A big pan of baked chicken and veggies makes for a delicious weeknight dinner. And this recipe is so good you’ll be making it for all your guests too!
What could be better than creating a delicious meal in just one dish? If you’re like me and the dishes never seem to end, recipes like that can be a real life-saver especially in the middle of the week.
One of my favorite one-dish meals is baked chicken with lots of tomatoes, chilies, and basil. Add some bread to soak up the tomato and chicken juices and you’re good to go. It’s not only an easy and healthy meal, it’s also one of the most delicious things that I cook.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
Video: How To Make A One Pan Chicken Dinner
Perfect Dish For Company
Even though this chicken recipe is pretty simple, it works great for when you have company over. Put everything together and throw it in the oven and you get to actually visit with your guests instead of watching over pans in the kitchen.
Tons of flavor. Juicy chicken. A tiny bit of heat from red chilies. The fresh flavor of basil tying it altogether. Plus, the red of the tomatoes and green from the fresh basil look very appetizing!
How To Make Easy Baked Chicken With Tomatoes
While the oven preheats, arrange the skinless, bone-in chicken thighs in a single layer in the dish you’ll be baking in. I use my 12″ cast iron skillet. You can use boneless chicken thighs or boneless skinless chicken breasts if you prefer, but you’ll reduce the baking time. It will be about 20-25 minutes, or until chicken is 165°F internally.
Topple in the grape or cherry tomatoes and sprinkle in the chili slices and 15 large basil leaves. (The chilies and basil will get blackened during the bake, that’s okay.) Drizzle everything with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake until chicken is cooked through to 165°F, 45 minutes to an hour, and then add some more fresh basil leaves on top to serve. That’s it, one pan in the oven and you’re done!
Try serving this over pasta with a nice side salad for a complete meal.
More One Dish Recipes
I have a whole category of One-Dish Dinners to make your life easier.
Podcast Episode About Making Baked Chicken With Tomatoes, Basil, And Red Chilies
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this chicken, along with some other great tips, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
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Baked Chicken with Tomatoes Recipe
- Prep Time: 6 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 51 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
There’s nothing as easy as a big pan of baked chicken and veggies for a delicious weeknight dinner. And this recipe is so good you’ll be making it for all your guests too! If using boneless chicken thighs instead of the bone-in ones called for in the recipe, reduce the cooking time from 45 to 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- 3.5 lbs. skinless bone-in chicken thighs (about 8)*
- 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
- 1–2 red chilies, sliced (don’t even bother to remove the seeds)
- 15 large basil leaves (torn up a bit), plus 10-12 smaller ones for garnish
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Arrange chicken pieces in a single layer in a large rimmed pan or baking dish (I use my 12″ cast iron skillet). Topple in the tomatoes. Scatter everything with the chili slices and the 15 large basil leaves. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Bake until chicken is cooked through, about 45 minutes to an hour. The chilies and basil leaves will be blackened. But they taste good, don’t worry.
- Scatter the remaining 10-12 basil leaves over top before serving.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
This post originally appeared in April 2014 and was revised and republished in September 2023.
Can you use chicken breasts?
Yes, Crystal, you can use boneless skinless chicken breasts. You just reduce the cooking time. It will be about 20-25 minutes, or until chicken is 165°F internally. In that time, the tomatoes might not have cooked enough. If you want them darker, you can put the broiler on over top for a few minutes. Enjoy!
Fresno chillies are red Japeleno peppers, anyone else having a hard time finding them? I’m going to try with a Japeleno this time. I hae made this several times and i swear it comes out a little different each time. Either to runny, not runny at all, to spicy or not spice at all…I still love the tomato and basil flavors.
Nice recipe & easy to make. Unfortunately, I found it to be pretty flavorless. Too bad.
Thank you for your feedback. I find this dish to be incredibly flavorful though. All the basil (blackened and then fresh leaves at the end) and hot chilies really flavor the chicken and are amazing together.
Love this recipe!! But last couple of times I’ve made it, it’s gotten really watery and juicy. How do I keep it more on the drier side? Thank you!
Kelsie, I wonder if the chicken you’re using has more liquid in it. That is sometimes an issue. You could try using a rack in your pan. That way the chicken, tomatoes, basil and chilies would be up above any liquid that comes out.
Can I cook this in a convection oven? Will I need to adjust the temperature. I am having a lot of people for a holiday dinner and my oven will need to be set at 350 degrees. I have a convection oven that will hold 2 – 9 x 13 baking dishes. It would be great if I can bake them in the convection oven and use my standard oven for the other items.
Thanks – Judy
Judy, I’ve never done it before so I don’t know for certain. But if you adjust the recipe the way you usually do for a convection oven, it should work fine.
Hi Christine, This looks amazing. I would like to serve this to guests at Christmas. We will have lots of food, but this would be one of the main courses. To serve about 16 people if I put two 9×13 pans in the oven, would i bake it for longer than 45 minutes? And would you double or triple the recipe?
Thanks :)
Laura, This is a great idea for Christmas…the colors are perfect! If you’re having other main courses and several sides, you probably only need 1 chicken thigh per person so doubling it and making 16 instead of 8 should work. Yes, use two pans with 8 chicken pieces in each but you do not have to alter the cooking time. Happy Holidays!
This is delicious! Have made it twice with rave reviews!
Lyn, This is seriously one of our favorite dinners. We have it soooo often. Glad you guys like it too!
Are the red chillies are the same as Fresno chillies?
I think they’re different actually. I think of these as Thai red chiles. They look a lot like jalapenos but are red. Any small pepper with some heat will work though.
Should the dish be covered ?
James, No. Cook it uncovered. You don’t want the chicken to steam but to roast. The basil leaves will blacken but still taste good. And you add more unblackened fresh basil before serving so you get that freshness back.
This is in the oven for dinner tonight from my freezer. I can’t WAIT to try it. I’m a sucker for anything with heat AND basil. Thinking I’ll serve it with some pasta- you can’t go wrong with noodles and basil.
So excited that you made it, Katie. How did it turn out from the freezer?