Chicken breasts and cauliflower all on one-pan, ready in under 30 minutes, and best of all, coated in delicious Italian flavors. It doesn’t get better than that!
One of the most popular recipes on this site is for Roasted Italian Cauliflower. It’s a really quick and easy dish that is beyond delicious.
That dish takes about 25 minutes to bake. One day it occurred to me that that’s about the same amount of time that it takes to cook chicken breasts. I tried baking the cauliflower on the same pan as some chicken breasts. Success! A new one-pan dinner was born.
What Is Italian Seasoning?
For this recipe, the cauliflower gets tossed in a tomato paste mixture with oregano and garlic powder. But for the chicken, we call for Italian seasoning. What is that?
Italian seasoning is a blend that you can find in most stores. The ingredients and ratios may vary slightly from brand to brand, but usually basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme are the stars with occasional additional ingredients. If you find you use it a lot, you may even want to consider making your own Italian Seasoning!
Making This Chicken And Cauliflower Dinner
To make this dish, cauliflower florets are tossed with a mixture of tomato paste, olive oil, Dijon mustard, oregano, and garlic. You spread them out around the outside of a large sheet pan and then plop some halved chicken breasts in the middle of the pan. Those guys get some olive oil and Italian seasoning.
It all goes into a 425ºF oven for 25 minutes. In that time, the chicken will cook through and the cauliflower will be al dente, just right. (If you like your cauliflower softer, you can take the chicken breasts off the pan, cover them in foil and let the cauliflower roast for 5 more minutes.
More Chicken Recipes
Chicken is one of my best go-to’s for weeknight meals and for special occasions too. I’m linking to some of my all time favorite chicken recipes below. And you should definitely also check out my entire chicken recipe collection of over 100 chicken recipes, all tested and perfected by me!
- Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Pasta
- Chicken Pasta Bake With Creamy Alfredo Sauce
- Salsa Chicken
- Air Fryer Chicken Fajitas
- Asiago Tortelloni Alfredo With Grilled Chicken
- Instant Pot Chicken Dinner With Rice and Carrots
I also highly recommend this Italian Cauliflower and Quinoa Bake for a protein-packed meatless option.
Podcast Episode About The Chicken And Cauliflower Recipe
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this dish, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Print
One-Dish Italian Chicken and Cauliflower Dinner
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Italian
DESCRIPTION
Chicken breasts and cauliflower all on one-pan, ready in under 30 minutes, and best of all, coated in delicious Italian flavors. It doesn’t get better than that!
Ingredients
- 5 tsp. tomato paste
- 5 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
- 1 tsp. dijon mustard
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
- 1 tsp. dried oregano leaves
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- Salt
- Black pepper
- One medium head of cauliflower
- 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 lb. total)
- 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425ºF.
- In a large bowl whisk together the tomato paste, 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, and Dijon mustard. Note that the olive oil will not fully incorporate. That’s ok. Add 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, the oregano, garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon coarse black pepper.
- Break a head of cauliflower into florets and add them to the tomato paste mixture. Stir using a spatula to make sure the sauce is getting onto the cauliflower, which should end up stained red. Use the spatula to transfer all the cauliflower and sauce to a large baking sheet, spreading the cauliflower around the outside of the pan.
- Cut the chicken breasts in half width-wise (to make more square plump pieces rather than long rectangles). Put them in the middle of the pan in a single layer. Brush them with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkled with the Italian seasoning, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of coarse black pepper.
- Roast until cauliflower is darkened in spots and is tender-crisp when stuck with a fork and the chicken is cooked through to 165ºF, about 25 minutes. Sprinkle everything with remaining Parmesan cheese to serve.
This post originally appeared in September 2016 and was revised and republished in August 2021.
Christine Pittman says
Nice! Thanks for sharing with us, Pat!
Keyta Nacy says
My husband wanted to know what kind of side you would go good with it?
