Za’atar Roasted Chicken Breast Recipe…an easy one-skillet chicken dinner that will have your taste buds going crazy (in a good way!) Za’atar is a flavor-packed spice blend of Mediterranean wild thyme and toasted sesame seed. You can find all-natural za’atar spice right here in our online store. Be sure to check out the step-by-step tutorial for this za’atar chicken!
Similar Dishes to Try: Rosemary Roasted Chicken with Vegetables; One Skillet Mediterranean Chicken; Greek Chicken Souvlaki; Briam Greek Roasted Vegetables
When I posted my recipe for cilantro-lime chicken thighs (another awesome chicken dinner, by the way), a reader wrote to me about her big dilemma involving her husband eating only chicken breast. Well friend, today is your day! But another dilemma that more of us deal with is that roasted chicken breasts are tricky to cook because they often end up on the dry side.
I’ve been experimenting with cooking chicken breasts for a little while now, and I can honestly say, this is one of the best roasted chicken breast recipes you will find. This recipe, adapted from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, is a spin off a chicken dinner from my childhood. The citrus-based marinade with all sorts of Eastern Mediterranean spices is the key to this recipe’s success. It acts as a tenderizer to the chicken breasts, meanwhile, infusing them with awesome flavor.
You are probably more familiar with allspice, sumac and other spices used here. But don’t let za’atar scare you. It is an amazing Middle Eastern spice blend that has both earthy and subtle citrus undertones. It often includes spices like marjoram or thyme, oregano, and sumac. And it always includes sesame seeds, which add a nice nutty and woodsy flavor to the spice mix.
We all love a roast chicken dinner. After all, it’s quick prep and you can let the oven do the hard work! You will not regret spicing up your roasted chicken breasts this way, though. What to serve it with? Try Israeli couscous salad, or roasted Greek potatoes.
Step-by-step instructions for this Za’atar Chicken:
In a mixing bowl, combine the marinade ingredients. Place the chicken in a deep dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cover with the marinade. To ensure good flavor, work some of the marinade underneath the skin of the chicken breasts. Cover and place the chicken in the fridge for at least four hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Transfer the chicken breasts and the marinade to a baking dish or a cast iron skillet. Sprinkle with a little more sumac and paprika. Now sprinkle 1 tbsp of the za’atar, and take another tbsp of za’atar to work underneath the skin of chicken breasts. You should have 1 tbsp za’atar left for later.
Place the chicken in the 400 degrees F heated-oven; roast for 40-45 mins.
Remove from heat, and sprinkle with a little more sumac and the remaining za’atar. Garnish with the toasted nuts and fresh parsley. Enjoy!
Za’atar Roasted Chicken Breast Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: serves 4 to 6 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Best roasted chicken breast recipe you will find! Marinated in lemon and olive oil; flavored with Mediterranean spices like allspice, sumac, paprika and topped with Za’atar. Roasted to fall-off-the-bone perfect.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
- Salt and pepper
- 3 tbsp Za’atar spice, divided
- 2 tbsp toasted shaved almonds
- 1 tbsp toasted pine nuts
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
For the Marinade
- 2 lemons, juice of
- 2/3 cup Private Reserve extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp Sumac, more for later
- 1 tbsp allspice
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp paprika, more for later
- 7 large garlic cloves, lightly crushed
- 1 medium red onion, sliced or roughly chopped
- 1/2 large lemon, sliced
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine the marinade ingredients.
- Place the chicken in a deep dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cover with the marinade. To ensure good flavor, work some of the marinade underneath the skin of the chicken breasts. Cover and place the chicken in the fridge for at least four hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Transfer the chicken breasts and the marinade to a baking dish or a cast iron skillet. Sprinkle with a little more sumac and paprika. Now sprinkle 1 tbsp of the za’atar, and take another tbsp of za’atar to work underneath the skin of chicken breasts. You should have 1 tbsp za’atar left for later.
- Place the chicken in the 400 degrees F heated-oven; roast for 40-45 mins.
- Remove from heat, and sprinkle with a little more sumac and the remaining za’atar. Garnish with the toasted nuts and fresh parsley. Enjoy!
Notes
- Recommended for This Recipe: Our All-Star Mediterranean Spice Trio: Za’atar, Sumac, Allspice. Sweet Spanish Paprika, and our Private Reserve Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil (from organically grown and processed Koroeniki Olives)
- SAVE! Try our Essential Spice Bundle and the Greek Olive Oil Bundle of two!
- Visit our store to browse our spices, olive oils and bundles!
- Category: Entree
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keywords: Baked chicken, Za'atar chicken, roasted chicken breast, roasted Za'atar chicken
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*Recipe inspired by my mom and Ottolenghi:The Cookbook.
If I made the Za’Atar Chicken with skinless Boneless Chicken breasts do I alter the oven temperature or cooking time?
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Hi Robin, boneless chicken breast will cook faster. You can keep the oven temperature as is; begin to check for doneness after 25 minutes or so. The internal temperature of the chicken needs to be 165/170 degrees F to be considered safe to eat.
Excellent recipe – really moist chicken with a wonderful flavor. Wondering if anyone has tried to crisp up the skin? I’m not sure it’s possible though, as the marinade definitely helps keep it really moist during cooking.
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Hi Martin! So glad you enjoyed it. It’s one of my favorites. It is very moist, and you’re right, the marinade is so important here.
