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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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. 🙄
We had this delicious meal for lunch and dinner, the flavours are outstanding I added Chick Peas also and a few different veg but so delicious will be on my menu again very soon.
Thanks Nagi & Dozer
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
This was great very simple I didnt have the time to marinate the night before only 5 hrs,which I think was fine for flavour but next time I will marinate the day before and see the difference. The flavour was great family loved it even the little one which is always a bonus.
AMAZING flavour! I have made this a few times now and it has turned out so well every time. The second time and since, I pre-boiled my potatoes a little bit (maybe 10 mins) because we like a fluffier/softer potato and my old gas oven is… well, it struggles. I use the vegetables recommended, but I think it could work with almost anything.
This would be a great choice for having guests over too. This feels like a fancy meal, but is very simple to make without too much prep or standing at a stove. We usually have it with a Greek salad and a side veggie like asparagus, which is quite filling, but it also pairs well with rice. You really can’t go wrong.
This is sooooo good, my family loves it, I surprise myself how yummy it turns out every time
This is so easy to make, even got my 76yo Dad to make it. Trying to inject some variety into his repertoire!
This is great when you need to do a fridge clean out or the end of the week and you just throw in whatever veggies you can find. Sprinkled extra paprika over the veggies.
We forgot to add the broth and it still turned out amazing.
This was freaking delicious!!! Prepared as instructed, added yellow bell pepper. Used chicken breasts so I followed your notes with that. I marinated the chicken for about 90 minutes. I could drink the sauce! Omg. I could eat this everyday and twice on Sunday. Thx Nagi!!!!
My family loves this recipe! It is an easy make ahead meal that can be popped in the oven when convenient. I would give it 10 stars if I could.
Absolutely stunning dish. So tasty and so easy to make. A winner 💪
Made this yet again. Par steamed spuds as they were pretty large. Chucked everything in with – less time – more vegetables than recipe – beans, cauli, sprouts. As always, delicious! Thanks Nagi and Team and Dozer!
Just made it; marinated the drumsticks overnight and even added fresh slices of lemon, unfortunately I don’t think it’s for us. Maybe I did something wrong but it’s a bit bland for us. I did double of everything as I had 2kg drumsticks; the only flavours that popped out was the honey and bit of lemony flavour.
Just made this. Like all your recipes, this one worked. The potatoes, onions and chicken were perfectly cooked (although I use the “convection roast” setting on my oven for the second session of cooking. I did not like the marinade, however. The addition of sweetener and mustard made it taste “off” to me. I’ll make it again, but use my usual souvlaki marinade.
This is delicious! a real hit… will be one of our go-to’s. Thanks.
Whole family loved it – perfect dish! Thanks Nagi
Happy New Year to you, and Dozer, Nagi! Cooked this today and we all loved it. I marinated the chicken for a little over an hour and added red capsicum and carrots. I also subbed Dijon mustard for mild honey mustard as that was all I had. It turned out absolutely delicious. Chicken skin was beautifully crispy too. Will definitely be making this again. Thanks Nagi, for another brilliant recipe.
This is one of my favourite dishes…the flavours are amazing. I add zucchini and serve with crunchy bread to sop up all that juice…having it tonight…yummo
this was really tasty Nagi! thank you!
Tasty but not for me. Potatoes didn’t cook enough and far too much liquid and onion. Maybe just not for me.
Hi Katherine.
I have used this recipe a lot. I would suggest par boiling/steaming them and they will catch up beautifully. Our ovens are all so different! All the best.
I have spare lemons, left over from making your Lemon Cake with Lemon Glaze for the umpteenth time. It’s such a winner!
I have bone-in chicken thighs defrosting and all the other ingredients, so I’ll give this a whirl! From the comments, I will steam the potatoes first in my microwave rice steamer, before adding to the dish. My family dislike chicken thighs, so I’m hoping to convert them with this recipe!
Thank you, Nagi x
This went down well. I did tweak it to suit my taste. I added mushrooms, yellow capsicum and black olives. I cooked all the vege in the stock for 20 mins in a foil covered tray. Marinade had only half the lemon juice (I’m not a strong lemon fan). Chicken was boneless thighs (halved), no skin. Added chicken and marinade after 20 mins, cooked for another 30mins with no foil on. I then topped chicken with seasoned breadcrumb and added spinach leaves. Cooked for another 5 mins. Thank you for the inspiration.
So delicious! I’ve made this twice now the first time following the full recipe and the second time I didn’t add the chicken stock (by accident) and only had one lemon and cooked it with drumsticks.
I think I’d go the second option from now on! So much flavour and there was still so much sauce to mop up with bread at the end!