Think of sausage with peppers and onions, but with chicken thighs instead of sausage, and all of it baked together on a sheet pan for pure ease. Sheet pan meals are becoming more and more popular because you can have a well-rounded meal without dirtying a bunch of pots and pans. I love the presentation of serving it right off of the sheet pan, and it makes clean up easy as well. Leftovers are great too because you can cover the sheet pan with aluminum foil and put it in the fridge, and when your ready to heat it back up just throw the whole thing back in the oven.
The combination of sweet colorful bell peppers and sweet Vidalia onions melt in your mouth. The extra virgin olive oil really helps soften them and give them a rich flavor. The fat from the chicken thighs also seeps into the peppers and onions giving them even more flavor. If you can find fire-roasted diced tomatoes, they give this dish another layer of flavor that I love. Regular diced tomatoes will work though, plus smoked paprika gives that smokey flavor anyway. Sausage with peppers and onions usually has fennel seeds mixed into the sausage, but since I’m using chicken thighs for this recipe, I sprinkled fennel seeds onto the sheet pan for that distinct fennel flavor. A few more Mediterranean ingredients like white wine, dried oregano and basil create a Mediterranean Diet version of an American favorite.
There are a couple of ways to eat this dish. One is to serve each person a chicken thigh and some peppers and onions on the side. Add a side salad and you have a delicious meal. The second is to remove the skin from the chicken thighs, pull all the meat off of the bones, put it in a grinder roll, top with the peppers and onions, and add your favorite condiments. It’s like a healthier Mediterranean version of a ball park sausage with peppers and onions!
Sheet Pan Chicken Thighs with Peppers and Onions
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs, skin on
- extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- salt and pepper
- 4 colorful bell peppers, sliced
- 2 medium sweet onions (vidalia), sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- splash of white wine
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 15 ounces can diced tomatoes (fire roasted if possible)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp fennel seed
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Drizzle the chicken thighs with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Make a layer covering the sheet pan with the peppers, onions, and garlic. Add splash of white wine. Drizzle with 1/3 cup olive oil. Pour can of diced tomatoes evenly on top. Season with salt and pepper.
- Arrange chicken thighs on top.
- Sprinkle everything with fennel seed, paprika, oregano, and basil.
- Bake at 400 F for an hour and fifteen minutes.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
About the Author: George Zikos
Is this recipe using thawed chicken thighs?
No, but you can use thawed chicken thighs as well.
I am making this tonight for the second time. My husband and I both love it! The first time I had it with salad and my husband made a sandwich. This time I am either doing brown rice or quinoa.
Very delicious. Will definitely make it a regular option when meal planning.
This was delicious and easy to make for a busy family- I served with rice and added some fresh basil to the sheet pan when taken from oven and drizzled balsamic glaze over the top when plated. I tripled the chicken thighs for my teenage boys and all loved it- thank you! Will be part of my routine for sure!
Tasted like a deconstructed chicken pizza (without the cheese). However, two bell peppers and 1 onion is plenty for this recipe. I suggested increasing the temp and cooking for less time (e.g. 450 degrees at 30-35 min) as most chicken thighs sheet pan recipe do and worked for us.
Thank you for sharing the recipe. This made a delicious dinner which we will make again. I made the recipe as stated although I only had 3 peppers and one onion. Seasoning was great and really helped with the flavor of the vegetables. Very easy to prepare and I appreciate sheet pan recipes. The only thing we would have done differently is to marinade the chicken before cooking.
I modified the recipe slightly, as i didn’t wish to go shopping. For onions, i used one red and one white. I only had two peppers handy (one red and one orange). I used boneless/skinless thighs, so only baked them for an hour. They came out so moist, and I loved the sweet, tangy flavors!
Every time I think I’ve had the most tasty meal off your website, along comes another meal!
That said, the flavors of the herbs on the chicken with the bed of roasted veggies underneath had me saying yum over and over as I was devouring every savory bite.
Easy and really delicious! It’s also really adaptable. Last night was the second time I made it. I pulled some chicken thighs from the freezer without really reading the label. Time to make dinner….the chicken I pulled from the freezer was skinless boneless thighs. Oops. I also had 3/4 of a bag of Trader Joe’s roasted peppers and onions that needed to be used. So instead of using fresh onions and peppers I used the frozen ones. Reduced the cooking time to compensate for the boneless chicken thighs. If anything, this modified dish was even better than the first time!
This recipe was so good that my husband (who’s a professional chef) burst into our room to tell me how good it was.
