Garlic Butter Tomato Baked Chicken with Mozzarella
The easiest garlic butter tomato baked chicken with mozzarella. It’s a one-pan recipe that comes complete with roasted sweet balsamic tomatoes, cooked chicken with melty mozzarella, and the most fantastic sauce for your quinoa, rice, pasta, or veggies!
Tomato Baked Chicken.
We’ve got a garlic – balsamic – butter tomato situation we need to discuss. It’s a little out of control at the moment because we’re not even in peak tomato season yet and I can’t stop, won’t stop with this tomato baked chicken recipe. And yes, this is just the first of many tomato basil balsamic sauces I’ll be making. And that brings to me to a critical point I’d like to discuss; it’s not actually a sauce. But more like tomato pan gravy?
Let me explain.
It is the most delicious pan sauce slash an entire serving of veggies that would be beautiful if you were to say, mop it all up with a hunk of crusty bread? There’s also quick baked chicken breasts and tons of melty mozzarella cheese to finish the whole thing off. As if those aren’t reasons enough on their own to give this recipe a go, here’s a little more music to your ears –
You only have to clean ONE dish.
Tomato Baked Chicken Video:
This tomato baked chicken recipe is the kind of meal I love cooking for the two of us. It starts with simple ingredients that I usually have on hand and takes very little prep work to whip up. I have to say, judging from the popularity of my one skillet dinners, it’s pretty obvious, you guys prefer these kinds of meals too.
I’m going to be straight with you. Today’s tomato baked chicken recipe is a mash-up of a few different recipes I’ve already shared with you already. More specifically, my bruschetta chicken meets a Caprese salad meets my 30-minute mozzarella chicken. It’s the kind of food I think about late into the night while my head rests on my pillow just waiting to drift off to sleep. It’s a little bit of everything. You get a roasted tomato side, a spoon-slurp-worthy gravy, and of course tender chicken under a blanket of melty mozzarella cheese. A new addition to our chicken dinner recipes and I couldn’t be more stoked to share it with you!
Tomato baked chicken starts with chicken breasts. But as always, you can swap them for boneless, skinless chicken thighs as well if that’s more your thing. We’ll season them with ingredients that we’ve already got at home. A little olive oil, a splash of white wine vinegar, a few cloves of garlic and some dried seasonings. You can marinate for as little as 15 minutes and still achieve a great flavor!
I can’t get over how easy it is to put this tomato baked chicken together.
What do you need to make tomato baked chicken?
All you need are four chicken breasts to start. I had two huge ones hidden way in the back of my freezer, so I just sliced them up lengthwise. To marinate the chicken, I just tossed all the ingredients for the marinade into a ziptop bag and gave it a good shake. In goes the chicken. Give it a quick massage to distribute the flavors. If you’re cooking this right away, let it hang out on the counter or if you’re making it later, just refrigerate until you’re ready.
How to make tomato baked chicken:
While the chicken brines, we’ll toss together the ingredients for the tomato pan gravy. You can do this directly in your baking pan, I sure did! Again, humble ingredients that will yield a gourmet dinner you’ll be proud to serve dinner guests. You’ll need roughly three cups of sliced cherry tomatoes mixed with minced garlic, butter, balsamic, a squeeze of honey, chopped basil, dried thyme, and onion powder. When those tomatoes roast with the chicken you’re left with bright and sweet tomato juices that would be delicious drizzled over a bed of rice, pasta, or even some steamed veggies.
During the last 5 minutes, you’ll add shredded mozzarella to the top and pop the chicken back under the broiler just long enough for it to get warm and bubbly. You can make my tomato baked chicken recipe without the mozzarella too if you’d like. I’ve tried it in the past, and it’s still delicious. But personally, the mozzarella adds a cheesy little something to this dish!
Other cheeses that would work well here: provolone. My next best choice.
How to serve Tomato Baked Chicken:
I serve my tomato baked chicken up with a little rice and a side salad, and both Anees and I drizzled that tomato pan gravy over the rice, and I even went as far as using a bit on my salad.
I couldn’t believe my mouth when I first tried this. Could simple ingredients make this kind of dinner?
It’s bright, sweet yet acidic and it is fresh as a good spring meal should be!
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Garlic Butter Tomato Baked Chicken with Mozzarella
The easiest garlic butter tomato baked chicken with mozzarella. It's a one pan recipe that comes complete with roasted sweet balsamic tomatoes, cooked chicken with melty mozzarella and the most fantastic sauce for your quinoa, rice, pasta, or veggies!
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade:
- 1 tablespoons EACH: olive oil and white wine vinegar
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Balsamic Tomato Pan Sauce:
- 3 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 tablespoons EACH: balsamic vinegar and melted butter
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons chopped basil
- ½ teaspoon EACH: onion powder and dried thyme
- 1½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Marinate: Add all the ingredients except the chicken breasts into a zip top bag along with 1 teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Seal the bag and shake until mixed. Add the chicken breasts, seal, and massage so the chicken is covered in the marinade, set aside for 10-15 minutes while you prep the remaining ingredients. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 425ºF.
- Balsamic Tomato Pan Sauce: Add all the ingredients except the mozzarella to an oven-safe baking dish, along with a big pinch of salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Move the tomatoes around the edges and place the chicken breasts in the center.
- Bake: Bake uncovered for 18-22 minutes or until the chicken is almost cooked through. Add the mozzarella cheese to the chicken breasts and broil just long enough for the cheese to melt. Top with additional chopped basil or parsley and serve warm with crusty bread, pasta, rice, or steamed veggies!
