This Baked Chicken Caprese is baked in a flavorful balsamic glaze. It’s done in only 35 minutes! Perfect as an easy weeknight meal but fancy enough to serve when there are guests over. All you need are a few simple ingredients.
If you love chicken thigh recipes you can also try this Baked Chicken Thighs, Air Fryer Chicken Thighs, Baked Caprese Chicken and this Chicken and Cauliflower Rice.
If you’re looking for fun way to change up your weekly chicken dinner, then look no further! This baked caprese chicken only requires a few simple ingredients to turn your chicken from boring to flavourful!
This sweet and savoury chicken recipe is inspired by the classic caprese salad. So if you want a fresh and flavourful recipe, then this is it! You won’t believe how easy it is to make. It’s healthy, hearty, and bursting with flavor.
Your mouth will water as you pull this baked caprese chicken recipe out of the oven. The perfectly seasoned chicken thighs are so tender and juicy and are topped with a layer of melty mozzarella cheese, balsamic glaze, and garnished with basil and more fresh cherry tomato. Your family will be reaching for seconds!
This gluten-free, one-pan meal is ultra-flavorful and your whole family will want to eat it again and again. To make the meal more filling, you can serve it with Balsamic Roasted Vegetables Recipe, rice, roasted veggies, zucchini noodles or even your favorite type of pasta. You’ll say goodbye to the boring chicken meals. Tender. Juicy. Delicious.
How to Make Baked Caprese Chicken
Ingredients
- Chicken thighs — I use skinless bone-in chicken thighs. Using bone-in chicken thighs takes a little longer to cook but they’re much more flavourful, juicy, and moist! You can also use juicy chicken breasts to make this recipe.
- Seasoning — I season the chicken thighs with dried oregano, dried basil, salt or kosher salt, and pepper. You can also add a little bit of garlic powder.
- Olive oil — I use olive oil but you can always use your preferred oil.
- Mozzarella cheese — I love how melty mozzarella cheese is for this caprese chicken. I like using sliced mozzarella but you can use shredded cheese if that’s what you have on hand.
- Fresh Tomato — You can use either cherry or grape tomatoes for this chicken recipe.
- Basil — I love fresh basil!
- Balsamic glaze — The balsamic glaze adds such a delicious sweet and tangy flavor that you’re going to want to add it to everything! Try my Rice with Balsamic Onions and Shrimp if you want another balsamic recipe. You can also use balsamic vinegar with a little bit of honey, if you don’t have balsamic glaze.
Instructions
Prepare the Chicken
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- In a large bowl, add the chicken and season with the dried oregano, dried basil, salt, and pepper.
Sear the Chicken
- Heat a large and oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add the olive oil. Sear the chicken for 3 to 5 minutes on each side and until the chicken is golden brown on top.
Bake the Chicken
- Add 1 cup of the tomatoes to the skillet and place the skillet in the oven. If you prefer, you can also try adding slices of red onion.
- Bake for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Remove the skillet from the oven. Top each chicken with slice of mozzarella. Then broil for 2-3 minutes, or until the cheese has melted completely.
- Serve immediately, drizzled with the balsamic glaze and garnished with basil and more fresh cherry tomato if desired.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- The chicken has to reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. I recommend using a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature accurately.
- Letting the chicken rest for a minute helps the juices inside the chicken redistribute so it stays moist. It also gives the cheese some time to firm back up so the cheese won’t slide off the chicken thighs.
- I highly recommend getting a cast-iron skillet! They are so useful and it’s perfect for going from stovetop to oven.
- If you do not have an oven-safe skillet, you can transfer the seared chicken into a baking dish before moving it to the oven.
Recipe Variations
- For an extra herby flavour, you can add a spoonful of pesto to the chicken thighs before adding the cheese on top.
- For added sweetness, you can add a drizzle of honey.
- Don’t have dried oregano or dried basil? Use Italian seasoning instead.
- If you don’t have cherry or grape tomatoes, you can use sliced roma tomatoes instead.
How do I Store and Reheat Caprese Chicken
- Store leftover baked caprese chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Reheat leftover of this caprese recipe in a 350F oven for best results, or microwave until just warm if you’re at work without an oven.
Need more easy dinner recipes to make during your busy weeknights? Try my Chicken And Mushroom Recipe, Asparagus Stuffed Chicken Breast, or Creamy Parmesan Chicken Skillet. Let me know in the comments down below what you’ve been making for dinner lately!
