokes and tomatoes along with fresh herbs.
- Great for meal prep. When you are meal prepping this is a nice recipe that you can make ahead. The leftovers are even better. You could also double this recipe and have meals throughout the week.
- Wonderful flavor combination. The sweet, citrus lemon juice pairs nicely with salty olives, artichokes and capers and then are offset nicely with the earthy fresh herbs. The combination works nicely with the chicken!
Recipe Ingredients and Substitutions
- Chicken Breasts: I used boneless skinless chicken breasts for this skillet chicken recipe. You could also use chicken tenders, chicken thighs or chicken drumsticks.
- Olive Oil: Olive oil is used to sear the chicken on both sides to brown the chicken and also adds flavor to the lemon juice and spices. You could use a different oil to cook the chicken in but I prefer the health benefits of extra virgin olive oil.
- Lemon Juice: Lemon juice is added to give the pan sauce some sweet, citrus flavor. It pairs nicely with the salty olives and capers. You could leave it out or even try lime juice. You also could add more lemon zest for extra zest.
- Spices: The spice mixture I used to season the chicken is paprika and oregano. You could use other spices like cumin, Italian seasoning, chipotle chili pepper or red pepper flakes for spice.
- Cherry Tomatoes: I always enjoy adding fresh tomatoes to a skillet meal. This can be skipped if you aren’t a fan or use any type of tomato you have on hand including diced tomatoes. I suggest draining the diced tomatoes before using them in this dish.
- Olives: I love adding olives to dishes for their saltiness. I know a lot of people aren’t fans of olives so if you don’t like them you can skip them. You also could use black olives.
- Artichoke Hearts: Artichoke hearts are a nice addition to this dish. Once again you can leave them out if you don’t like them. If the artichoke hearts coming in an herb olive oil marinade I add a couple of spoonfuls of that to the skillet for extra flavor.
- Capers: I used capers in a lot of dishes like this Tomato Salad, Arugula Salad with Capers and this Baked Cod with Lemon. I really enjoy the flavor they add and in this dish they work so well with the olives, artichokes and chicken.
How to Make this Mediterranean Chicken Skillet
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Step 1: Mix the Spices: Mix the paprika and oregano together in a small bowl. Rub the mixture on each side of the chicken breasts. Season with salt and pepper.
Step 2: Sear the Chicken: Heat an oven safe skillet or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add the boneless chicken breasts into the skillet and sear them on each side for 3 minutes.
Step 3: Add the other Ingredients: Add the cherry tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts and capers. Tuck the lemon slices around the other ingredients.
Step 4: Bake the Chicken: Put the skillet in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Remove and serve with lemon wedges, feta cheese and fresh parsley and basil.
Recipe FAQ
Searing the chicken isn’t a step I would skip because it helps lock in the juices and flavor in the chicken.
This dish can be salty due to the fact that you are using olives, artichoke hearts and capers. If you are watching your salt I suggest cutting the ingredients in half or making picking one or two of those ingredients to use instead of all three.
There are many sizes of chicken breasts from small to very large. If you buy thicker chicken breasts you will need to cook this dish longer than the time I noted. My chicken breasts were more of a medium size. Check the temperature with a meat thermometer. The chicken is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
Recipe Modifications
- Spices: I used paprika and oregano for the spice mixture which is simple but brings in nice flavor. You could use garlic powder, onion powder, Italian or Greek seasoning or if you like some heat try adding crushed red pepper or cayenne red pepper.
- Vegetables: You could add other vegetables this dish. I especially like red onion, sun-dried tomatoes, fire-roasted tomatoes, green onions, your favorite kind of mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini, green beans or carrots.
- Smoky Flavor: If you like a hint of smoky flavor switch up the regular paprika for smoked paprika. It is a great way to add more depth of flavor.
- Herbs: In my kitchen herbs are always the finishing touch that adds great flavor. In this dish I like basil and parsley but you could also use dill, fresh mint, oregano or thyme.
- Beans: Beans would be a nice addition to this meal. I like white beans, chickpeas or black beans.
- Wine: This dish is nice with a small amount of white wine. I would add it in with the lemon juice and cook it off a bit. It adds nice flavor!
- Cream: If you like a creamier sauce you could add heavy cream to the lemon juice and simmer for a few minutes to create a creamier sauce.
Storage Tips:
Store this Mediterranean Chicken dish in an airtight container for up to 3 days. To reheat you can microwave the chicken or you can slowly warm in the oven.
Other Chicken Recipes You Might Like:
If you like chicken recipes you have to give one of these recipes a try!
- GREEK MARINATED CHICKEN KABOBS
- SUN-DRIED TOMATO FARRO CHICKEN BAKE
- RANCH CHICKEN THIGHS
- YOGURT MARINATED CHICKEN TENDERS
- AIR FRYER MEDITERRANEAN CHICKEN THIGHS
- CHICKEN SOUVLAKI
- CHICKEN KOFTA
Mediterranean Chicken Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
- 3 tbsps. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon, 1/2 juice and 1/2 sliced
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 1/4 cup kalamata olives
- 1/4 cup pimento stuffed green olives
- 1/4 cup artichoke hearts
- 2 oz. capers
- Fresh parsley and basil for garnish
- Lemon wedges for serving
- Feta cheese for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Mix the paprika and oregano together in a small bowl. Rub the mixture on each side of the chicken breasts. Season with salt and pepper.
- Heat an oven safe skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the chicken breasts into the skillet and sear them on each side for 3 minutes.
- Add the cherry tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts and capers. Tuck the lemon slices around the other ingredients.
- Put the skillet in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
- Remove and serve with lemon wedges, feta cheese and fresh parsley and basil.
Comments are temporarily closed while we perform maintenance on the website.