This was sooooo good! After cooking, I put 1/2 the peppers and onions and juices from the pan into the blender and made a sauce with it. For each serving I put 3/4 cup cooked corkscrew pasta in a bowl, topped that with veggies then the meat (I took the meat off the bone first) and poured some sauce over the top. I added in a serving of steamed broccoli on the side. It was amazing and I will be putting this into my meal rotations often.
This is now a regular repeat! My husband won’t discuss going on a Mediterranean diet, so I try recipes like this without saying anything. So simple and easy to make. DELICIOUS
The flavours in this recipe sound delicious! I’m a vegetarian and wondering whether I could substitute tofu for chicken or would you suggest anything else? Thanks!
Hi Deborah,
You could try tofu, but I think I would go with tempeh.
Hi Deborah! I’ve made this with veggie sausage spicy or mild Italian flavour. The Beyond Sausage is amazing in this!
I thought this would be ok, it was incredible
Thank you!
I am giving this five stars because it’s easy and looks delicious. I am have just popped mine in the oven about a half an hour ago. It is cooking quite fast at 400 degrees though so I turned it down to 350. I didn’t have white wine so marinated the thighs for a while in Bragg’s Olive Oil Vinegrette and sprinkled a bit of Volcanic Lemon Juice from Italy over everything. I can’t wait to try it!! : )
* I have just- not “I am have”
Thanks Michele, Hope you enjoyed it! -Bill
Both my wife and I enjoyed this very much. Excellent seasoning! I had just skinless boneless thighs, but no problem with dryness since I poured the chopped tomatoes and juice over each piece. Also added some chopped chard and kale leaves to the mix. Served it over pasta. I’m printing this one to keep repeating.
Hi Bryan,
Glad you enjoyed the recipe! I have made it with skinless, boneless thighs as well and found they work fine. Nice touch adding the chopped chard and kale! -Bill
I have made this recipe several times especially for company. Everyone loves it. It’s easy and flavorful! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks MaryAnne, I love recipes that are a sure thing. This is one of them! -Bill
I made this last night and it was delicious. It’s a definite repeat.
Glad you liked it Arleen! It is one of our most popular recipes on the site and one I often make for my family. – Bill
This looks wonderful! I have boneless, skinless thighs – can I follow the same baking instructions?
Hi Barbara, I have made this with boneless, skinless thighs as well. Might take a little less time, but use a meat thermometer to make sure the thighs are done. – Bill
This is an amazing recipe! It is so easy and would be great for company as you can prepare most of it ahead. It is our new favorite dinner recipe. It reheats well as a left over too. While the recipe calls for 1hr 15 min, I have found that 1 hour is plenty in my oven.
Hi Pat, One of my favorite dinner recipes as well. Thanks for the comment!
Such a nice recipe ! I didn’t have tomato diced so I just used tomato sauce .. still came out so delicious .. and no fennel seeds so I cut up pieces of fennel and added some kale as mentioned above !
It is a very forgiving recipe and can be changed to your wishes or to what ingredients you have.
Does this freeze well? How would you recommend freezing it?
I haven’t tried freezing it, but my experience with similar foods is that yes, it would freeze well.
Bill
4 servings. Is that 527 calories per serving?
Hi Susan, Yes, that is per serving.
Have this in the oven right now! Smells great. I didn’t have fennel and I used grape tomatoes instead of canned and added mushrooms since I had them, and some fresh rosemary. Wish I had had fennel on hand. Can’t wait until it’s out of the oven!
The great thing about the Mediterranean Diet is that it is very versatile. Hope your version was delicious!
Will the chicken come out dry if I substitute chicken thighs with chicken breasts??
It will definitely be drier because of the difference in fat content. You would probably want to marinade the chicken breasts first.
This was beyond delicious! That hint of fennel gave it such a boost.
My go to recipe . We just love it. Great for crowds or two with leftovers. Works well with more chicken for more people. So easy pleasy and delish
I have this in the oven now :) Smells delish!!
Fabulous! Couldn’t be easier and the results were perfect by following the recipe as written. Thanks for a keeper.
My family loved this recipe. It was very flavorful. Restaurant quality. My husband’s mouth was watering with every bite.
Thank you! Glad your husband enjoyed it.
Did you brown the thighs first?
You can brown the thighs first, but we didn’t do it for this version partly because we wanted to create a quick, one pan version.
Do you cover with foil or leave open ?
Leave open!
Do you drain the tomatoes?
I didn’t drain the tomatoes because there wasn’t a lot of liquid in the can. If it looks like there’s a lot of liquid and it’s going to be watery, you can drain some of it.
What would you suggest marinading chicken breasts in?