Cant wait to try this. A friend of mine recently brought me back some sumac and za’taar from Lebanon and I’ve been looking for a yummy recipe to try it out. This is it 🙂 🙂
#FanfromSouthAfrica
Ameshnee! Thank you for stopping in! Hope you love this chicken recipe. it’s a favorite. And welcome to The Mediterranean Dish!
Excellent
★★★★★
Thank you!
We had this for a late lunch today and it was so delicious!
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Awesome, Judy! This is a favorite at my house too. Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi,
what kind of paprika is this? sweet? smoky? spicy?
thanks.
Hi Mira. I am so sorry that i’m just able to respond to your question now. You can use either sweet or spicy paprika here, but not smoked paprika. Enjoy!
My za’ atar chicken is marinating in the fridge at the moment. I’ll be cooking it in about 4 hrs for dinner tonight. It is increasingly difficult to find chicken breast with a bone in it here (in New Zealand), so my chicken is boneless. I’m going to serve it with your za’atar chickpea and eggplant salad and some wild rice. I know it’s a lot of za’atar, but I just love that chickpea dish and serve it with just about everything these days.
Many thanks for your step-by-step photos. They are most helpful when trying a dish for the very first time.
Merja…thank you so much for taking the time to write this thoughtful comment. I am so glad you tailored the chicken recipe to your needs. Hope you loved it. And…it’s never too much za’atar! Stop by again soon.
Is it possible to make this with boneless chicken breast? My husband does not like bones in his chicken.
Yes, absolutely! You just watch the cooking time as boneless chicken will roast quicker, depending on how thick the chicken breasts are.
Hi Suzy. Just found you and will follow you. This looks so yummy. I have everything I need to make it but I’m wondering about putting the marinade in the cast iron pan with the chicken. Does this tend to steam the chicken? Does the skin crisp up? Have you ever made it without adding the marinade (or maybe half) to the pan? Thanks in advance for your advice.
Valerie
Great question, Valerie! The chicken breasts are roasted uncovered, so steaming does not concern me too much in this case. I actually think the marinade helped both in the flavor and in keeping the chicken breasts from drying out. I have cooked it this way every time and have not been disappointed. If you feel more comfortable using only a portion of the marinade, please feel free. I always encourage people to follow their instincts and make the recipe their own. Let me know how it turns out for you!
This is an outstanding recipe, with flavors that were not familiar, yet I was inspired to give it a go.
Wow! Super! I would definitely make it again! It sounds complicated, but was really very easy. I made the marinade in the morning, and then just did the final preparations and baked it in the late afternoon. Next time, I would use both chicken breasts as well as thighs.
I live in a community where there are several international grocery markets, and had fun going on a hunt to find sumac and Za’ater. I spent about $7 for the 2 bags of spices, each one is about 10 ounces. Any more recipes you can post using this delicious flavors?
Keep posting your great recipes. This is the 3rd one I’ve made and my family and I love them all (also made Israeli Couscous and Lime and Cilantro chicken).
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Sue, this is awesome to hear! I am so glad you liked this Za’atar chicken. You are so right, this is not a hard recipe at all! Yes, I use both sumac and za’atar often, so you will make good use of the spices you bought. In fact, my recent kidney bean salad has sumac http://www.themediterraneandish.com/kidney-bean-salad/
Thanks so much for taking the time to share with me, Sue. Hope you stop by again soon! Hugs.
Suzy, I never comment on blogs but I want you to know how much I enjoy all of your beautiful and delicious posts. I have made four or five of your dishes since I started following you (only a couple weeks ago!) and they have all been not only fun to make but a huge hit with my family. I’m hooked! Thank you for filling our home with such tasty dinners! I’m hoping to make this za’atar roasted chicken tonight!
Anna, thank you so much for sharing this sweet comment here on the blog. It is so good to hear from those who regularly try my recipes! And I am so glad you’ve enjoyed making a few already! I’ll be eager to hear more about your cooking adventures!!! Thanks so much.
Super excited, Monica! I can’t wait to hear how you like it!!!
Just popped my chicken and marinade in the fridge – can’t wait for dinner tomorrow !!! I FINALLY get to use all these beautiful spices I bought and haven’t tried yet
I wish I hadn’t made chicken yesterday – I would be making this for sure! It’s going on next week’s menu! 🙂
Would love to hear how it goes for you!
Yum!
Za’atar — yes!
Yes indeed, Vicki!
Good day!This was a rlaely fine blog!I come from itlay, I was luck to find your blog in diggAlso I learn a lot in your blog rlaely thank your very much i will come every day
Thank you so much, Emre! I am glad you found me! Love to see you here. Happy cooking!
Fabulous recipe. Thank you so much. I cannot wait to try more of your recipes. I just joined. Cooking chicken in the cast iron is a superb way of keeping it moist and bursting with flavor. Looking forward to you next post!
Jane, welcome to The Mediterranean Dish! I am so glad you found me. This is one of my favorite ways to make chicken; you are right, the cast iron skillet helps a lot in keeping the chicken breast moist. Hope you give it a try soon! Keep in touch.
I love that it’s cooked in a cast iron skillet – the photos are amazing. I’ll bet it tasted out of this world too.
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Thanks, Maureen! I’m trying to learn a bit more of the photography piece. My hubby does better at it, he took these photos. Passing on the complement to him.
OMG this looks amazing…. I can’t wait to try it out!!
I just need to find Za’atar!
Thank you, Hannah! Let me know how it turns out for you!