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Baked Chicken Caprese with Balsamic Glaze
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Ingredients
- 4 skinless bone-in free range organic chicken thighs
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese sliced
- 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes cut in half
- fresh basil leaves chopped
- Balsamic glaze
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. In a large bowl, add chicken and season with the oregano, basil, salt, and pepper.
- Heat a large and oven safe skillet over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil. Sear the chicken for 3 to 5 minutes each side and until the chicken is golden brown on top.
- Add 1 cup of the tomatoes in the skillet and place the skillet in the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. The chicken has to reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
- Remove the skillet from the oven. Top each chicken with mozzarella cheese. Then broil for 2-3 minutes, or until the cheese has melted completely.
- Serve immediately, drizzled with the balsamic glaze and garnished with basil and more fresh cherry tomato if desired.
Tips
- Use a meat thermometer to make sure the chicken thighs are baked to 165 degrees F.
- If you do not have a cast-iron skillet, transfer the seared chicken thighs to a baking dish to finish off in the oven.
- You can swap dried oregano and dried basil for Italian seasoning.
- Leftovers: Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Reheat: You can reheat leftovers in the oven or microwave.
- Freezer: I do not recommend freezing this recipe as the tomatoes will become mushy.
- Recipe adapted from Cafe Delites.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.
I would love to see your version. And if you like this Baked Caprese Chicken recipe, please share with your friends and family. Do you want to taste more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow Primavera Kitchen on Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram, and Facebook for all delicious recipes updates. As always, I really appreciate you stopping by.
Stephanie DeMaurice says
Can you use boneless thighs?
Thank you
Stephanie
Olivia says
Yes you can!
Heather Maryson says
Beautiful dish packed full of flavour. Thank you so much for this. Highly recommended.
Olivia says
I’m so happy to know that you enjoy this recipe!!! This is awesome! Thanks for stopping by.
juraspark says
Made this for dinner last night and it was delicious and oh so easy.
I over cooked the chicken but it still had very good flavour and needed the balsamic drizzle for sure. I suggest you keep an eye on your chicken to make sure you don’t overcook!
I didn’t know what to serve this with so I used long spaghetti and fried it in garlic and olive oil then served the Caprese Chicken over it.
My husband and son said I should make it again but don’t overcook the chicken next time and maybe reduce the sugar for the glaze. I don’t like tomatoes so I didn’t add to my plate. My husband thought the tomatoes were too sweet (can you believe it?).
I think this would be a nice entree when company is coming as it looks and tastes like it’s complicated but is actually fairly simple.
I did not cover the pan in the oven but might try that next time to see if it helps (unless you think that would be wrong?)
Thank you for posting this recipe, it’s two thumbs up in our home and I will make it until I get the chicken moist as well as flavourful.
Deb says
We had this tonight. I used chicken breast tenderloins instead of thighs. It was delicious, light and fresh for summer.
Olivia says
So happy to hear that!
Mary says
Where is the balsamic glaze recipe?
Olivia says
I used a store-bought balsamic glaze. Click here to check it out.
Sandi says
Absolutely delicious! My family loved it!
I made homemade balsamic glaze and of course extra mozzarella sprinkled generously over the top! Sooooo tasty 😋
Olivia says
That’s awesome!
Basiliki Kotsogiannis- Scuderi says
SO TASTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Olivia says
Glad you liked it!
Lisa says
OK. good recipe, but… where does the butter come from
(not in the ingredient list) and what happens to the other cup of halved tomatoes? If desired? That’s a lot of tomatoes in the original recipe that might not be used.
Olivia says
Thank you for pointing it out. It was a typo. I just fixed it on the recipe card.
RMU says
i used organic boneless skinless chicken breasts. I added a few more spices to the chicken-garlic powder, thyme, paprika, crushed red pepper. I used orange blossom honey & raspberry blush because In didn’t have enough of one to make a full 1/3 cup. I also added a tbsp of corn starch to thicken the glaze. Since I didn’t have any cherry tomatoes, I used a can of organic no salt added diced tomatoes. My picky husband loved it.
SILVERBLONDE says
i used organic boneless skinless chicken breasts. I added a few more spices to the chicken-garlic powder, thyme, paprika, crushed red pepper. I used orange blossom honey & raspberry blush because In didn’t have enough of one to make a full 1/3 cup. I also added a tbsp of corn starch to thicken the glaze. Since I didn’t have any cherry tomatoes, I used a can of organic no salt added diced tomatoes. My picky husband loved it.