One-pan Chicken And Chorizo With Cherry Tomatoes
on Jun 20, 2022, Updated Oct 29, 2025
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We’ve been making this super easy Spanish style one-pan chicken and chorizo for literally years, and it never disappoints. Just throw chicken, chorizo, garlic, cherry tomatoes and basil into a baking dish… and bake! It’s equally perfect for entertaining as it is for a quick and easy family meal.
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The perfect one pan chicken and chorizo recipe
It took me a long time to post this one pan chicken & chorizo 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? Well, chicken and chorizo are truly a match made in heaven. Add in really fresh basil, garlic and mountains of cherry tomatoes and it’s a perfect mix of fresh and punchy Mediterranean flavors.
Also, you don’t need to pre-cook anything. Just pile it all into the one big dish and pop it into the oven. In less than an hour you’ll have a delicious home cooked chicken dinner on the table.
Arguably, this dish tastes even better reheated the next day. What’s for sure is that it’s on regular rotation at our house. We’ve made it both for ourselves and for guests too many times to count, and you wouldn’t believe how much people rave over such a simple dish!
📌Recipe snapshot
- A true one pan dinner. No pre-cooking at all!
- Perfect for prepping ahead.
- Just 5 (or possibly 6) main ingredients (perfect when tomatoes and basil are at their best)
- Serve with your favorite fresh bread or toast.
- Excellent freezer meal.
About the ingredients
You’ll find a full list of ingredients with amounts in the recipe card below. But here’s a summary of what you need to know.
We really hope you come to love this simple chicken chorizo casserole as much as we do. 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!
This is all you need:
- 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: 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. You can substitute with ‘grape tomatoes’ or any other small tomato variety. They ‘melt’ down into the dish, making an absolutely delicious sauce. However… 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.
- 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!
How do you make one pan 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.
Step 4: Pop the dish into the oven for about an hour and let the magic happen. The massive amounts of cherry tomatoes will melt over the chorizo and chicken and other flavours, leaving you with a beautifully tasty sauce.
Helen’s Top Tips
- 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!
- After 50 minutes I usually stir the dish a little so that some of the chicken and chorizo pokes above the tomatoes. Then I bake for another 10 minutes to allow everything to get browned and very delicious looking on top!
- Got leftover chorizo? Try these easy halloumi kebabs with chorizo, tomatoes and honey lime dressing or this quick and easy creamy chorizo pasta.
- Love chicken and chorizo? Check out this easy chicken and chorizo risotto, too!
- What about dessert? To go with the Spanish theme, I highly recommend this easy and impressive San Sebastian cheesecake aka burnt Basque cheesecake.
How to serve your casserole
- I like to keep this chorizo chicken 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?
- A rice dish could go well, too. How about this simple Greek lemon rice with chickpeas?
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!).
- 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, drizzle with olive oil and give them a 20-minute head start in the oven before adding everything else to your tray bake. Make sure you use a really big baking dish that will fit everything in without overcrowding the pan.
- 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
- This one pan Greek chicken and potatoes is another eternal family favorite. Try it and you’ll see why.
- This baked honey mustard chicken thigh dinner has to be the easiest chicken thigh dinner ever. You barely even need a recipe!
- The simplest stove top chicken and rice (30-minute meal!)
- If you love this dish, you’ll enjoy this stovetop Mediterranean chicken casserole, too.
- Chicken and brussel sprouts with mushrooms and honey balsamic sauce (delicious AND healthy!)
- This amazing sheet pan chicken tikka puts a delicious, healthy Indian twist on a chicken tray bake.
One-pan Chicken And Chorizo With Cherry Tomatoes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds chicken thighs, boneless, skinless (about 8 medium thighs, but a little more or less is fine)
- 1 bulb garlic, split into cloves but unpeeled
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 5 ounces chorizo, Around one good quality sausage, chopped into small pieces. You can add more to taste if you like.
- 1 bunch basil, chopped or torn
- 2.75 pounds tomatoes, I use cherry tomatoes for ease, but any small tomatoes or chopped larger ones will work
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, optional
- toasted bread with olive oil and salt or mashed potatoes, to serve (optional)
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C / 355F.