Notes
- Extra points for being lazy: you can melt the butter right in your baking dish before adding the remaining ingredients (as long as it is microwave safe!)
- I suggest shredding your own mozzarella for this recipe. Pre-shredded mozzarella didn't yield such great results for me, unfortunately!
- You can marinate the chicken for up to 4 hours! Feel free to do this earlier in the day if you'd like.
I just made this for myself and my mom tonight. It was honestly one of the best dinners I’ve ever made. I mixed to tomatoes and sauce together with some pasta and it was unreal. I’m already excited to make it again!
This recipe is AMAZING…the tomatoes should be bottles and sold…I can’t rave enough about this recipe…Enjoy!
I made this and it was fantastic! I plan on making it again but was wondering can I marinate chicken the night before?
I wouldn’t marinate it that far in advance as the acid in the marinade will actually start cooking the chicken. I think 8 hours would probably be the max if you really wanted to do it further in advance!
This is so incredibly delicious! I made it last weekend when I was on my own for dinner one night and tonight I’m making it again for my husband. I’m excited to have it again, since I picked up fresh cherry tomatoes and a zucchini (for zoodles!) from the day farmers market yesterday!
This was an amazing recipe I kinda just made my own sauce because the sauce isn’t sweet enough for me but it was amazing. making it for the 2nd time time?
Really like this recipe. I will definately make it again. It was a very light weight healthy meal.
Loved the full on garlic and pepper taste.
One of the most flavorful chicken recipes I’ve ever made!!! Fantastic-passed it on to all my family and friends!!
Excellent. I will make this again.
We absolutely love this recipe. Do you have a rough calorie count for this?
This was excellent ! We all loved it.
Only thing I would suggest is add to the baking time. The recipe says bake 18-22 minutes and I knew as soon as I read that , that it was going to take longer. It took 45 minutes for the chicken to be fully cooked. Unless the chicken is pounded paper thin, there is no way it would be done in the stated time in the recipe.
Agree – similar cook time. I think a lot of supermarkets cut and package chicken breast tenders in a way that makes them look like small chicken breasts, and this cook time would be appropriate for that. With full-size chicken breasts, my chicken was still half-raw at 22 minutes.
Absolute delicious. Followed the recipe exactly except I marinated the chicken in the baking dish. Served with salad and orzo. Definitely will make this one again!
This recipe is delicious! It’s now one of my mainstays.
This recipe is so yummy!!! I made it tonight and my Husband said it was definitely a keeper!
I would not call myself a cooking pro, so I sometimes get a bit intimidated trying new recipes… However, this came out great! I will absolutely make this again. Thanks so much!
Wow, this was absolutely delicious and so simple! Thank you for this recipe, it’s amazing! I will definitely be making this again soon.
One of the best meals I have made! Was a huge hit!
This looks awesome! I would sere this with penne pasta. Looks delicious!
Absolutely amazing I used chicken thighs instead we prefer them over breast, would make this again so yummy.
Quick, easy, and delicious! I had a 600+ g package of cherry tomatoes and used them all, so I made 1 1/2 x the pan sauce recipe. I grated a 340 g ball of mozzarella and used all of it. After adding the mozzarella, I baked the chicken for an additional 10 minutes before broiling. I served it with garlic bread. I will definitely make it again!
I just made this recipe tonight and it is absolutely a keeper!! I wish I would post a pic! It was quick, simple and looked and tasted like it took hours (but it didn’t!)
This was amazing! Is there a nutritional breakdown listed somewhere that I missed?
This is delicious! I add two chicken breasts and double the balsamic pan sauce because we have some big eaters here! My husband and any company that has eaten this recipe loves it! We serve it with a salad and a side of Schwann rice pilaf. It is also super easy to make for lunches for the week and reheats well! Thank you so much for this recipe!
What temperature do I bake it on?
All of my kids ate this. All. Of. Them. The chicken was fork – cuttable. The flavors were rich without being heavy – the tomatoes were bright. Served over simple mashed potatoes. Divine.
Used four chicken breasts and two containers of cherry tomatoes. Somehow, the glaze came out to be liquidy and soupy so next time, I might try roasting the tomatoes and combining the glaze on the stove because it looks so delicious.
We absolutely loved this dish, the flavor was amazing! I only used two chicken breast but forgot to cut the sauce in half..it was still so good. We served it with spaghetti squash and roasted asparagus with mushrooms! Looking forward to having the leftovers tomorrow.
Amazing recipe! My husband absolutely loved it and is already asking me to make it again! So easy and tasty. I used chicken tenderloins and they cooked in 14 mins.
Thank you for a wonderful recipe! This will definitely be on the menu at my next dinner party 🙂
Love love LOVE it. I’ve made this a couple of times now since neither me nor my partner can get enough. So delicious and easy, the chicken is so tender & the sauce is fantastic! Definitely going to be a regular for us.
Probably our new favorite chicken recipe. So very simple and I kept thinking,”HOW is it this good??!” Served it over angel hair pasta.
Great meal but 18-22 minutes in the oven at 425 is not long enough… you want to cook the chicken to a safe internal temp of 165 and that is just not enough time. However this dish was delicious and super easy to make!
I agree. Just took mine out of the oven and checked it with a thermometer and it wasn’t done in the center. I actually cooked it for like 25 minutes.