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Mediterranean Chicken Tray Bake with Feta, Olives and Tomato
Mediterranean Chicken Tray Bake with Feta, Olives and Tomato is exactly the sort of dinner I reach for when I want something healthy, colourful, and packed with flavour without spending hours in the kitchen. Tender chicken bakes alongside potatoes, tomatoes, olives, garlic, and feta until everything caramelises together into one glorious tray of Mediterranean comfort. It’s simple enough for a weeknight, but special enough to serve when friends come over.
Mediterranean Chicken with Feta, Olives and Tomato
Chicken traybake with feta, olives, and tomato is one of my easiest weeknight winners. I roast everything together in one pan – chicken breast, cherry tomatoes, shallots, garlic, and herbs – then crumble over feta and scatter olives for a salty, savoury finish. The juices create their own sauce, the edges go golden, and dinner practically cooks itself. It’s simple, flavour-packed, and perfect with crusty bread or a side of rice to soak it all up.
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade
- 500g chicken breast fillets
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
Traybake
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- Pinch of sea salt
- 250g potatoes, diced
- 100g shallots, tops and bottoms sliced off
- 6 cloves garlic
- 4 tomatoes, quartered
- 75g black olives
- 100g feta cheese, diced or crumbled
- 4 slices of preserved lemon
- Black pepper, to taste
Instructions
Chicken Marinade
- Combine the olive oil, smoked paprika, dried oregano, garlic powder, salt, and lemon juice in a bowl. Add the chicken breast fillets and toss to coat. Marinade for at least 1 hour.
Traybake
- Preheat oven to 180°C (fan) or 200°C (conventional). Line a sheet pan or baking tray with baking paper.
- Toss the diced potatoes, shallots, and garlic cloves through the olive oil, smoked paprika, and a pinch of sea salt. Transfer to the prepared tray and bake in the hot oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove the tray from the oven and add the marinated chicken, tomatoes, olives, feta cheese, and preserved lemon. Season with a small amount of sea salt and black pepper.
- Return to the oven and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
Notes
- This is a brilliant one-tray dinner that does most of the work itself. Everything goes in the same pan and you end up with tender chicken, crispy potatoes, and a sauce that forms all on its own from the tomatoes and feta.
- Marinating the chicken for at least an hour makes a real difference to the flavour and helps keep the breast meat juicy during the longer cook time. Overnight in the fridge is even better.
- Chicken breast can dry out if overcooked. Check it at the 25 minute mark by piercing the thickest part. The juices should run clear.
- Preserved lemon is a North African staple that adds a deep, intensely salty citrus flavour. You only need the rind, not the flesh. If you can't find it, a few strips of fresh lemon zest work as a substitute, though the flavour won't be quite as complex.
- Shallots roast down beautifully and become sweet and jammy in the oven. Leave them whole or halved so they hold their shape during the long cook.
- Dice the potatoes into small, even pieces so they cook through properly in the first 30 minutes before the chicken goes in.
- I use this large sheet pan for traybakes. It's big enough to spread everything out in a single layer, which is key to getting golden edges rather than steaming.
- Feta softens and becomes creamy as it bakes, almost melting into the tomatoes and pan juices to create a loose, salty sauce. Use a good quality Greek feta for the best result.
- Black olives add a briny depth that works beautifully with the preserved lemon and feta. Kalamata olives are particularly good here.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven at 180°C for 15-20 minutes, or until heated through.
- Not suitable for freezing as the feta and tomatoes don't hold up well after defrosting.
What I Cook With
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Amount Per Serving: Calories: 469Total Fat: 23.3gSaturated Fat: 7.5gCholesterol: 134mgSodium: 800mgCarbohydrates: 22.2gFiber: 3.6gSugar: 5.1gProtein: 42.9g
Mediterranean Chicken & Why I Love a Good Tray Bake
There are few things more satisfying than tossing everything into one tray, sliding it into the oven, and walking away until the scent of dinner wafts through the house. My Chicken Tray bake with Feta, Olives and Tomato is one of those throw-it-together dinners that somehow tastes like you put in a lot more effort than you did. It came together the way most of my favourite recipes do – by chance. I had leftover feta, olives and tomatoes from the night before when I made homemade pizza. I could have made another pizza, but honestly, I just didn’t have it in me. So instead, I chopped up some shallots and potatoes, added chicken and a generous scatter of garlic, then chucked the whole lot in the oven.
