One Pan Balsamic Chicken
Juicy one-pan balsamic chicken topped with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. This easy dinner comes together so easily and will surely become a family favorite!
Balsamic Basil Chicken
This one-pan balsamic chicken is one of our favorite dinner meals. It’s flavorful, delicious, and can be made year-round!
The chicken breast is quickly seared on the stovetop with delicious homemade balsamic sauce. Then topped with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil, to finish baking in the oven.
It’s a meal that can easily be prepared on a weeknight. It serves well over anything that can soak up the sauce, such as rice, mashed potatoes, or pasta.
Ingredients
- balsamic vinegar
- honey
- avocado oil
- garlic
- Italian seasoning
- Dijon mustard
- grape tomatoes
- mozzarella balls
- fresh basil
- chicken breast
- salt and pepper
Can I Use Boneless Chicken Thighs?
Yes, you just have to adjust the cooking time. Thighs cook really fast so I recommend checking for doneness after 7-10 minutes. Also, since thighs are more tender and juicy than chicken breast, there’s no need to pound them.
How to Make Basil Balsamic Chicken
- Whisk together the ingredients for the balsamic sauce.
- In a separate bowl, toss together the tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil.
- Over high heat, cook the chicken breast until lightly golden brown. Add balsamic sauce and bring to a simmer.
- Top with tomato mozzarella. Bake at 400F until chicken is cooked through.
Serving Suggestions
This one pan balsamic chicken is a great dish to pair with something to soak up the delicious pan juices and sauce. Here are a few of our favorites:
- Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
- Cauliflower Rice Pilaf
- Pineapple Rice
- Cauliflower and Ricotta Mash
- Egg noodles
- Roasted vegetables
- Quinoa
Video: How to Make One Pan Balsamic Chicken
More One-Pan Meals
- Creamy Honey Mustard Chicken
- Thai Chicken and Cabbage Skillet
- Orecchiette with Baked Mini Meatballs
- Chicken and Quinoa in Mustard Sauce
- Chicken with Zucchini and Corn
One Pan Balsamic Chicken
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 45 mins
- Yield: 4-6 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
One-pan balsamic chicken is such a flavorful weeknight dinner. Made with simple ingredients and easy steps!
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 Tbsp. honey
- 2 Tbsp. oil, such as avocado or olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
- 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
Tomato Mozzarella
- 8 oz. grape tomatoes, halved
- 8 oz. fresh mozzarella balls (ciliegine or pearls)
- 2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh basil
Chicken
- 2 lb. boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, pounded to even thickness
- 2 Tbsp. avocado oil or other high-heat oil
- Kosher salt and fresh black pepper
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the sauce ingredients. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, toss together the tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large oven-safe skillet. Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper, to taste. When the pan is hot and oil is shimmering, add the chicken to the skillet in a single layer. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side or until lightly golden brown. Add the balsamic sauce mixture. It should quickly come to a simmer. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Immediately remove the pan from the heat and add the tomato mozzarella mixture over the chicken.
- Bake uncovered for 18-23 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked through. Internal temperature should register at 165F. Remove from the oven and rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Mozzarella: If using ciliegine mozzarella, also known as “cherry size” fresh mozzarella then cut it in half. If using “pearls” which are smaller size mozzarella balls, then no need to cut in half.
- Chicken: To pound the chicken, place the chicken between two pieces of plastic wrap or into a gallon size Ziploc bag, and using a mallet or rolling pin, pound the chicken to even thickness. Make sure not to skip this step. It helps the chicken cook evenly, tenderizes the meat, and results in moist meat.