Christine Pittman says
A nice salad or some sautéed green beans with this sounds good to me, Keyta! Really depends on personal preference though. Enjoy!
Lucia says
Spectacular dish! It will be one of our favorites. My husband was impressed on how tasty the cauliflower was!Â
★★★★★
Nairita Dutta says
Can you suggest a substitute for dijon mustard?
★★★★★
Christine Pittman says
Nairita, you can use any kind of mustard. Alternatively, you could leave it out. It’s mostly there for the tang so you could try a little bit of lemon juice, but I haven’t tested this.
Jacky says
Made this yesterday. Yummm! I used fresh garlic. Wondered about quantities of Italian seasoning but winged it. Will try the lemon zest addition next time. Added some olives at the end just before the parmesan.
I’ll be using the cauliflower part when my vegetarian friends visit.
Christine Pittman says
Sounds delicious, Jacky! Thanks for sharing your adjustments with us!
Kirsten says
Great recipe! We have eaters that don’t like tomatoes, so I substituted pesto, and worked really well!
Christine Pittman says
Thanks, Kirsten! Glad you found a delicious substitute!
CannedAm says
Made this tonight for the family. Won’t make it again.
Scott says
Do you have the nutritional information for this recipe?
Christine Pittman says
Scott, I don’t right now but I just moved it onto my list of recipes to revise with nutritional info. It’s a long list but I will get to it! And note that we are currently working on adding nutritionals to all of the recipes on the site. It should be done in a few months.
Lori says
Thank you so much for sharing this healthy and delicious recipe! Everyone is our family loved it! I also shared it on Facebook with our friends that we swap healthy recipes with!
JENNIFER BAYES says
That was SO so good! Cooked as is, and was fantastic!
Christine Pittman says
Jennifer, Thanks for letting me know. So happy you liked it!
foodinbooks says
Delish! Made last night. I ended up marinating boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the same mixture as for the cauliflower, and also added lemon zest and fresh rosemary. Came out wonderful and is making even better leftovers today. Thanks for the inspiration…….and very low carb too!
Christine Pittman says
So happy you liked it! Thanks for letting me know!
Emily B says
This was fantastic. I used my oven’s temperature probe to cook the chicken to 165, so simple. The cauliflower I left in at 400 for 10 minutes more. It was delicious and very easy. Thanks for a great recipe!
Christine Pittman says
You’re welcome, Emily. Thanks for letting me know!
Christina says
This was so, SO good! Very flavorful. Definitely a keeper. I’ve never made a recipe from your blog, but will definitely check it out. Thank you!
Christine Pittman says
Christina, So happy you liked it!
Sue McCarthy says
The ingredients don’t mention the Italian seasoning sprinkled on the chicken. Is this a separate ingredient or do you mean the mix made with tomato paste etc?Â
Dawn M says
My family loved this dish -and it was so easy to make. Thanks!
Christine Pittman says
Thanks for letting me know, Dawn. I’m delighted that you guys liked it!
KimS says
I made this tonight — fantastic!  Really loved it, thanks!
Christine Pittman says
Kim, fantastic! So happy you tried it and liked it!
Maggie Bleksley says
Looks great, but shouldn’t cauliflower be included in the ingredients?
Christine Pittman says
Oh geez! Thanks for spotting that, Maggie. The recipe has been fixed.
Lyn Reasbeck says
This is delicious!
Mary Pisarkiewicz says
This is amazing! So delicious! Thanks for sharing i’m obsessed!
Carly says
Can’t wait to try this! Looks like a quick easy dinner we’ll all love. Thanks!
Christine Pittman says
Carly, You just love cauliflower, don’t you? I think you commented on the Quinoa and Cauliflower Bake too, right? That’s still a favorite over here! Hope you’re doing well. I haven’t been very active on Facebook this past year since The Cookful launched (anniversary is today!) and I miss seeing posts from friends like you. I’m trying to get on there more but still not enough. Hugs, friend!