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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.
Crazy delicious! My family RAVED about this dish! Easy, healthy, memorable; a real hit that gained immediate entry into the rotation and can be made on a weekday (or for company!)
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.
Serving Suggestions
- I serve my tomato baked chicken up with a little basmati 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!
If you like this recipe you might also like:
- Pesto Baked Chicken with Mozzarella
- Garlic Butter Baked Chicken Breasts (20 minutes!)
- Garlic Butter Baked Chicken with Mozzarella
Garlic Butter Tomato Baked Chicken with Mozzarella
Equipment
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade:
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- ¼ – ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 4 chicken breasts boneless skinless
Balsamic Tomato Pan Sauce:
- 3 cups cherry tomatoes halved
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons chopped basil
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1½ cups mozzarella cheese shredded
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.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
Delicious! I’ve made it several times and this last time I had fresh tomatoes from my garden and it was sooo good! I’ve been sharing it with lots of people too 🙂 My chicken breasts were very thick, so I halved them. The pan sauce was a little watery but I spooned it over pasta and it was fine. This made great leftovers too!
This is a regular crowd pleaser! It is part of our regular rotation as it is easy enough for weekdays and looks pretty enough for company. I often double the sauce.
Hi! New to your site and LOVE! Just was wondering the carbs in this dish minus the pasta?
Hi Tess! Welcome! Currently we don’t provide the nutritional information on recipes. We find that it can vary quite a bit, in this case, the type of mozzarella used can change the fat content significantly. But you can copy the URL of this page and paste it into this nutrition calculator It’ll auto populate the ingredients. From there, you can add the exact brand of products and get the most accurate info! Hope that helps 🙂
Just finished eating this! Big hit with the kid on top of pasta. We didn’t have any balsamic but it definitely does need something vinegary in the sauce – I used fig vinegar which was just fine. I’ve made it with and without marinating the chicken, and marinating really does make a difference.
Crazy delicious! My family RAVED about this dish! Easy, healthy, memorable; a real hit that gained immediate entry into the rotation and can be made on a weekday (or for company!).
Can i use beefsteak tomatoes and cut them up? it’s all i have right now!
I’m making this right now and it already smells aaamazing!! I’ll leave a review!! Thank you for the recipe ❤
This recipe is easy and very tasty. I noticed a lot of people used substitute ingredients and since I am in a seasonal home that I don’t stock fully, I improvised. I didn’t have balsamic vinegar (and I don’t care for it much), so I used red wine vinegar. I used basil and oregano instead of Italian seasoning, fresh thyme instead of dried, and dried minced garlic instead of powder. Finally, I didn’t have honey or really anything like it. The only thing I could think to use was a fig spread I had gotten for baked brie. This turned out really nice. My husband commented that it tasted a bit sweet but in a good way. Overall without the balsamic or honey it was less sweet than it would have been and seemed nicely balanced. He said he would eat it again, so that’s an endorsement!
Just made this for the first time and it was a big hit with my family, and very straightforward to prepare. I can tell this is going to be a weekly favourite!
Made this last night for dinner and it was amazing! So delicious and easy to make. Served it over some orzo. Will definitely be making this again and again.
You must try it!
My husband loves this. I make breasts and thighs. I also add spinach and mushrooms to the tomato combo. We serve it over brown rice. He can’t get enough of this, and he is picky.
This was surprisingly good for being so simple, just as you said. I used dried basil. Had huge chicken breasts so I doubled the marinade and they took longer to cook. I didn’t have time so marinated for only 30 mins. Husband liked it a lot. Thanks!
I make this all the time now. Everyone loves it. Even the pickiest eaters can’t get enough of it. I went looking for a recipe to use up a bunch of cherry tomatoes I had. Found this one and bonus, it asked for Balsamic as well. I had a great bottle of balsamic vinegar my brother had given me for Christmas a few years ago and I had hardly used any of it. It was so thick and delicious, I really wanted something special to use it on. Well this was it. Be sure and get the best Balsamic you can afford to make this dish over the top. I serve with Rice, Caesar salad and Rosemary Garlic Artisan Bread to mop up every drop of that delicious sauce.
Love your sides, Judy! And a great tip on the balsamic vinegar!
This was super easy and delicious. Everyone in my family enjoyed. I roasted some broccolini and made garlic bread to go along. It was a great dinner!
So glad to hear it was enjoyed, Genevieve! Appreciate you circling back to leave a review 🙂
Tried this tonight. Doubled the marinade for 3 large chicken breasts. Mine needed longer to cook for sure. Very easy to put together. I used fresh Mozzerella on top. I will add salt and pepper to the marinade next time as it needed more seasoning. I’ll be making this again.
Incredibly delicious and so easy to make. What a wonderful combination of flavors! I marinated the chicken for 4 hours and extended the baking time to 30 minutes. Next time I think I will drizzle a balsamic glaze over all of it at the end.
Balsamic glaze would be delicious on this!
Thank you SO MUCH for this fabulous recipe! I have made it 3x in the past month! I use 2 lbs of breasts and thighs and bump up all of the other ingredients, and in addition to the mozzarella on top of the chicken, I add fresh mozzarella to the tomato mixture. The sauce is AMAZING!!!
Sounds delicious, Denise! Appreciate you circling back to leave a comment 🙂
Yum! Next time i will double the chicken for this house. I would make just the tomatoes again & again even adding other vegies. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth so I code do less honey.
Hello! I was wondering if I could throw in veggies such as asparagus, or broccoli in with the tomato sauce while the chicken cooks to enjoy as a side. I figured the sauce may give the veggies a yummy flavor if so.
This meal looks so pretty by the way!
Extra veggies would be delicious, Kiera! I wouldn’t throw them in from the start unless you prefer them on the softer side. Maybe around halfway or even later if you want to keep them al dente!
I was looking for something different to make with chicken breasts tonight that was easy. I came across this recipe and had all of the ingredients! I served it over pasta with olive oil, extra chopped basil and fresh Parmesan and spooned the sauce over it. It tasted great and smelled amazing while cooking!! The chicken came out great too, juicy and not dry.
Love when it just so happens that you have everything on hand! Appreciate you taking the time to come back and leave a comment, Andrea 🙂