- Original Recipe: This recipe was originally published on 9/28/17 and did not include balsamic vinegar. Instead, the recipe relied on a combination of ingredients that resembled the taste of balsamic vinegar. However, it ended up being too confusing to so many readers so we decided to rewrite the recipe to include balsamic vinegar. Here is the old version of the recipe: ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce, 1/4 cup tomato sauce, 1/2 lemon, juiced (about 1 1/2 Tbsp.), 2 lbs. boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (pounded to even thickness), 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, 8 oz. grape tomatoes, halved, 8 oz. fresh mozzarella balls (ciliegine), 2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh basil, Kosher salt and fresh black pepper . In a medium bowl, combine the soy sauce, tomato sauce, and lemon juice. Add chicken tossing to coat in the marinade. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let marinate in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. While the chicken is marinating, toss together the tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Melt butter over high heat in a large oven-safe skillet. Remove the chicken from the marinade and add to the hot skillet. Cook for 1-2 minutes per side or until lightly golden brown, seasoning both sides of chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Immediately, off heat, top the chicken with tomato mozzarella mixture and bake uncovered for 18-23 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked through. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 349
- Sugar: 2.4 g
- Sodium: 1016.7 mg
- Fat: 16.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 4.4 g
- Protein: 44.2 g
- Cholesterol: 150.4 mg
Keywords: one pan, easy, quick,
Hi! I'm Katya -- a former corporate paralegal turned full-time recipe developer and blogger behind Little Broken. Here you'll find family-friendly and seasonal recipes made from real ingredients.
It was amazing. My husband loved it.
I followed your exact recipe. We will be keeping this in our rotation.
💜😊
★★★★★
Loved this recipe! I think I’ll wait to add the cheese until after it’s baked though because it got all rubbery. Lots of extra juice as well, so I think I’ll use less balsamic vinegar next time.
★★★★★
Such a great recipe, made it many times. Your version with the balsamic vinegar works so much better than with soya sauce and so much less sodium too! Think I’m going to try it tonite over some angel hair pasta. Thanks for sharing…
★★★★★
Love the recipe. I did add some onion and mushrooms to increase the vegetables. Was tasty. I’m making it tomorrow for friends with some seasoned mozzarella. All the store had. Hope it works😃
★★★★★
I made this in my electric frying pan. After searing the chicken and adding the balsamic sauce, I also added some vegetable broth and put some egg noodles and asparagus in. I let that cook for about 15 min then added the tomatoes & mozzarella and let cook a bit longer. Sooooo good! Love one pan meals!
That’s great! I’m glad it worked great in your electric frying pan!
A new family favorite!
★★★★★
This is one of my family’s dinners! It’s pretty quick ( except for pounding the chicken) and the leftoverstasted great the next day.
★★★★★
We loved it! Delicious. I used shredded mozzarella since didn’t have the pearls. Was great!
★★★★★
Really tasty, and easy to make! Should the balsamic sauce be reduced down at all? I added it to the pan and it almost immediately started simmering so I took it off the heat pretty quickly. It was still pretty liquidy after baking in the oven; I’m wondering if I should have let it cook down on the stove a bit longer. Regardless, it was delicious and very moist. Will make it again!
★★★★★
Hi Elise: No need to reduce the balsamic. It should come to a quick simmer and then remove off heat. It will slightly reduce in the oven but not too much where you’ll have plenty of pan sauce.
This was fantastic! A little on the sweet side, I’ll just back off on the honey next time. But I needed a new go to healthier chicken recipe.. thank you!
★★★★
Thank you Mandy!
This is so easy and delicious served with pasta and bread!♥️♥️
★★★★★
Is the mustard necessary? Some severe allergies so wondering if there’s a substitute or if it can just be withheld?
You can omit the mustard but the taste will be different. I haven’t tried it with a substitute so I can’t answer with certainty.
Could you make this with feta instead ? I dont have mozzarella 🙂
Hi Ls: I haven’t tried it with feta so I can’t answer with certainty but if you do, let us know how it turns out!
Great recipe. I made it for 8 and it was a real hit. Only think I would do differently when doubling the recipe is put less vinegar in as I ended up with really too much juice. I eased back on the honey too and couldn’t taste the sweetness at all, which was good for our tastes.
★★★★★
Preheat Oven should be step 1! Also, didn’t read about cutting the Mozzarella balls in half till after dish was in the oven. It would be helpful to put that in the ingredients section instead of the “notes”. Other than that, I served with Angel Hair pasta and it was delicious!!
Very good and pretty easy to make! My husband loved it and he usually doesn’t like balsamic vinegar.
★★★★★
Thanks for sharing! This was delicious!
★★★★★
DELICIOUS! I followed the recipe exactly. My family absolutely loved their dinner. In fact my husband even licked the plate.
★★★★★