Mediterranean Baked Chicken Dinner – this is a midweek chicken dinner idea that’s one of those “throw it all in a pan” recipes with high returns for minimal effort. With chicken, potatoes, onion and cherry tomatoes, you’ll love how everything sucks up the tasty lemon garlic sauce in this sheet pan dinner!
Mediterranean Baked Chicken Dinner
This is a chicken sheet pan dinner that ticks a lot of boxes for midweek cooking:
complete meal – no need to bother with side salads
low effort prep – no finely chopping anything, no fiddly assemble, just throw it all in a pan
no need to watch over it – pop it in the oven, set the timer and walk away;
no gourmet or hard to find ingredients – plus plenty of substitutions
IT’S TOTALLY DELICIOUS!!! The tasty Mediterranean sauce is not only very, very tasty in its own right, it also keeps everything nice and moist while it’s in the oven (you will love how juicy the chicken is).
I especially love how the potatoes suck up the sauce as they bake. It reminds me of Greek Lemon Potatoes (but a lot less effort!).
What you need for this Chicken Dinner
Here’s what you need for this one pan Mediterranean Baked Chicken Dinner:
Chicken – thighs and drumsticks (bone in, skin on = juicy flesh and golden skin!)
Lemons, lots of garlic, paprika and oregano – to make the tasty Mediterranean sauce;
Honey and mustard – to thicken/sweeten/flavour the sauce;
Potatoes, onion and cherry tomatoes
Customise it!
I’ve used onions, potatoes and cherry tomatoes here but you could really use whatever vegetables you have.
Zucchini, pumpkin, sweet potato, corn cobs spring to mind as ideal substitutions. Rummage around in your fridge and see what you’ve got!
Also, in there spirit of Mediterranean food, I’ve used oregano and garlic here. Try it with rosemary or thyme instead, or give it a Middle Eastern spin by adding a touch of cumin and coriander!
How to make this One Pan Chicken Dinner
Obscenely simple: mix Sauce, toss in chicken, optional marinade, toss it all in a pan and bake.
OK, I skipped one step here. 😇 I add cherry tomatoes partway through the bake time so they don’t turn into unidentifiable mush. But if you’re ok with extremely squishy tomatoes, just add them right in at the beginning!
And here’s what you end up with in this one pan Mediterranean Chicken Dinner:
1. Very, very juicy chicken infused with Mediterranean flavours -the chicken isn’t submerged in sauce because we want the skin to go nice and golden. But the underside is partially in the sauce / steamed which keeps it ultra juicy.
2. Juicy pops of cherry tomatoes and potatoes that suck up the lemon garlic sauce:
Another nice thing about this chicken dinner is that marinating is optional. It definitely adds flavour if you can marinate overnight because then the chicken is flavoured all the way through.
However, there is plenty of sauce in this recipe – enough to mop and dunk and douse every bite you take. So it’s fine to make even without marinating! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Mediterranean Chicken Dinner
Ingredients
Marinade / Sauce
- 1kg / 2lb bone in, skin on chicken thighs and drumsticks (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) lemon juice
- 6 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard (Optional – Note 2)
- 2 tbsp honey or 1 tbsp sugar (or maple or other sweetener)
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1.5 tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp EACH salt and pepper
Bake
- 5 smallish potatoes (7.5cm/3" wide) , quartered (Note 3)
- 2 red onions , quartered
- 1 cup (250ml) chicken broth/stock , low sodium
- 250g/8oz cherry tomatoes (whole)
- 1/2 tsp EACH salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp Olive oil (or oil spray)
- Fresh oregano , for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Mix Marinade ingredients in a bowl, then add chicken and toss to coat. If time permits, marinate for 24 hours, otherwise proceed to next step.
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Place potatoes and onion in baking pan, top with chicken. Pour over the chicken stock then marinade from the bowl.
- Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from oven.
- Scatter over cherry tomatoes, drizzle everything with 1 tbsp olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for a further 30 – 35 minutes until chicken is golden and potatoes are cooked.
- Remove from oven, garnish with fresh oregano if using and serve!
Recipe Notes:
- Marinating – benefits from marinating but not critical. Sauce has so much flavour (and there’s lots of it) it compensates;
- Pan size – ingredients should fit snugly. If they are too spaced out, too much of the liquid will evaporate while baking and you won’t end up with much sauce.
