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. 🙄
I made this tonight using turnips instead of potatoes. It turned out very tasty. I had expected complaints about turnips (first time I fed them to the family) but no one complained. (and “why turnips?” — the share box from the farmer’s market included turnips and I needed to use them in something)
Hi Nagi, the last time I made this I felt everything was good BUT the chicken became a little dried out. I got some nice new dutch ovens for Christmas I think will help with that problem vs cooking as suggested in a baking pan, but do you have any tips how how to alter the cooking time? Thanks in advance! Big follower of your blog, first time commenting.
Made this for holidays. Absolutely delicious. I marinated for a day and used boneless skinless thighs. I used cut up red potatoes. The dish took much longer to cook than expected. I think if I made this again I would precook potatoes much longer or boil them a bit first to soften them up.
Thank you, my family loved it. Everyone wanted seconds. I omitted the tomato due to allergies and added a little cayenne, I will definitely be making it again but I’ll try the tomato next time!
New family favourite I think.
I cooked the Mediterranean baked chicken last night. Delicious! This is a keeper
I cooked this earlier in the week and all the family loved it.
Leftovers ended up with pappardelle on pasta night. I took out the potatoes, which I’m going to pan fry tonight, shredded the chicken off the bones ,chopped up a few mushrooms and added a bit of pasta water at the end. Yum! Another of your great dishes to add to my repertoire! Thanks Nagi.👍😋
Hi nagi! I’m planning to use boneless fillet thigh. You mentioned that I’ll put the chicken after 20 mins of baking time. Do I add the chicken stock at the start of baking time or I’ll put it when I start to cook the chicken? Thank you!
This dish was knock-your-sock-off good! My husband was singing praise the entire time during lunch. Added to my recipe list, will definitely be making this a lot more.
Also, I have never signed upto a blog ever, but this website, I HAD TO. I have made a whole lot of your recipes and all of it was superb. Thank you, Nagi, my fave-go-to chef. Lots of love from Maldives. 💓