- Place the chicken thighs in a large baking dish. Scatter the garlic cloves in between/over them, then grind over a generous amount of salt and pepper.1.5 pounds chicken thighs, 1 bulb garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper
- Scatter the chorizo pieces over the chicken, followed by the basil and then the tomatoes.5 ounces chorizo, 1 bunch basil, 2.75 pounds tomatoes
- Drizzle over the olive oil and balsamic vinegar (if using), then bake for around an hour until the tomatoes are slightly charred and the chicken is cooked through and slightly browned where it pokes through the sauce. Toss and stir once half way through cooking.1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- Serve in dishes with toasted bread with olive oil or with a potato side dish.toasted bread with olive oil and salt or mashed potatoes
Made this in cast iron skillet on my Weber kettle bbq and added some applewood smoke and a couple of chillis. Turned out amazingly delicious for a few simple ingredients. Banging recipe which will be a regular go to in this (UK) house!
Hello Mark, and thank you so much for the review. So interesting to hear how you made it, and that it still turned out delicious! We’ve been making this for literally years in our house, and it never ceases to amaze me how delicious it is for so few ingredients, as you say. If you like fish, I’d also highly recommend this recipe: Greek oven baked fish Again, a few simple ingredients, but incredibly yummy!
At your suggestion, I tried this tonight after loving the butternut squash and chorizo salad last week. This was wonderful too! The juicy tomatoes, garlic, and salty chorizo all complimented each other so we’ll. We served with steamed green beans and toasted buttered baguette slices. I think this would easily scale up for a large dinner party. Will definitely be keeping this in my regular rotation!
Hello Blair! Oh, I’m so happy you decided to try it! Thank you! The flavours work really magically together, don’t they? One more suggestion: I don’t remember if you said what part of the world you’re in, but this chicken and butternut squash satay curry is another one of our ‘go-to’ recipes that never lets us down. It’s really perfect either for midweek meals (+ extra for the freezer) and also for serving to guests. I hope you don’t mind my suggestions! 😉
Hi can I use chicken breast as I don’t like thighs or legs
Hi Hannah! You can but if I were you I’d add put the dish into the oven without the chicken, then tuck the chicken into the tomatoes etc about 30 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Chicken breasts are a little less forgiving if they’re overcooked so you don’t want to end up with really dry meat. Good luck!
I have made this 4 times now & I have to say it’s up there with the most flavoursome & easy recipes I’ve done! During corona virus times it was extremely hard to find fresh basil but I’ve tried it tonight with dried. I also use lazy garlic & whole cloves because I love it strong! I’ve passed this on so many times thank u for showing us
Hi Fiona! Thank you so much for the glowing review! It’s really good to hear you made this successfully with dried basil and lazy garlic. I have a similar version on the site with potatoes (patatas bravas traybake) if you’re interested in trying that one too!
I love your recipe, I’ll be making it again!
Thank you so much for letting me know, Shadi. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I adore this recipe! I’ve made it four times now thanks Helen.
If I wanted to add onions, would I soften them in the pan first? I know I shouldn’t ask as the recipe is perfect as it is!
Hi Rachel! I’m so glad you like one of our favourite recipes! This has got to be the recipe that’s made most often in our house 😉 We have actually tried it with onions a couple of times. We don’t pre-cook them, we just add them with everything else. We quite liked the taste but it did make the dish a little more watery. In the long run we’ve just stuck with the original recipe! Thank you so much for reporting back! 🙂
This was a hit for dinner!! So easy and the chorizo added magnificent flavor! Thanks for another winner, Helen!
You’re welcome, Liz. I’m so glad you liked it!
Helen, gonna try this tonight but with tinned tomatoes and a little tomato paste and dried basil.
Just a thought; would it be OK with pork mince seasoned with sage and made into meatballs?
Hi Kevin! I suppose you either tried this or didn’t by now? I’m not sure if it would work as well with tinned tomatoes, but you never know. Did you try it? I like the sound of the pork meatballs!
Hi, do you need to add any liquid to the recipe or does the sauce just come from the tomatoes?
Hi Dave! No, the cherry tomatoes kind of melt down in the oven and make a delicious sauce!
Thank you, I’ve just made your baked chicken with chorizo and tomatoes. It’s extremely easy and delicious. I didn’t have any cherry tomatoes so I just poured in a tin of peeled tomatoes. and it was quite delicious, although with fresh I can imagine that it would be better. I am now on my own and need recipes like this because after 50 years it’s difficult to reduce quantities sufficiently so freezing what’s left works for me.