Nutrition Information:
Originally published November 2015, updated March 2020 with new photos, new video and most importantly, Life of Dozer section added!
More Dinner in One Pot!
Life of Dozer
This is a 3 seater lounge – or one Dozer. 🙄
Hi Nagi, I always enjoy your recipes (and my family do too 😁) although this dish was absolutely amazing and the left overs reheated the following day were even tastier. Thank you. X
Thanks so much Sarah, that’s so great to hear! N x
Making the Mediterranean Baked Chicken tonight will advise how it turns out in Bridgetown, Nova Scotia, Canada
Love to know what you think Marilyn!
Smelled wonderful on a cold evening tasted better, you are a wiz!
Fabulous! The whole family enjoyed it. Thank you
Another flavour full Nagi recipe. Easy to prepare and absolutely delicious. I’ve only recently discovered this site but I’ve made 4 Nagi recipes in the past week. All a great hit.
Delicious and easy!!
The flavour is amazing, I used chicken marylands and poured out some of the juice 5 minutes before serving and reduced it slightly into a gravy to make it even better
Ok, Dozer is First, Love The Way he he is rejting his head and YOU can tell he is totalu relaxed.As for Food DELICIOUS. love The sauce/ juice to mop up with pumpkin bread, Yum! Thank YOU Kindly Nagi, now YOU May rest next to Dozer.
Made this last night! Soo good!!
And versatile – I added a (chopped and par cooked) head of broccoli at the same time as the tomatoes. The delish smell in the kitchen had us ready for dinner a good 20mins before it was done ;P
YUM! The more veg the better! N x
Can I use sweet potato instead? Or a combination of both?
Yes 100%!! N x
Can I use chicken breasts instead?
Hi Deborah – I talk about this in the recipe notes – N x
Spectacular!! You’re a bloody legend!
Thanks Alimak 😂
Hi Nagi. Love your recipes. Can this one be put in slow cooker?
Hi Janneke, not this one sorry – you need the oven heat to get that crispy skin 🙂
A perfect, easy, fast, foolproof goodie great to make for a hungry mob but even better for a busy single – Love your use of cherry tomatoes which have not always graced my one=pans . . .
Yes definitely Eha!!
Hi Nagi! Love love your recipes and blog. This dish looks awesome! I thought that marinating raw meat and using the marinade after is a no no and needs to be boiled (temp up to 165 F) for at least 1-2 minutes. It looks that you don’t do this step. Maybe you know different?
Hi Andrea! Because the marinade is baked for 50 minutes, it will well and truly cook out any nasties 🙂 N x
Winner winner chicken dinner, whole family 👍
Thanks you
Woot!!!
Hi Nagi, how do you think this would go with white fish fillets? Thanks x
Beautifully – as long as it’s a firm white fleshed fish that will hold together 🙂
This is such an amazing dish. The chicken looks so juicy and tender.
It really is Arpita! N x
I had to come review this because I had it again tonight and as always exclaimed “How can such simple food be that good?!”
I’ve probably made this about 10 times now and it’s one of my all time favourite dishes. It’s really delicious, but it’s also fun and easy to make.
My tips:
Don’t forget to cover the dish for that first bake. It’s vital for your potatoes to soak up the flavour.
You can use big tomatoes quartered, but cherry tomatoes are nicer.
And separate the layers of the quartered onions for maximum flavour.
Hi Nagi, I made the Chicken & Rice recipe & I love it. Next time I’ll put some veggies in too. I’m really impressed with the slick nature of your blog ( & hope I don’t become ‘your biggest fan’ !!!) cheers
nah ah shona I am ha ha
Thanks so much Shona ☺️
I made this last night and turned out perfect – potato and all. OMG that sauce is the bomb Nagi. I had plenty of sauce left over and thought it would be wonderful with some prawns and parsley cooked in it, however when it came time to save the sauce, I just drank it down – delicious. Couldn’t resist 😁
Oh I know this problem all too well!!! 😂
Hi Nagi, I love this dish. Can I cook this in the slow cooker? I am looking similar dishes that I can cook in the slow cooker.
I cooked your pot roast beef last Sunday in the slow cooker and it came out very well.