Spiced Chicken with Olives and Lemon is a super healthy and quick weeknight meal full of flavor that everyone will love. It’s sweet from the caramelized onions, tangy from the lemon juice, and it gets a brine punch from the olives. Plus, it’s all made in one pan so clean up is a breeze!
Weeknights can get crazy hectic in our house, and sometimes it’s a struggle to get dinner on the table. These are the times I love having one-pan dinners that can be whipped up in no time. Spiced Chicken with Olives and Lemons is exactly what I’m looking for on a busy weeknight. The bonus? Little to no clean up which is my kind of recipe.Â
Why I Love Spiced Chicken with Olives and Lemon:
1. Quick and Easy Preparation: Spiced Chicken with Olives and Lemon is an easy one-pan meal with just a handful of ingredients. You can have this flavorful chicken dish on your dinner table in no time, making it perfect for busy weeknights.
2. Healthy and Balanced: Not only is this dish packed with taste, but it’s also a wholesome choice. Chicken provides lean protein, olives offer healthy fats, and lemon adds a refreshing zing, making it a balanced meal.
3. Versatility: Serve this spiced chicken with olive and lemon alongside your favorite grains, such as rice, quinoa, or couscous, or pair it with a fresh salad for a well-rounded dinner.
4. Vibrant Mediterranean Flavors: This recipe combines a medley of Mediterranean ingredients, including aromatic spices, citrusy lemon, and briny olives, creating a harmonious and palate-pleasing dish.
The Ingredients
- Chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
- Castelvetrano olives
- Lemons
- Onion
- Low-sodium chicken broth
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Salt
- Paprika
- Ground cumin
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground ginger
How to Make Spiced Chicken with Olives and Lemon
1. Sauté Onions: Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat, add onion and garlic, sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt and sauté until golden, about 4-5 minutes.Â
2. Lemon and Spices: Add the juice of one lemon and all remaining spices. Stir 1 minute until fragrant. Add broth and reserved olive juice and bring to boil.Â
3. Add Chicken: Sprinkle chicken with remaining 1/2 tsp salt and add to skillet. Add the remaining lemon wedges and the olives. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 25-35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through, turning occasionally. Transfer chicken to platter and serve.
Substitutions and Additions
- Chicken: If you prefer, you can use boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts.
- Olives: While green olives are traditionally used, you can experiment with black olives or even stuffed olives for a unique twist.
- Ground Cumin: If you don’t have ground cumin, you can substitute it with ground coriander for a different but equally delicious flavor profile.
- Paprika: Smoked paprika can be used instead of regular paprika to add a smoky dimension to the dish.
- Fresh Lemon: If you don’t have fresh lemons, you can use bottled lemon juice in a pinch, but fresh lemon wedges will always add an extra touch.
More Flavorful Chicken Recipes
- Sweet and Spiced Chicken
- One Pot Spiced Chicken with Toasted Couscous
- Moroccan Chicken
- Air Fryer Preserved Lemon Chicken
- Roast Chicken with Caramelized Lemons, Cherry Tomatoes and Olives
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see it! Tag @weelicious on social media. And tell me what you think of the olives if this is your first time trying them!
Photos by Gerry Speirs
Spiced Chicken with Olives and Lemon
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt, divided
- 2 lemons (1 cut into 8 wedges and deseeded and one juiced)
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 15 ounce can low-sodium chicken broth
- 4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
- 1 10 ounce jar Castelvetrano olives, pitted and reserving all the juice
Instructions
- Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat, add onion and garlic, sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt and saute until golden, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add the juice of one lemon and next 5 ingredients; stir 1 minute. Add broth and reserved olive juice and bring to boil.Â
- Sprinkle chicken with remaining 1/2 tsp salt add to skillet. Add the remaining 8 lemon wedges and olives. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 25-35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through, turning occasionally. Transfer chicken to platter and serve.
Wow wow wow! This quick dinner was a huge hit with the whole fam! My 2 and 4 year old and hubby gobbled it up (they already love castlevetrano olives thanks to Weelicious’s skillet chicken breast, olives and tomatoes that I started making 2 years ago). I added some dried apricots and served over TJ’s rice medley for some healthy grains (also super quick). Thank you for continuing to deliver not only healthy but super tasty recipes for my whole family to enjoy!!!!
This was delicious and so easy.
I hope you love it!
Looks fabulous! Can’t wait to try!
Just ate dinner and I can tell that the dish has some great flavors but it was so bitter from being cooked with the lemon wedges that it was inedible. Did I misread the recipe or is there a trick for this? I would definitely make it again, but would not cook with the lemon wedges in it.
The recipe has been updated. Simmer 25-35 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through!
Is something supposed to happen between simmering for 10 minutes and cooking it for 25 minutes until the chicken is done? I’m making it now and it smells great. Will just keep checking it to see when the chicken is done.
I found the Castelvetrano olives in the olive bar at my regular grocery store. Just be sure to get some juice too. They’re much less “olive-y” then the pimento stuffed, but as an olive lover I would try it with whatever you can get!
oops I meant pimento stuffed.
You could use any olives you love, they will just have a different flavor 🙂
Has anyone tried this with pamento stuffed olives?? can’t find the other ones at my regular grocery store…