One-pan Chicken And Chorizo With Cherry Tomatoes

The perfect one pan chicken and chorizo recipe

This is a great spring or summer casserole recipe, when tomatoes and basil are at their best.

On the other hand, one pan baked chicken and chorizo with cherry tomatoes is on regular rotation at our house, whatever the season.

It took me a long time to post this recipe, because I’d always seen it as Mr. Scrummy’s domain. When it’s his night to cook, many times he serves this.

Which means one important thing… it’s been perfected over many, many ‘makes’!

So why’s it so perfect?

• You only need five (or possibly six) simple main ingredients. There’s such a punch of flavor from the Spanish chorizo, garlic and the few other complimentary Mediterranean flavors.
• Chicken and chorizo are truly a match made in heaven. Add in really fresh basil, garlic and the mountains of yummy tomatoes and you’re really onto a winner chicken dinner.
• It’s a ‘dump and bake’ sort of recipe – truly a one pan meal with no pre-cooking at all. But no one will guess how simple it is from the incredibly delicious results. In less than an hour you’ll have a delicious home cooked chicken dinner on the table.
• It’s a great family friendly dinner for midweek. But it goes down equally as well for guests. You wouldn’t believe how much people rave over such a simple dish!
• It arguably tastes even better the next day, and it’s an excellent freezer meal!

About the ingredients

We really hope you come to love this simple stew as much as we do.

It’s so much more delicious than the sum of its parts, with only 5 main ingredients. And a 6th if you like!

Since the recipe doesn’t have many ingredients, I try to make the ingredients the best quality they can be. This way, each of the yummy Mediterranean flavors can shine!

• Chicken thighs: I like to use boneless skinless thighs to keep the meal leaner. But it’s fine to use bone in skin on. Cooking time is the same. I usually use 7-8 medium sized thighs.

• Chorizo: I usually buy a whole Spanish style chorizo (don’t confuse this with Mexican chorizo which is completely different). Some versions are not spicy at all, others are a little bit more spicy. Either is OK – it’s down to personal taste!
  
  However, since the chorizo is such a key flavor in this dish, try to find a good quality dark colored chorizo with an intense smoky, ‘umami’ (savory) flavor. Aldi usually has some good value options.

• Garlic: You’ll need a whole bulb of garlic, broken up into cloves. One more thing I love about this recipe is that you don’t have to peel the garlic before throwing it in (bonus!). Roasted garlic gets all sweet and soft and is delicious just squeezed out of the skin onto your plate.

• Cherry tomatoes: Loads of them! You can substitute with ‘grape tomatoes’ or any other small tomato variety. They ‘melt’ down into the dish, making an absolutely delicious sauce.

• Fresh basil: A whole bunch.

• Optional: balsamic vinegar: This adds a little bit of something. Mr. Scrummy misses it out, I drizzle a bit in!

Why so many tomatoes?

You might be a bit shocked by how many cherry tomatoes you’re tipping over your chicken and chorizo. But don’t worry, they’ll bake down to just the right amount.

But you can use any kind of tomatoes in this dish. If bigger tomatoes happen to be on sale where you live, just chop them into smaller chunks and toss them in instead of cherry tomatoes.

The only ‘rule’ is that you need A LOT. So it’s a great recipe to make when tomatoes of any kind are either on sale or in season.

Where I live, sometimes cherry tomatoes can be quite expensive in the winter. In this case, you can even use a can of cherry tomatoes in place of some of the fresh ones!

How do you make baked chicken and chorizo?

This is a true one pan meal with very little hands-on time necessary. Dinner’s a breeze when this is on the menu!

This is how you make it:

Step 1: Throw everything apart from the tomatoes into the baking dish – you don’t even peel the garlic cloves if you don’t want to (hello delicious roasted garlic smooshed onto your plate).

Step 2: Pour the cherry tomatoes over the top.

Step 3: Drizzle over olive oil and the optional balsamic vinegar.

How to serve your casserole

• I like to keep this chorizo chicken tray bake the simple recipe that it is by serving it with these 2-minute olive oil toasts (perfect for smooshing the roasted garlic onto!). And perhaps a very simple green salad. If you want to level up the toasts, try these 10-minute parmesan toasts. This is all you need. The toast is perfect for mopping up the delicious sauce!
• If you like though you can go the extra mile and serve it with your favorite potatoes – mashed, roasted or fried. I highly recommend these incredible Greek potatoes or roasted cauliflower mash.
• Have a little extra time? You won’t regret making this homemade Greek style bread to go with your casserole! Or how about garlic bread made speedily in your air fryer?
• Or choose another potato side dish (plenty to choose from here!). Yum!
• A rice dish could go well, too. How about this simple Greek lemon rice with chickpeas?

What’s the best wine to serve with Spanish chicken thighs with chorizo? I’d go for a fruity Rioja, Malbec, Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon. If you’re in the mood for white, a Sauvignon blanc would be a good choice.

Variations

• The strong, smoky and spicy flavors of the chorizo are absolutely key in this dish. If you wanted to, however, you could try it with chunky, smoked pancetta or bacon instead (or as well!).

• I feel like there’s plenty of smoky paprika flavor in the dish already if you use a good quality chorizo. However feel free to sprinkle a teaspoon of sweet or smoked paprika over the chicken before baking for an extra hit of flavor.

• Add some baby potatoes for a ‘patatas bravas’ version of the dish. Patatas bravas is a tasty Spanish tapas dish meaning spicy potatoes!
  
  I’d cut the potatoes in half (especially if they’re on the larger side), drizzle with olive oil and give them a 20-minute head start in the oven before adding everything else to your tray bake.

• Stir some big olives in for the last 10 minutes of the cooking time (watch your teeth if they have stones in!).

Storing and freezing

Somehow we think this tastes even better the next day. Throw any leftovers into sealed storage containers (or just cover the baking dish with aluminium foil for easy reheating) and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.

It reheats really well in the microwave – around 4 and a half minutes usually does it.

Alternatively you can freeze any leftovers in well sealed food containers or bags for up to 6 months. It tastes as good as new when defrosted and reheated.

More one pan chicken dinners

• Chicken and brussel sprouts with mushrooms and honey balsamic sauce (delicious AND healthy!)

• This one pan Greek chicken and potatoes is another eternal family favorite. Try it and you’ll see why.

• Ever tried a tagine? This Moroccan chicken stew is so easy to make, and a crowd pleaser the whole family will enjoy.

• This amazing sheet pan chicken tikka puts a delicious, healthy Indian twist on a chicken tray bake.

• The simplest stove top chicken and rice (30-minute meal!)

• One pan maple, orange and pecan chicken

Or click here to search my one-pot meal archives: this is my favourite kind of meal, so there are too many to list them all here!