Mediterranean Chicken and Veggie Bake Recipe
Cooking a Mediterranean diet is no easy feat. For a family who is used to a high carb lifestyle, making the switch to vegetables can be quite the struggle; but after finding out that now 3 out of 4 of my grandparents have (or had) digestive cancers, it has been a necessity.
The mediterranian diet consists of mainly lean and white proteins alongside fresh fruits and veggies. Although this does mean the occasional french bread snack (yay!), it does mean olive oil and no butter. It’s these slight changes that have been making a somewhat extreme transition more bearable.
This chicken and veggie bake has been one of those “compromise” meals that is more satisfying than not. With the added potatoes into the dish, there’s still that sense of carb while also “technically” only having vegetables.
Although I did get the initial recipe off the internet, I made so many alterations it’s pretty much no longer that recipe. It was so bland and gummy that some things just had to be changed.
The first time I made this, however, a few things went wrong. First of all, COOK THE POTATOES FIRST. Okay, mind you, I didn’t have any mini red potatoes (or red potatoes at all by that matter) so I did use russet potatoes which take much longer to bake, but I had to stick them back in the oven for 45 minutes more just to have them finish cooking! So please, by all means, start off with cooking the potatoes (P.S. red potatoes taste so much better with this). Starting with cooking the potatoes actually reduces the entire process time if you think of it. While they are in the oven, you can wash and chop the rest of the veggies and pull all other ingredients together.
Secondly, I find it better to just mix the ricotta with the garlic and some dried spices instead of only using the fresh thyme. The chicken just needs a little more of a stronger flavor to it and a fresh spice is going to be mild in the chicken. I just mixed the minced garlic and dried oregano together with the cheese and it tasted much better in my opinion.
All in all this is a pretty simple dish to make; essentially just throwing in veggies and chicken into a dish and baking it. Lots of wiggle room! You can really mess with it however you like. Enjoy!
Mediterranean Chicken and Veggie Bake Ingredients
- 2 bell peppers (preferably red and yellow)
- 1 red onion
- 7 cloves garlic (5 crushed, 2 minced)
- 2 tsp paprika
- 4 chicken breasts
- 2 Tbsp ricotta cheese
- ½ c grape tomatoes
- ¼ c olives (or grapes)
- Fresh thyme
- ⅓ c feta cheese
- 1 lbs mini red (or colorful) potatoes (halved) (optional)
Baking Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400f. If using potatoes: place potatoes in a casserole dish. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20 mins.
- Chop onion and bell peppers into large chunks. Toss onion, bell peppers, and the 5 whole garlic cloves into the casserole dish with oil, salt, pepper, and paprika. Roast on the top rack of the oven for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, smear ricotta over the tops of the chicken breasts and season with salt and pepper. Once the veggies are soft, remove the dish from the oven. Add whole grape tomatoes (or chopped vine tomatoes), olives, feta, and half of the thyme to dish and toss. Place raw chicken on top with ricotta side up and top off with 2 cloves of crushed garlic and remaining thyme. Return to the oven and cook 30 minutes more.