This recipe for Mediterranean chicken is chicken thighs, olives, roasted peppers and orzo, all cooked in a single pan. An easy and healthy dinner!
I love Mediterranean food – the flavors are bold and fresh and it’s also healthy. I often cook with ingredients that are found in the Mediterranean diet – whole grains, fruit and vegetables, beans, olive oil, herbs and California Ripe Olives. I took all of my favorite Mediterranean flavors and turned them into a one pot meal, because by now you all know that I’m all about cooking in one pot whenever possible. This one pot Mediterranean chicken with black olives and orzo is a real winner and the kids enjoyed it too! If my littlest critics happily ate it, then you know it must be good!
I went with skinless, bone-in chicken thighs for this dish because they’re more flavorful than chicken breasts and they’re less likely to dry out as they cook. The chicken thighs get seared to perfection and then are combined with whole wheat orzo, California Ripe Olives, roasted peppers, oregano and chickpeas. The whole thing goes in the oven for about 30 minutes and dinner is served!
Now doesn’t that look like something you’d want to have for dinner tonight? It’s a complete meal in just one pot – no sides needed.
I roasted my own bell peppers for this dish but you can absolutely use store bought roasted peppers if you want to save some time. The orzo gets infused with the flavor of the chicken and peppers and the olives add a briny note that really complements the other ingredients. The chickpeas get soft and almost creamy in texture after their trip through the oven. The whole thing is perfection I tell you.
I have mentioned in the past that we are a black olive loving family. I know that if I put black olives in a recipe my kids will be more likely to eat it – I’ve even been sending them to camp with California Ripe Olives in their lunch boxes! I feel good about giving black olives to my girls because of the numerous health benefits. If you’d like to incorporate more California Ripe Olives into your diet you can find more recipe ideas here.
More than ever this summer I have been relying on easy dinner options. I’d much rather be out in the yard with the kids instead of standing over a hot stove. This one pot Mediterranean chicken with olives and orzo is perfect for our hectic schedule because I can just combine everything in one pot, put it in the oven and walk away until the timer tells me it’s dinner time. Plus clean up is a breeze. Have you hopped on the one pot meal bandwagon yet? If not, this recipe is the perfect place to start.
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One Pot Mediterranean Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 skinless , bone-in chicken thighs
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 small onion , finely diced
- 2 cloves of garlic , minced
- 1/2 cup roasted peppers , roughly chopped (can use red, yellow or orange peppers)
- 8 ounces whole wheat orzo pasta
- 3/4 cup California Ripe Olives , halved
- 2 sprigs fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 15 ounce can of chickpeas , drained and rinsed
- 3 cups chicken broth
- kosher salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large skillet or pot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Season the chicken generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the pan and cook for 4 to 6 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove the chicken from the pan.
- Drain off excess fat leaving about 1 teaspoon in the pan. Add the onion, cook for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cook for one minute more.
- Add the orzo, oregano, roasted peppers, olives and chickpeas to the pan. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place the chicken on top of the orzo mixture; add chicken broth.
- Bring everything to a boil, cover the pot with a lid and place into the oven. Bake for 35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove oregano sprigs before serving.
Dave says
Can I use chicken breasts instead?
Sara says
Yes, that will work!
Lynne says
Love this recipe – I’ve already made it twice for my family.
Quick question: do you cook the chicken all the way through in the pan before adding the other ingredients? Or do you simply cook the outside and let the chicken continue to cook in the oven? I’ve been cooking the chicken all the way through before putting it in the oven and I’m afraid it’s getting a little dry (but of course I don’t want to end up with under-cooked chicken!)
Sara says
I do not cook the chicken all the way through, I simply brown it and then put it in the oven. The time in the oven should be more than enough to cook it all the way through. If you’re using larger than average pieces of chicken you could always cut into one at the end of the bake time to make sure it’s cooked through, and if it’s not, add 5-10 minutes to the bake time. Hope that helps!
Danielle says
Just made this tonight and it was so easy and delicious!! Thank you so much!! This is a keeper!!
Laure says
I don’t have a Dutch oven with a lid. Could I use a lasagne dish covered wit foil? Also – how wold this be with boneless chicken breasts?
Sara says
Yes, you can use a dish tightly covered with foil. For boneless chicken breasts, you’ll want to reduce the oven time to 25 minutes. Hope that helps!
Jan says
Three cups of chicken broth — how is it divided, or should there be two amounts?? There are two places in the instructions to add broth.
It’s in the oven, and it smells yummy. All my broth went in at once with the orzo.
Thanks!
Sara says
It’s only supposed to go in once, thanks for catching that typo!
Pam says
Recipe looks good but I need to use breast meat. Might you have some suggestions as how to keep the chicken moist? I am thinking I could leave the chicken in for only 10 to 15 minutes? Then put it back as soon as it comes out of the oven? Your thoughts?
Sara says
Hi Pam,
20 minutes should work, you’ll want to leave it in for that long so that the orzo has time to absorb the broth. I did something similar here with chicken breasts and orzo where I baked it at 375 for 25 minutes. https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/one-pot-chicken-with-creamy-spinach-artichoke-pasta/ Hope that helps!
Taylor Williams says
Do you need to cook the orzo before adding it to the recipe? Or does it cook in the broth?
Sara says
The orzo goes in raw, it does get cooked in the broth!
Tana says
Thank you for posting this. I made this last night for my family and they loved it!
Sara says
I’m so glad to hear you liked it!
Angela says
This looks lovely. I do not have orzo on me but I do have couscous, do you think that would work! Thank you so much
Sara says
Hi Angela, the larger pearl/Israeli couscous would work, the small couscous would probably get too mushy. Hope that helps!
Angela says
Thank you, it does 🙂 I figured the smaller ones would have that problem. I am a fairly new cook so I hope it turns out as nice as yours 🙂
Kate says
I’ve never commented on anyone’s blog before, but we just made this dish and it was AWESOME. Chickpeas are creamy… chicken flavorful… and I was able to cook everything in an hour including roasting the peppers.
Sara says
I am so happy that you liked it! And thanks for commenting 🙂
Michelle @ A Dish of Daily Life says
This looks fantastic…definitely a dinner my family would like! I’ll be adding it to the menu plan!
Stephanie says
WOW- I’m pretty obsessed with everything in this dish. The black olives (of all things) caught my eye at first but now I’m drooling over everything in here! (GREAT pics BTW!!)
Amy Basso | Amy's Apron says
Anything that requires one pot to cook is right up my alley! Looks yummy!
Michelle | A Latte Food says
Amazing! This looks absolutely delicious!
M says
Can you make this with thighs that have the skin on?
Sara says
Yes, skin on thighs will work perfectly, you can just follow the recipe exactly as written!
Kelly says
Great! I was trying to find this comment because the recipe says skinless but the pictures have skin on 🙂
Sara says
The photos have skinless chicken thighs too, they’re just browned!
Justine | Cooking and Beer says
I’ve never met a mediterranean dish that I didn’t absolutely fall in love with. I love that this is made in one pot … and I’m adoring all of those flavors! Pinned!