Lemon Olive Chicken Skillet – 🍋🫒🎉 This EASY chicken skillet recipe is full of big flavors including bright and tangy lemons, zesty Spanish olives, oregano, garlic, and onions! This ONE skillet recipe is ready in 30 minutes and tastes like it’s from a fancy restaurant, but it’s simple enough to make on busy weeknights to level up your chicken dinner game!
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Easy Lemon Olive Chicken Skillet Recipe
If you love the fresh and tart flavor of lemons, along with the briney bold flavor of olives, this easy chicken skillet recipe with lemons and olives is going to be right up your alley!
After searing and cooking the chicken thighs that are seasoned with oregano, I sauteed onions and garlic, and then deglazed the pan with a splash of white wine and chicken broth and added the olives and lemon slices.
The resulting chicken is not only so moist and juicy (gotta love chicken thighs for this reason), but it’s also loaded with layers of bright, bold, and peppy flavors!
You’re going to love this recipe because:
- It’s made in one skillet
- Ready in 30 minutes total time
- Great for weeknight dinners but feels and tastes fancy enough to serve to company or for Sunday family dinner
- Made with just a handful of common and everyday ingredients
Ingredients in Chicken with Lemons and Olives
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs – you can also use bone-in chicken thighs; read the FAQs below if you want to sub with chicken breasts
- Salt
- Pepper
- All-purpose flour
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Dry white wine – Wondering what kind to use or if you have to use wine? See the FAQs below
- Reduced sodium chicken broth
- Spanish olives – typically green olives stuffed with pimentos, consult the FAQs for alternative names these olives may go by
- Sliced lemons – you can also use preserved lemons
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How To Make Spanish Olive Lemon Chicken
- Pat dry and season the chicken with salt, pepper, dried oregano, lightly flour, add to a large skillet with olive oil, and sear on each side and cook through, about 4-6 minutes per side over medium high heat. Remove and set aside.
- Add the onions and saute for about 3 minutes, before adding the garlic and saute for 1 minute.
- Deglaze the pan with the wine, broth, and then add the olives and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the chicken back into the skillet, add the sliced lemon, spoon the pan sauce over the chicken, simmer momentarily, and serve!
what to serve with olive and lemon Moroccan chicken
I definitely encourage you to serve this easy chicken skillet recipe with something to mop up all the fantastic lemony, garlicky pan sauce such as rice, Spanish rice, quinoa, couscous, or mashed potatoes. And from there, any type of roasted veggie or side salad is perfect.
Recipe FAQs
Not everyone is a fan of olives but this recipe was designed to take advantage of the briney, bold flavor olives deliver so you should use them. However, if you’re looking for a lemon chicken recipe WITHOUT olives, I suggest my Lemon Dijon Chicken Skillet, this Creamy Parmesan Lemon Chicken Skillet, or any of the lemon chicken recipes below the recipe card section.
I used Spanish olives which are green olives stuffed with pimentos. Sometimes they’re called Queen Olives, Manzanilla Olives, or a version of those adjectives. I suggest using something along these lines – whatever you can find at your local grocery store should do the trick. If you can’t find green olives stuffed with pimento, pitted green olives will be fine – just make sure they’re pitted! You can also use a mix of various marinated olives, such as those from an in-store olive bar. I would not use black olives in this dish but it’s up to you.
Boneless skinless chicken breasts are a perfectly fine substitute. Make sure to select chicken breasts that are about 1/2-pound each and not huge so they don’t take too long to cook through. If necessary, pound gently with a meat tenderizing tool if one side is much thicker compared to the other side as is frequently the case with chicken breasts.
No, you don’t and can use chicken broth exclusively. However, a splash (and that’s all this really is) of wine adds so much rich depth of flavor to the dish and I personally wouldn’t skip it. The alcohol content in 1/4 cup of wine after simmering is negligible, and this dish serves 6-8 people.
Look for a dry white such as sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, chardonnay, or another dry white you have on hand. Make sure not to cook with a sweeter white like moscato!
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Lemon Olive Chicken Skillet
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, (read the FAQs for using chicken breasts)
- Salt, as needed
- Freshly ground black pepper, as needed
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano, divided
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 3 to 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
- ¼ cup dry white wine, such as sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, chardonnay
- ¾ cup chicken broth, I use reduced sodium broth
- 1 cup Spanish green olives, drained (green olives stuffed with pimentos)
- 1 medium to large lemon, sliced into thin rounds
- fresh parsley, optional for garnishing
Instructions
- Pat the chicken dry, season it generously on both sides with salt and pepper, then evenly sprinkle it with the dried oregano.
- Lightly coat each piece of chicken in flour, on both sides. If necessary use a bit more (or less), whatever it needed to just lightly coat it. Shake off the excess.
- To a large skillet, add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, add the chicken to the skillet, sear it and cook it through fully, about 4 to 6 minutes per side. When it's done, remove it and set it on a plate; and cover with foil to keep warm. Tips – Once you place the chicken in the skillet, resist the temptation to "check" on it and move it around. Allow it to just be, which is what will give it a nice sear. Make sure the chicken is cooked through to 165F as measured by a digital read thermometer.
- Do not remove any of the pan juices in the skillet. Add the additional 1 tablespoon olive oil, or more if desired, add the onions, and saute for about 3-4 minutes, or until soft and translucent; stir very frequently.
- Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute; stir nearly constantly.
- Deglaze the pan by add the wine (caution – it will bubble up and steam aggressively for a few seconds so stand back), then add the chicken broth, and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Add the olives and let the mixture simmer for about 3 minutes, or until the liquid volume has reduced slightly and thickened.
- Return the cooked chicken to the skillet, spoon the pan juices over the chicken, tossing and flipping the chicken around in the sauce to coat it evenly.
- Add the lemon slices to the pan, and allow the mixture to simmer for about 2-3 minutes. Tip – For bolder lemon flavor, you can add 1 teaspoon lemon zest (zest the lemon before slicing it) and/or add lemon juice from an extra lemon.
- Optionally garnish with parsley and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Thank you Averie
Can’t wait to try this sans olives
While I LOVE olive oil, and use extra virgin, daily in my salad dressing and in baking,
I can’t stand olives stand alone. . .green or black
:-/
I hope you love it!