Mediterranean Lemon Garlic Chicken With Artichokes and Olives comes together in a flash for a flavorful main dish! Enjoy it with rice and roasted veggies or a side salad for a complete meal.
If you’re like me and you’re always looking for ways of making chicken breasts more interesting, this easy Mediterranean Lemon Garlic Chicken recipe will be your guiding light!
It requires minimal, basic ingredients that you may already have on hand and results in tender, mouth-watering chicken. If you enjoy Mediterranean flavors, you’re bound to love this flavorful chicken recipe!
Plus, it’s marvelous for serving guests or the whole family. Are you a meal prepper? This is a fantastic way of prepping your animal protein for the week.
Ingredients for Mediterranean Chicken Breasts:
Chicken Breasts: For best results, use chicken cutlets, or chicken filets, which are thin-sliced chicken breasts. If your grocery store doesn’t carry them, stick with regular boneless skinless chicken breasts. Boneless chicken thighs also work magically here.
Fresh Garlic: Fresh garlic cloves add a big burst of flavor that tell us we’re getting into something good. You can adjust the amount up or down according to taste.
Sun-Dried Tomatoes: Flavor-blasted little nuggets of joy, which bring tang and sunshine to the dish.
Kalamata Olives: Briny kalamata olives bring a great deal of flavor and healthy fats to the dish.
Artichoke Hearts: Adding beautiful meaty texture and a great deal of flavor, artichoke hearts bring a lot to the table. I use pre-marinated artichoke hearts which come in a jar. I find them in the canned vegetables section of the grocery store.
Fresh Lemon Zest and Lemon Juice: Lemon zest adds an acidic element which complements the richness of the dish. A splash of lemon juice is lovely too.
Dried Dill, Dried Oregano, Sea Salt, and Black Pepper: The seasonings. Dried dill and oregano add herby flavor and bring balance to the dish.
Avocado Oil: Used to brown the chicken in the skillet, we need a high temperature cooking oil. I don’t recommend using extra virgin olive oil, as it will burn.
Optional Additions or Changes:
- Add ½ cup chopped yellow onion or red onions.
- Pour in ¼ cup of dry white wine such as sauvignon blanc if you love cooking with wine.
- Add 1/2 cup chicken broth to end up with some sauce.
- Swap the kalamata olives for green olives (like castelvetrano olives) if you prefer them.
Now that we’ve covered the fresh ingredients, let’s make this easy chicken dinner.
How to Make Mediterranean Chicken Breasts:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Remove the chicken from its packaging and pat it dry using paper towels. If you’re using full regular chicken breasts, you’ll need to slice them in half through the center in order to create two thinner filets. If you bought pre-sliced chicken cutlets or filets, you can skip this step.
Sprinkle both sides of each chicken breast with sea salt, dried oregano, and dried dill.
Heat the oil in an oven-safe large skillet (I use a 12-inch stainless steel) over medium-high heat on the stove top.
Carefully place the chicken breast fillets on the hot pan and brown for 3 minutes per side.
Remove skillet from heat and add the garlic, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, lemon zest, and lemon juice to the skillet.
Place in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the chicken to check for doneness.
The exact bake time depends on the weight and thickness of the chicken, so for the best results, use an instant-read thermometer to spot check the internal temperature.
Remove the pan from the oven and allow the chicken to sit at least 10 minutes before serving. This allows the juices to distribute throughout the breasts and result in tender juicy chicken.
Serve with your choice of side dishes, and enjoy! I served it recently with Homemade Spanish Rice.
Looking for other ways to serve this easy chicken recipe? Here are some of my favorite side dishes.
Serving Suggestions:
- Homemade Rice Pilaf
- A Really Great Summer Salad Recipe
- The Best Potato Salad
- Roasted Beet Arugula Salad with Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Garlic Herb Roasted Vegetables
- Black Bean Corn Salad
- Edamame Salad
Recipe Tips:
- Be sure to use thin chicken filets OR boneless skinless chicken thighs. The thinness ensures the chicken stays nice and tender, cooks evenly, and does not become dry or tough. If you have a meat tenderizer, you can also pound the chicken breasts to desired thickness.
- Feel free to experiment with flavors by adding fresh herbs like fresh parsley or fresh basil, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, white beans, tangy feta cheese or goat cheese.
And that’s it! The next time chicken is on the menu, whip up this easy dinner recipe. It’s simple enough to make on any busy weeknight and fancy enough to serve for a special occasion.
Mediterranean Lemon Garlic Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1.5 lbs chicken breasts thin cut or pounded thin
- Sea salt, dried dill, dried oregano, black pepper
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ⅓ cup kalamata olives
- ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 cup artichoke hearts
- 2 tsp fresh lemon zest
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Remove the chicken from its packaging and pat it dry using paper towels. If you’re using full regular chicken breasts, you’ll need to slice them in half through the center in order to create two thinner filets. If you bought pre-sliced chicken cutlets or filets, you can skip this step.
- Sprinkle both sides of each chicken breast with sea salt, dried oregano, and dried dill.
- Heat the oil in an oven-safe large skillet (I use a 12-inch stainless steel) over medium-high heat on the stove top.
- Carefully place the chicken breast fillets on the hot pan and brown for 3 minutes per side, adding the minced garlic too.
- Remove skillet from heat and add the olives, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, lemon zest, and lemon juice to the skillet.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the chicken to check for doneness. The exact bake time depends on the weight and thickness of the chicken, so for the best results, use an instant-read thermometer to spot check the internal temperature.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow the chicken to sit at least 10 minutes before serving. This allows the juices to distribute throughout the breasts and result in tender chicken.
- Serve with your choice of side dishes, and enjoy!
