You will fall in love with this easy Balsamic Chicken dish with tender chicken breast cooked on a sheet pan with tons of veggies, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and spices. It's the perfect one pan meal for an easy weeknight dinner.
One of my go-tos ,when I'm in a hurry for something delicious and nutritious is to make a sheet pan dinner. I almost always have the ingredients on hand, too. (The only place I get tripped up at times is when I forget to take the chicken out of the freezer.)
Another great thing about a sheet pan meal is that you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand. For this Sheet Pan Balsamic Chicken and Vegetables, I used mushrooms, onions, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes. But you could very easily use any vegetables that are needing to be eaten up (hello, farmers market finds).
Also, because my husband and I are such fans of all things balsamic vinegar, what better way to dress up the chicken and vegetables than to toss them in the delightful flavor of balsamic, plus garlic, olive oil, and spices, of course? Can't you just feel your taste buds perking up as we speak? I know mine are!
How can you customize Balsamic Chicken and Vegetables?
As I mentioned, it's easy to customize a sheet pan chicken and vegetable dish with whatever floats your boat, vegetable, and seasoning-wise. Here are some of my other favorite ways to make this dish:
- Use chicken thighs or breasts with the skin on for a richer, crispier roast to your chicken. Remove the skin when you're ready to eat to conserve some of that fat intake.
- Add kale to the veggie roast or other hearty greens like spinach, Swiss chard, or even shredded cabbage.
- Use red wine vinegar if you don't like balsamic or have red wine vinegar on hand.
- Switch up the Italian seasoning for another kind of seasoning. Some of my favorites include jerk, Cajun, chili, ranch, Greek (or Mediterranean), Thai, or a taco/fajita blend.
- Buy a pre-made veggie mix (fresh, not frozen) at the store and use that in your sheet pan. It saves time and makes life so much easier. Mix up the veggies for extra fun.
- If you want your sheet pan meal to be a little more filling try adding some diced or sliced potatoes to it — russet, red, yellow, or even sweet potatoes would work in this dish.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Shred the chicken once it is finished cooking and dice/slice the veggies thin. Add the chicken back to the sheet pan after you've shredded it. Use tongs to add the whole shebang to a tortilla or taco shell. Top with some feta, goat, or Parmesan cheese for a Meditteranean taco.
- Add this over white, brown, or even cauliflower rice.
- These ingredients would make a great topping for a baked potato, wouldn't they?
- Make a side of mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower for a lower-carb option.
- Add the chicken and veggies to a hoagy roll or put inside some crusty bread with low-fat cheese and press on a panini press or a griddle.
What can I use instead of a sheet pan?
No sheet pan? No problem. You can use any of the following for baking this dish:
- A casserole dish — just make sure it's big enough that the chicken and veggies will fit in a single layer or it won't cook (unless you want to take it out of the oven several times to stir/mix/flip everything around).
- You can also use a large cake pan to cook up a sheet pan chicken and vegetable dish.
- Do you know that broiler pan that comes with your oven? That works great as a sheet pan in a pinch.
- If you have a cookie sheet with no edges, you can use that too BUT be sure to line it with foil and make sure that foil goes up at least an inch on the sides to make your own rimmed sheet pan (otherwise, you'll end up with a huge mess).
- Take out that big turkey roaster you only use once a year.
- You can also use disposable turkey roasters or other roasting pans that you can find in the grocery store.
- Use a large cake pan with raised sides (circular, square, rectangle, doesn't matter as long as there's room — use two if necessary).
- You can also use an oven-safe skillet or cast iron pan.
What is the difference between a sheet pan and a cookie sheet?
If you're baking cookies, then it doesn't matter if you use a cookie sheet or a baking sheet pan. However, if you are making something like this chicken and veggie sheet pan dish that involves sauces and juices, in that case, you'd better be careful which you use.
Cookie sheets generally do not have raised edges (okay, they have one raised edge, but that doesn't count). Baking sheets do have raised edges on all sides and are the perfect thing for making sheet pan dinners.
Meal Prep Ideas
I absolutely love throwing this in the oven on Sunday and packing it up all week for work. To keep things interesting, here are some ways I prep this dish for lunches and easy dinners.
- Grain bowls are your best friend. Cook some brown rice, farro, or quinoa and load this up on top. Use frozen or pre-cooked to make it super easy.
- Turn this into a more Meditterean dish one day by adding it to some greens and topping everything with feta cheese and olives.
- This makes a killer wrap in a whole grain wrap with hummus and greens.
- Make a quesadilla with some melted mozzarella cheese and a low carb tortilla.
- Grab some cauliflower rice for a low carb option.