This quick and easy chicken traybake is all mixed together in one dish with a delicious Mediterranean inspired dressing. Vibrant chunky vegetables and juicy chicken thighs make up the base of this dish, but it's easy to adapt.
We love a traybake. Just take all of your favourite ingredients, mix them together and pop them in the oven for an easy weeknight meal that the whole family will love.
And you can make something different every time! This is our favourite version, but it's easy to adapt too.
Love Tray Bakes? Why not taka look at our easy Halloumi Tray Bake with Gnocchi, delicious Sticky Chicken Tray Bake or our amazing Greek Meatball Tray Bake?
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Why You Will Love It
- Easy to adapt
- A great fridge raid meal to reduce food waste
- The leftovers taste great the next day in a sandwich
Step by Step Instructions
One: Put the chicken in a baking tray with the chopped vegetables.
Two: Put the olive oil, lemon juice and zest, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and thyme in a bowl and mix well.
Three: Pour over the marinade and mix well.
Four: Put in a preheated oven at 190°C/375°F/Gas 5 for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
What Vegetables to Use?
I love a dish that is easy to adapt and use whatever is on hand, and this traybake is exactly that. It's a great fridge raid meal and one of our favourite ways to reduce food waste.
Whatever chunky vegetables you have in the fridge that are starting to look a bit sad, then add them to your traybake. We went with bell peppers, tomatoes, shallot and potatoes to keep it simple. But you could add aubergine and courgette if you wanted a little more colour and flavour.
Marinade
You have lots of opportunity for variety here too, and you could always use your favourite marinade or glaze. Perhaps you want a BBQ sauce vibe, or maybe sweet chilli. Feel free to get creative or use our easy Mediterranean inspired marinade.
This really couldn't be any easier. We just mixed together a good glug of good quality olive oil, the juice and zest of a lemon, plenty of garlic, salt, pepper and then some oregano and thyme to give it those Greek flavours.
What to Top it With
We stuck with the Mediterranean flavours and topped it with some crumbled feta and basil leaves. Next time I think I will add some olives too and maybe some sun-dried tomatoes. ALL the flavour!
Parmesan or goats cheese would be nice on top of this.
Serving Suggestions
We added potatoes to this dish to make in an all-in-one kind of meal, so you don't really need to add anything to it. However, a big green salad or our Beetroot and Goats Cheese salad will go well with it. Maybe even some chunky garlic bread with it.
How to Use Leftovers
I mean, if you have leftovers then well done you! We always manage to eat it all. But if you do, then shed up the chicken, mix it with the vegetables and then have it in a sandwich the next day. You could even stir it into some pasta for a really easy meal.
Why not try batch cooking this (without the potatoes) and shredding the chicken, mixing it together and then freezing in portions to add to different meals.
Extra Tips
- Try to use the best quality olive oil that you and get, as you really can taste the difference.
- Add a touch of sweetness to the marinade with some balsamic vinegar.
- Feel free to use your favourite marinade or glaze for this recipe. You could do Italian or Mexican flavours and make it a different way each time.
- Make sure the potatoes are chopped into fairly small chunks, otherwise they won't cook in time.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you want to make this a really lean and protein packed dish, then you could use chunks or even whole chicken breast (although cooking times will vary). However we used chicken thighs because they are super juicy and don't dry out like chicken breasts can. Using chicken thighs also make this a really budget friendly meal.
We browned the chicken for a few minutes each side before it went in the oven and whilst this does add to the prep time, it's totally worth it for the crispy skin and it locks in some of the flavour.
More Chicken Recipes
If you’ve tried this easy chicken traybake recipe, let us know how you got on in the comments below.
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Recipe
Easy Chicken Tray Bake
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken thighs
- 1 Green bell pepper - diced
- 6 Cherry tomatoes - halved
- 1 Red bell pepper - diced
- 4 Shallots - diced
- 1 Potato - cut in to small chunks
- 2 tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 Lemon - juice and zest only
- 4 Garlic clove - crushed
- 1 pinch Sea salt and ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon Thyme
- 40 g (0.33 cups) Feta - crumbled
- Fresh basil - (to serve)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 190°C/170°C(fan)/375°F/Gas 5.
- Put 4 Chicken thighs in a baking tray with 1 Green bell pepper, 6 Cherry tomatoes, 1 Red bell pepper, 4 Shallots and 1 Potato.
- Put 2 tablespoon Olive oil, juice and zest of 1 Lemon, 4 Garlic clove, 1 pinch Sea salt and ground black pepper, 1 tablespoon Dried oregano and 1 tablespoon Thyme in a bowl and mix well.
- Pour the marinade over the chicken and vegetables and mix well.
- Put into the oven for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Serve topped with Fresh basil and 40 g Feta (crumbled).
Recipe Tips
- Try to use the best quality olive oil that you and get, as you really can taste the difference.
- Add a touch of sweetness to the marinade with some balsamic vinegar.
- Feel free to use your favourite marinade or glaze for this recipe. You could do Italian or Mexican flavours and make it a different way each time.
- Make sure the potatoes are chopped in to fairly small chunks, otherwise they won't cook in time.
Nutritional Information
The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
As all appliances vary, cooking times are a guide. Please note that by changing the serving size, the cooking time may also need to be altered.
Jenn says
I"m all in favor of making one dish meals and this hearty dish is fabulous! Easy, tasty, and everyone loved it!
Colleen says
My family loved this for dinner and I loved the simplicity and easy cleanup. Thank you!