Italian Chicken Breasts

A Mediterranean-inspired rub flavors these baked Italian Chicken Breasts. Roasted garlic and cherry tomatoes compliment this easy sheet pan dish.

What Seasonings Do I Use For Italian Chicken?

For the recipe below, I use dried oregano, rosemary, and thyme along with some garlic powder. And of course, salt and pepper. It’s nice to serve with fresh parsley for some freshness and color, but that’s optional.

You could alternatively use a store-bought Italian seasoning, or you can use a homemade Italian seasoning like this. Another option, if you want to really wow everyone everywhere, is to use some homemade Italian Sausage Seasoning. It has all the herbs and seasonings of a typical Italian seasoning, plus some ingredients typical of Italian sausages (like fennel seed) making everything you use it on taste a bit like sausage.

Some Italian chicken breast recipes just have you use Italian salad dressing, and you could do that, but I think the results and flavor are better with the olive oil and herb mixture that I’ve done in the recipe below.

Finally, if you love bold flavors, I suggest adding a little bit of tapenade to the chicken right before serving, or use it as a dip. Either a classic black olive tapenade or a sun-dried tomato tapenade will work here.

How To Make Italian Chicken Breasts

Just like the recipe for Pesto Chicken Breasts, I pound the chicken breasts to between 3/4-inch to 1-inch thickness so that the breasts cook evenly ensuring juicy, tender chicken. The extra effort and time are completely worth it.

I rub olive oil over the chicken breasts which keeps the seasoning in place, helps to create some color during cooking, and tastes great with the seasoning.

Make sure to save some of the oil and herb seasoning to toss with the tomatoes and garlic before you arrange them around the chicken on the baking sheet.

Allowing the chicken to sit for about 5 minutes before serving will ensure that the juices have the opportunity to settle back into the meat.

Make It A Meal

Sprinkle shredded Parmesan cheese and chopped fresh parsley over the chicken and serve with a simple green salad for a complete meal.

Serving the Italian baked chicken breast over polenta is also a delicious option. I use the How to Make Grits recipe and stir in 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese right before serving. Because as you will learn from the post, polenta is a dish and not an ingredient.

This post originally appeared in December 2019 and was revised and republished in June 2023.