What came out was something better than expected. The feta had browned at the edges, the olives softened and briny, and the tomatoes had burst into sweet, sticky pockets of flavour. All of it melded together with the chicken juices and olive oil to make something downright delicious. What I really love about this tray bake is the way the feta crisps around the edges, almost like a little baked cheese surprise. I love that. It’s comforting without being heavy, and flavourful without being fussy. And when you’re dealing with health stuff or just feeling a bit run down, dinners like this are a godsend.
I’ve been leaning hard into easy dinners lately. Back in March, I caught Covid-19 and, well, my body has not bounced back the way I thought it would. Turns out, your body can hang onto the chaos long after the virus has gone. It’s been a slow road, and honestly, cooking has taken a bit of a backseat. But meals like this Chicken Tray bake with Feta, Olives and Tomato make it easier to stay nourished without pushing myself too hard. I can prep everything in less than ten minutes, chuck it in the oven, and still feel like I’m feeding myself something beautiful and homemade. Which is all I want at the end of the day.
Baked Feta and Pizza Night Leftovers
This whole dinner really started because I didn’t want to waste leftover toppings from the night before. I make a pretty mean homemade pizza, if I do say so myself. My go-to toppings are mozzarella, feta, pepperoni, olives and a very generous layer of tomato pizza sauce. It’s the kind of pizza that hits all the salty, tangy, cheesy notes you want, and then some. So the next day, with bits and bobs left in the fridge and no energy to make another pizza, the tray bake was born. It felt like a bit of a shortcut but in the best way possible.
The thing about feta is, it turns magical in the oven. Honestly, baked feta is criminally underrated. The way it crisps and caramelises around the edges, while staying creamy in the middle, is just beautiful. Add olives and tomatoes to the mix and suddenly you’re halfway to Greece without leaving your kitchen. It’s rich, but not in a heavy way. It just tastes warm and full of life. Exactly what I needed on a weeknight when I felt like I was running on empty.
And shallots! Don’t underestimate the power of a good shallot. When they roast, they turn jammy and sweet and bring everything together in a way that’s quietly impressive. I’ve tried this with red onions too, and they work just fine, but shallots give it a little extra magic. It’s the kind of dish where nothing feels overthought, but every element earns its place. A happy accident, really. One that now features regularly on the dinner rotation.
A Dinner That Looks After You
When life feels a bit too loud or heavy, this kind of recipe is like a hug from the oven. Lately, with my health being a bit unpredictable, I’ve had to scale things right back in the kitchen. I used to love complex recipes and long afternoons cooking, but I just haven’t had that kind of energy since March. That’s why tray bakes are having their moment in our house. They let me feel like I’m still cooking, still caring for myself, without needing to stand over a stove for an hour.
This Chicken Tray bake with Feta, Olives and Tomato doesn’t require any fancy techniques. It’s not cheffy. It’s just honest, easy food that makes you feel looked after. I do recommend marinating the chicken if you have time, but even that isn’t essential. It’s the kind of meal that forgives you for being tired. And in that way, it’s been a bit of a lifeline. Especially when paired with a simple green salad or some crusty bread if you’re feeding a few mouths.
If you’re cooking for more than two, just double the quantities and spread everything across two trays. I’ve done this and it works perfectly – just remember to swap the trays around halfway through cooking. The top tray always gets that little bit more caramelisation, and you want everyone to get the good bits. Trust me. Even Maia, my cat, seems to hover a bit closer to the kitchen when this one’s in the oven. That’s saying something.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use chicken thighs instead of breast? Yes, and they’re arguably the better choice for a traybake because they’re more forgiving in the oven and stay juicier over a longer cook time. Bone-in thighs will need an extra ten to fifteen minutes. Boneless thighs cook in roughly the same time as breast.
Do I need to marinate for a full hour? At minimum, yes. One hour gives the smoked paprika, garlic, and lemon juice enough time to penetrate the chicken and do their work. If you have more time, marinating overnight in the fridge gives you a noticeably more flavourful result. Less than an hour and the marinade is mostly sitting on the surface rather than flavouring the meat itself.