Hi Arthur! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave your review. I’m so glad you found this recipe useful! We’ve been making it for literally years now and always have some left over for the freezer (or the next few night’s dinner!).
Definitely try it again with the cherry tomatoes (at least 3 or 4 punnets!). I think you’ll notice the difference. But it’s great to know that this still turns out well if you use canned tomatoes!
Made this for family tonight. Easy to do. We all loved it. Now I’m recipe book, thanks. 👌
Hi Kevan! So happy the family liked this one. It’s ever popular in our house too. Pretty much the recipe we have made the most for the longest length of time. It feeds us for 2 days too, so that’s another bonus. Thanks so much for leaving a review!
Fantastic recipe, I made in slow cooker enough for two days love it with bread,
Hi Richard! Thanks so much for taking the time to pop back and leave your review. I’m really interested to hear that you made it in the slow cooker! I’ve never tried this because I like the way the chicken and tomatoes go a bit sticky and brown in the oven. I’d be interested to see if you prefer it this way or in the slow cooker – or if it makes no difference to you!
In any case, so glad you enjoyed it. It’s been one of our go-to meals for literally years!
Everyone said I had made to much, funny really nothing left and everyone wanting more!!! Fantastic meal.
Hi Jim, thank you so much for taking the time to leave your feedback. I always appreciate it – especially when it’s good news!
I’m so glad you proved everyone wrong and they enjoyed the meal so much! This is still one of our go-to midweek meals. We love it!
Hi Helen! This looks delicious, but I’m bed-ridden and rely on carers. Is there a way to do this in a crockpot/slow cooker? 🤔
Hello Emma! I really don’t see why you couldn’t try this in a crockpot. I’d just make sure to use skinless boneless thighs and possibly not as many tomatoes because there’s always more liquid in a slow cooker. I can’t guarantee it as I haven’t tried it this way, but I have a feeling it would still be delicious. I’m not sure there’s too much that could go wrong (famous last words!). Please do let me know if you do give it a go!
Thanks, Helen, will do 🙂
Please excuse my ignorance. It says Chorizo, but there are several kinds of Chorizo. Did you use use beef, pork, or something else. Plan to make it tomorrow, so I bought both kinds.
Hi Margaret! We like to use classic Spanish chorizo – the one you buy in a big long sausage and peel the skin off before using. I think it’s made of pork (?). To be honest though I don’t think it matters too much which chorizo you use – any will give the dish a lovely flavour. I hope you enjoy it!
Thank you for your reply. I will use the pork. Wednesday nights are family dinner nights, so I like to come up with something different each week.
No problem, Margaret. That’s a really good idea – I like it! Well I really hope this doesn’t disappoint!
One dish easy meals are the best! Also it looks like it makes quite a lot so it can go over a few nights if there are just two of you! 😀
This always lasts us 2 nights, plus an extra portion for one of us for lunch on the third day 😉
J’aime beaucoup tes vidéos Helen, c’est incroyable comment ça pareil encore plus simple! Une belle recette qui donne très envie de la goûter!
Merci, Eva! Je suis tres heureuse d’avoir fait la recette encore plus simple!
Oodles of flavor? Sold! I’m so glad Mr. Scrummy got you to post this recipe…. even if it did take a little while to get out there (no worries, I have several of those too). I love how quick and easy this is to make – so perfect for a delicious and hardy weeknight meal. And I love the video too!
Thanks, Kathleen! At least we had lots of time to perfect the recipe!
This dish looks awesome Helen! Love the video, too! Love chorizo and can’t wait to try it!
Thanks so much, Mira!
Hele, thank you so much! Love this combination of ingredients! Two questions:
1. Do you cover it in the oven? (I have fears it would burn otherwise)
2. Can we make this in a cast-iron casserolle?
Please suuggest, I ahve all ingredient at home and will make this onight:-)
have a great weekend!
Hi! So sorry for the late reply… I hope you still made this and it turned out OK! For next time, though… don’t cover in the oven, just keep an eye on it and stir about half way through (you want the tomatoes to be almost slightly charred on top). You can DEFINITEY make it in a cast iron casserole – that’s how I make mine 🙂 Good luck!
This is a lovely comforting dish and I love how easy it is. I’ll just need some crusty bread to mop up all the lovely sauce 🙂
You definitely need the crusty bread, Janette!