This Mediterranean skillet chicken is full of delicious Mediterranean flavors, including Za’atar spice blend, oregano, caramelized red onions, lemon and feta cheese! It’s delicious and fairly easy to put together.
I love to serve this dish alongside a simple Mediterranean salad with greens, cucumber, red onion, tomato, olives if you have them and feta cheese. It would also be great with some lemony rice, (I have an instant pot lemony rice recipe here) or couscous, or hummus and pita bread.
You could also slice this chicken up and put it in a gyro and that would taste delicious, or slice it up and use it in a sandwich or salad. It’s a great meat to repurpose in other dishes, so if you have leftovers you can use them in many different ways.
This dish gets cooked mostly in a skillet, I prefer an oven proof skillet or cast iron skillet for ease of sliding it into the oven to finish cooking the chicken. However, if you don’t have an oven proof skillet, you can transfer it onto a baking sheet or finish the cooking on the stovetop, I will add directions on how to do that in the recipe instructions below.
What you need to make Mediterranean skillet chicken:
Serves 2 adults
- 2 medium/large chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Za’atar spice blend
- 1/2 teaspoon salt – plus more to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoons salted butter
- 1/2 of a red onion – diced
- 1 small lemon or half of a large lemon – juice or you can add 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- In a large skillet, add olive oil and heat to medium/high heat.
- Season chicken breast on the tops only with Za’atar spice blend, salt, black pepper and dried oregano. We are only seasoning the tops because we don’t want to scorch the herbs.
- Place chicken breast in the skillet, unseasoned side down.
- Cook for 8-10 minutes, reducing heat if the chicken starts to over brown.
- Flip chicken over and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Add butter, red onion and squeeze lemon over onions and chicken.
- Sauté onions around the chicken for about 5 additional minutes, adjust the heat if onions start to over cook.
- Flip chicken back over to the spiced side, pile the red onions on the tops of the chicken.
- Place in oven and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes or until internal temperature is 165 F.. The time will vary depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts. If they are thin you may only need 5 minutes in the oven, if they are thick you may need 20 minutes.
- *if you don’t have an oven proof skillet or don’t want to transfer this into an oven you can finish cooking on stove top until internal temperature is 165 F.
- Remove chicken from oven with an oven mitt, it’s a totally common mistake to grab the handle without one so be careful.
- Once removed, sprinkle feta crumbles or cubes over chicken.
- Let chicken rest for 5 minutes so juices can recirculate and enjoy.
Mediterranean Skillet Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 medium/large chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Za’atar spice blend
- 1/2 teaspoon salt – plus more to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoons salted butter
- 1/2 of a red onion – diced
- 1 small lemon or half a large lemon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- In a large skillet, add olive oil and heat to medium/high heat.
- Season chicken breast on the tops only with Za’atar spice blend, salt, black pepper and dried oregano. We are only seasoning the tops because we don’t want to scorch the herbs.
- Place chicken breast in the skillet, unseasoned side down.
- Cook for 8-10 minutes, reducing heat if the chicken starts to over brown.
- Flip chicken over and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Add butter, red onion and squeeze lemon over onions and chicken.
- Sauté onions around the chicken for about 5 additional minutes, adjust the heat if onions start to over cook.
- Flip chicken back over to the spiced side, pile the red onions on the tops of the chicken.
- Place in oven and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes or until internal temperature is 165 F.. The time will vary depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts. If they are thin you may only need 5 minutes in the oven, if they are thick you may need 20 minutes.
- *if you don’t have an oven proof skillet or don’t want to transfer this into an oven you can finish cooking on stove top until internal temperature is 165 F.
- Remove chicken from oven with an oven mitt, it’s a totally common mistake to grab the handle without one so be careful.
- Once removed, sprinkle feta crumbles or cubes over chicken.
- Let chicken rest for 5 minutes so juices can recirculate and enjoy.