This recipe for Mediterranean chicken is chicken thighs, olives, roasted peppers and orzo, all cooked in a single pan. An easy and healthy dinner option with minimal clean up at the end of the night!
I love one pot meals, some of my favorites include chili mac, pizza pasta and this fresh and delicious Mediterranean chicken.
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 and herbs. 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 is a real winner and the kids enjoyed it too!
How do you make Mediterranean chicken?
This recipe starts with chicken thighs, which are browned and then combined with chickpeas, orzo, olives, roasted peppers and chicken broth. Everything goes into the oven to simmer until tender. Add a sprinkling of fresh parsley and dinner is served!
Tips for Mediterranean chicken
- I like to use bone-in skin-on chicken thighs for this dish, but you can also use drumsticks or bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts.
- Orzo is a small rice shaped pasta that can be found with the rest of the pasta shapes at most grocery stores. You can use regular orzo or whole wheat orzo in this dish.
- This recipe calls for roasted red bell peppers – you can roast your own, or buy a jar of prepared roasted peppers to save on time.
- This dish is perfect as-is, but I sometimes like to serve it with a steamed vegetable on the side such as broccoli, green beans or asparagus. You can also do a mixed green salad tossed in Greek salad dressing.
Mediterranean Chicken Variations
There are so many different ways to vary the flavors in this dish to make your own creation!
- Beans: Instead of chickpeas, try cannellini or Great Northern beans.
- Vegetables: Swap out the bell peppers for marinated artichoke hearts or sauteed mushrooms.
- Grains: Try bulgur wheat or brown rice instead of orzo pasta.
More than ever 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 Mediterranean chicken 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.
More easy chicken recipes
- Chicken and Green Beans
- Slow Cooker Chicken Drumsticks
- Hawaiian Chicken
- Chicken Casserole
- Braised Chicken with Carrots and Potatoes
One Pot Mediterranean Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 bone in, skin on chicken thighs
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 small onion finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup roasted peppers roughly chopped (can use red, yellow or orange peppers)
- 8 ounces orzo pasta uncooked
- 3/4 cup kalamata olives halved
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 15 ounce can chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 3 cups chicken broth
- kosher salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
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. Sprinkle with parsley, then serve.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published July 16, 2015 and was updated on June 25, 2019 with new content.
How do I adjust recipe for 6-8 thighs?
For 8 thighs double the recipe.
For 6 thighs, add half more of the ingredients.
I made this last night using brown rice and chicken legs it was amazing and will definitely make again, thank you for the recipe
This recipe was a winner! My family loved it and so did I. THANK YOU!
does rice go in cooked or uncooked if choosing that
You would do uncooked!
Do you cook the orzo first then add it?
The orzo goes in uncooked!
How long does it cook in the oven for? Did I misread something?
Step 4, bake for 35 minutes!
I’m using boneless chicken breast, should I cut the time in the oven?
Yes reduce the cook time by about 10 minutes!
This looks really good! I love chicken thighs, but the rest of my family wants chicken breasts. If I use bone-in, skin-on breasts, do you know about how long it would take to cook? Also, could I mix the breasts and thighs, or would the cooking time be off?
I think you could use both but you’d want to make sure the breasts and thighs are similar in size so they cook at the same rate. For example, you could cut large chicken breasts in half.
Would this still be considered Mediterranean if you used tricolor orzo (dried tomato and spinach) trying to find recipes for the med diet and this looks amazing!
I believe it would work!
Thank you!😊
Fantastic!!! Made this for dinner tonight and EVERYONE loved it. Definitely one we will keep in our “go to” recipe list.
Thanks for a wonderful dish!
One of my husbands favorite dishes! I sometimes make it with chicken breasts.
This food looks delicious what can I replace the olives with not a fan of olives in my household.
You can just omit the olives!
We use canned artichoke hearts! So good.
Can this be made in advance
That should be fine!
Great flavor and meal in one pan which I always look for! Enough for leftovers!
Melt in your mouth delicious!
Will be making this over and over again!
This recipe is awesome. So easy and so delicious, my family totally loved it. Will be making it over and over. Thank you so much 😀😘
I know for sure this would be a huge hit in my house!
This looks absolutely delicious! Yummy! This looks totally awesome!
This was such a perfectly seasoned meal for dinner last night! All the flavors balance so well together; definitely adding this to my favorite recipes!
This looks so delicious! Pinning it so I can add it to next week’s menu!