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A simple sheet pan Greek chicken recipe that yields crispy skin, golden potatoes and jammy tomatoes, every single time — just one pan, yet you’ll get plenty of bold Mediterranean flavours from the lemony, garlicky marinade, handfuls of salty olives, and salty crumbled feta nuggets!
See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.
Why This Is Your New Favorite Sheet Pan Dinner
- Serving six this is the perfect all-in-one meal to make on a busy weeknight if you’ve marinated the chicken ahead. It may take just over an hour to cook, but most of that time is totally hands off, and you’ll be awarded with tender juicy chicken still with a crispy skin, super crisp, chicken fat potatoes, tender veggies and creamy, slightly melted feta.
- I’ve finished this sheet pan meal with fresh lemon juice and plenty of chopped soft herbs. This gives everything such a lift that you simply don’t get when you cook everything together at once, the heat of the oven dulling the fresh flavors.
- This recipe has none of the sogginess that is usually a massive sheet pan dinner issue. Here we cook bone-in thighs at high heat with room to breathe — that’s the whole secret! Moisture evaporates instead of pooling, the skin gets genuinely crispy, and the potatoes absorb every bit of that lemony garlic dripping down from the chicken!
- Also pre-cooking the potatoes makes sure everything is cooked to perfection, something lots of sheet pan recipes don’t achieve as they’re instead to focused on trying to make the dish dump-and-go. Most ingredients simply don’t work that way!
What I Learned Testing This Recipe
- I’ve written this recipe to use 2½ pounds of chicken, which is roughly 1 large or 2 small chicken thighs per person. Obviously if you’re feeding children they want a bit less (or teenagers a lot more!), but count the thighs before cooking to make sure that weight works out as enough for everyone!
- You need to use block feta packed in brine and crumble it yourself. Pre-crumbled won’t melt into the dish the same way. Pack leftovers if your block is bigger than the 4 oz needed into a jar of homemade brine made dissolving a generous spoonful of salt in just-boiled water to extend shelf life out of the pack.
- Make sure all of your potatoes are of a similar size. I know the sizes of baby potatoes can vary massively at the farmers market or the store, so by making sure you’re using evenly sized potatoes you’ll be making sure they cook evenly — no one wants to bite down on a piece of undercooked potato!
- Don’t be tempted to toss more than you need to. I found the key to making sure I got super crispy potatoes that had absorbed all of that delicious chicken fat was to leave them completely undisturbed once I’d added the chicken. I know it can be tempting to give roasting veggies a stir every time you open the oven door, but this interrupts caramalization!
- Don’t skip patting the chicken skin dry! The two main reasons you get soggy skin when you’ve marinated skin-on chicken thighs is either because the oven temp is too low, or because there is too much moisture on the skin. Patting it dry before roasting helps counterbalance this while still allowing the chicken to take on all that marinade flavour!
Ingredients
Olive Oil – A nice, light olive oil I’ve found is best for Greek dishes, save your best EVO for finishing salads. But, avocado oil would also work here.
Lemons – We’re using both the zest and the juice of fresh lemons here, first the zest to add lemony depth to the chicken marinade, and the juice to add freshness and bright lemon flavor to the final dish as a finishing ingredient.
Garlic – Lots and lots of fresh garlic is the answer to the souvlaki-style flavors in this chicken. Dried garlic simply won’t cut it, but pre-chopped garlic can be used in a pinch.
Dried oregano – Soft herbs don’t do well in a super-hot oven, so we’re using dried oregano in the chicken marinade to add the taste of the Greek mountains in a way that will hold up during cooking.
Smoked paprika – Jars of ‘smoked paprika’ are sweet smoked paprika, not the hot one. Hot smoked paprika will always be marked hot, yet the sweet version you want here can be labled interchangeably!
Dijon mustard – Dijon mustard adds a vinegary depth to the marinade you won’t get just from adding vinegar. The chicken won’t taste of mustard, but you’ll feel like the flavors are falling flat if you miss it out!
Red wine vinegar – Red wine vinegar will add body and depth to the chicken. If you need to substitute, use apple cider vinegar or sherry vinegar instead of white wine vinegar which is a lot sharper.
Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs – This cut of chicken is essential to getting super-moist chicken without your sheet pan dinner turning watery. If you don’t want to eat the skin, remove it before eating but keep it on during cooking or your chicken might dry out, especially if your thighs are on the smaller side.