Can I swap the preserved lemon for fresh? They’re quite different ingredients so the result will be different rather than equivalent. Preserved lemon has a deep, salty, fermented citrus flavour that fresh lemon doesn’t replicate. If you can’t find it, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a little extra salt added at the end is a reasonable workaround, but preserved lemon is worth seeking out at a deli or Middle Eastern grocer if you can.
Ingredient breakdown
Chicken breast fillets
Marinated for a full hour before they go anywhere near the oven, which gives the smoked paprika, garlic, lemon juice, and salt time to penetrate the meat rather than just coating the surface. Chicken breast is leaner than thigh and benefits from the marinade both for flavour and to keep it from drying out over the thirty minutes it spends in the oven alongside the other ingredients. If you’d prefer something more forgiving, chicken thighs work just as well and stay juicier with even less effort.
Olive oil
Used in both the marinade and the traybake, doing different jobs each time. In the marinade it carries the spices and helps them adhere to the chicken. In the traybake it coats the potatoes, shallots, and garlic and helps them roast rather than steam, developing golden edges and caramelised flavour over the first thirty minutes before the chicken goes in.
Smoked paprika
Also used in both the marinade and the traybake, which means the smoky, slightly sweet flavour runs through the whole dish rather than just sitting on the chicken. It gives everything a warm, cohesive colour and a depth that sweet paprika alone wouldn’t provide.
Garlic powder and dried oregano
Both go into the chicken marinade alongside the smoked paprika. Garlic powder distributes more evenly through a marinade than fresh garlic and gives the chicken a consistent flavour all the way through. Dried oregano adds a Mediterranean herbal note that ties the marinade to the Greek-influenced ingredients in the traybake.
Lemon juice
In the marinade, the lemon juice does two things. It adds brightness and a citrus flavour to the chicken, and the mild acidity helps tenderise the surface of the meat slightly during the marinating time. It works with the preserved lemon later in the dish to bring a layered citrus flavour to the finished traybake.
Potatoes
Diced and tossed through olive oil, smoked paprika, and salt before they go into the oven for the first thirty minutes without the chicken. That head start is important because potatoes take longer to cook than the chicken needs, and starting them first means everything finishes at the same time rather than the chicken being overcooked while the potatoes catch up.
Shallots
Whole shallots with the tops and bottoms sliced off, which means they roast alongside the potatoes and become sweet and soft and slightly caramelised by the time the chicken goes in. Shallots have a more delicate, sweeter flavour than brown onion and suit this kind of Mediterranean traybake particularly well.
Garlic cloves
Six whole cloves roasted in their skins alongside the potatoes and shallots, which means by the time the dish is done they’re sweet, soft, and mellow rather than sharp. Squeeze them out of their skins at the table or mix them through the dish before serving for an extra layer of roasted garlic flavour.
Tomatoes
Quartered and added with the chicken for the second thirty minutes, which is long enough for them to soften, collapse slightly, and release their juices into the pan without completely disappearing. They add freshness, acidity, and moisture that balances the richness of the feta and preserved lemon.
Black olives
Added with the chicken and the other toppings for the second half of the cook. They add a briny, savoury depth that runs through the dish and suits the Mediterranean flavour profile of the whole traybake. Kalamata olives are the best choice here if you have them.
Feta cheese
Diced or crumbled over the top before the tray goes back into the oven, where it softens and warms through without completely melting. It adds a salty, creamy contrast to the roasted vegetables and chicken and is one of the defining flavours of the finished dish.
Preserved lemon
Four slices added with the chicken and toppings for the second half of the cook. Preserved lemon has a deep, salty, intensely citrusy flavour that is quite different from fresh lemon and adds a complexity to the finished dish that nothing else replicates in quite the same way. Find it at a deli, Middle Eastern grocer, or the condiments aisle of a well-stocked supermarket. It’s worth having in the fridge because it keeps for months and transforms a simple traybake like this one completely.
Sea salt and black pepper
Used at two points: a pinch goes on the potatoes before the first roast, and then a small amount goes over everything when the chicken and toppings are added. Season carefully at the second stage because the feta, olives, and preserved lemon all bring significant saltiness to the dish.
Serve this with
- A dollop of tzatziki or garlic yoghurt sauce on the side for extra creaminess.
- Warm pita bread or flatbreads for scooping up the roasted tomatoes and pan juices.
- A simple rocket and parmesan salad to cut through the richness of the feta and olive oil.
