Sheet pan Chicken Caprese is a quick and easy way to get a delicious dinner on the table in under 20 minutes. Sweet balsamic dressing over tender baked chicken, juicy fresh tomatoes and melting mozzarella make this is a pretty popular dish round here. It's the dinner version of the classic Caprese salad: It's a bright, yummy kid friendly dinner.
Quick Sheet Pan Dinner
Honestly, sheet pan dinners are one of my favorite ways to cook during the week. After a busy day, I certainly don't usually want to be stuck in the kitchen rustling up some complicated culinary delight: I want easy, fast, and something the kids are going to eat without a fight. Hello, Chicken Caprese!
Ingredients
Chicken Breasts
I use chicken breasts for this recipe. They cook fast and work well here. You could use thighs, but it's a lot more fiddly to cut them and get some decent sized pieces from them. When I'm using thighs I prefer to cook them whole rather than dice them.
Most Chicken Caprese recipes use whole chicken breasts. I do not. I butterfly the chicken and then cut that into smaller pieces. The chicken cooks faster this way, and for kids, I think a whole chicken breast can be a little daunting, and too much meat for little ones really, as well. Feel free to keep the chicken breasts whole, but remember to adjust the cooking time so the chickens cooked through.
Fresh Tomatoes
I've used cherry tomatoes left whole, because thats that I had. I often use regular sized tomatoes, sliced and diced. It doesn't matter, as long as the tomatoes are ripe and juicy.
Mozzarella
Big mozzarella fans here! This mild cheese works perfectly here, it's not over powering, it melts into the chicken beautifully and was made to go with fresh tomatoes. If you can find Buffalo mozzarella, I highly recommend it, if not, regular Mozzarella's fine.
Balsamic glaze
Making a quick home made balsamic glaze is super easy. It involves literally boiling the balsamic vinegar down until it reduces by half, and you end up with a sweet, thick, glossy dressing. I add a small amount of Maple Syrup to my vinegar. This extra natural sugar speeds up the glaze reduction and makes everything a little...sweeter!
Put the glaze on to boil while the sheet pan Chicken Caprese is cooking and it'll be ready to serve when the chicken comes out of the oven.
What To Serve With Chicken Caprese
You can have this dinner with a green salad, or if you want to make it a more substantial dinner you could serve it with these sides:
Caprese Chicken Left Overs
There's so many ways to have Sheet pan Chicken Caprese leftovers:
- Pack up lunch for the following day - Take a little pot of balsamic glaze and have this the next day at school or work. It's lovely as a cold dish, it's filling and bursting with flavor.
- Jacket potato - Caprese chicken over a hot fluffy jacket. Mmmm
How To Store Chicken Caprese
Left over Chicken Caprese will store well in the fridge, covered with food wrap for up to 3 days, depending on the date on your chicken. If the use by date on the chicken is less than 3 days, use this date as your guide.
I pour the balsamic glaze over this recipe when it's on each persons plate, and I find if you're going to store this recipe for a day or two, it's better if you store it without the balsamic and pour it on when you're going eat it. The tomatoes can become to soft if left in the glaze, so if you're taking this to school or work the following day, grab some little pots and take the balsamic glaze on the side.
More Clean Sheet Pan Dinners
How To Make Sheet Pan Chicken Caprese
Sheet pan Chicken Caprese
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken Breasts Butterflied and sliced into strips
- 2 Cups Cherry Tomatoes
- 1 Ball Buffalo Mozarella Torn
- Handful Fresh basil
- 1 Cup Balsamic vinegar For the glaze
- 2 tablespoon Maple syrup For the glaze
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 180/340
- Prepare your sheet pan
- Put the chicken and tomatoes on the sheet and drizzle with the Olive oil
- Put the balsamic vinegar and maple syrup into a small heavy bottomed pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10-12 minutes until the glaze has thickened. Keep an eye on it, it thickens fast. As soon as it's thickened, take it off the heat and out it to one side. The glaze will continue to thicken off the heat
- Cook the chicken and tomatoes for 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Take out of the oven and add the mozzarella, then pop back into the oven for 5 minutes until the mozzarella has melted. If there is a lot of juice from the tomatoes and chicken at this point, drain the liquid away before putting back in the oven
- Take the sheet out of the oven, drizzle with the glaze and throw some fresh basil on top