Baby potatoes – In testing halved baby potatoes were the crispiest potato, and they did not fall apart when flipping. But, you can use red potatoes cut into small wedges if you can’t get hold of any.
Red onion – I love the sweet-yet-savory edge red onions add to Mediterranean dishes, but brown onion can be substituted in a pinch.
Cherry tomatoes – You want whole little tomatoes here that will roast in their skins and go jammy, so simply halving bigger tomatoes just won’t cut it here, adding too much moisture to the dish. Grape tomatoes I think really are the best substitute.
Kalamata olives – Pitted olives are best for sheet pan dinners as they’re easier to eat, so you’ll probably need to remove the stones before adding them to the pan, or warn your family the olives still have stones. Alternatively, Castelvetrano, pitted black or green olives will still taste great here.
Feta – Use block feta and crumble it yourself, as pre-crumbled feta won’t melt the way we’re looking for here added to the hot traybake.
Fresh dill and flat leaf parsley – While these could be considered as optional, fresh herbs give this sheet pan dinner such a lift! Fresh mint or oregano could also be used, but use slightly less as they have much bolder flavors and you don’t want to overwhelm everything else that is going on!
Serving & Storage Suggestions
Make my homemade tzatziki to spoon over each portion. Prep the whole batch, and use any leftovers to make gyro bowls or my Greek healthy chicken meal prep.
The beauty of sheet pan meals is that they’re all-in-one, but you could also add a green salad, or some warm pitta or flatbreads on the side.
Portions of this sheet pan Greek chicken can be warmed through in the microwave, but the potatoes will lose their crispiness. I’d also recommend removing the skin before re-heating as it will go all soggy, chewy and generally gross. Leftover vegetables from the dish can be added to salads and grain bowls, also any leftover chicken shredded off the bone. Any leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, and you’ll get much deeper Greek-inspired flavors in the chicken as a result. But I did not want to make you feel like you had to do this more than 30 minutes ahead, because this is really the minimum you need to make this a delicious dinner on a busy weeknight.
Roasting directly onto the sheet pan is the best way to get super crispy potatoes and vegetables, but I get it — it will probably need a good soak and a bit of elbow grease to get clean again! If you want to line the pan do it with baking parchment. Yes, you’ll still need to wash the pan but the potatoes especially will still get nice and crisp and won’t stick at all. Don’t use tin foil, as roasting vegetables and potatoes always stick, and you’ll either lose nice crispy bits serving up that get stuck, or end up accidentally plating up little pieces of torn foil!!
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Sheet Pan Greek Chicken and Veggies
Equipment
- very large sheet pan or two pans if you have a smaller oven
Ingredients
Marinade
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 lemons zested, reserving the juice for finishing
- 6 garlic cloves grated or finely minced
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ¾ teaspoon black pepper
Chicken and Veg
- 2½ pounds bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
- 1½ pounds baby potatoes halved
- 1 red onion cut into thick wedges
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- ½ cup Kalamata olives pitted
To finish
- Juice of 2 lemons reserved from above
- 4 ounce block feta crumbled
- ¼ cup fresh dill
- ¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
- Tzatziki to serve
Instructions
- Whisk together the marinade ingredients. Add the chicken thighs and turn to coat completely. Marinate for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, or overnight in the fridge.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Toss the potatoes with the remaining 3 tbsp olive oil, a big pinch of salt, and a pinch of dried oregano. Spread in a single layer on a large sheet pan — use two pans if needed. Crowding is the enemy here, and will result in soggy potatoes! Roast for 20 minutes until the edges are starting to turn golden.
- Toss the potatoes, and scatter over the onions. Pull the chicken from the marinade and pat the skin on each piece very dry with paper towels. This is the most important step — wet skin steams instead of crisps. Nestle them skin-side up between the potatoes, leaving plenty of space around each piece. Spoon any remaining marinade over the potatoes, not the chicken skin. Roast for a further 25 minutes.
- Scatter over the cherry tomatoes before roasting for another 15 minutes, until the skin is deeply golden and crispy, the potatoes are tender, and the tomatoes are jammy and just starting to burst. The chicken is done when a thermometer inserted into the biggest chicken thigh reads 165°F at the thickest part.
- Scatter the olives over the pan and return to the oven for 3–4 minutes to warm through. Leave everything to rest for 5 minutes before squeezing the reserved lemon juice over everything, then scatter over the feta, dill, and parsley generously over the top. Serve straight from the pan with some tzatziki alongside.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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