Why You’ll Love This this Mediterranean Chicken Pasta
This Mediterranean chicken pasta brings together tender, perfectly seasoned chicken with tangy kalamata olives, briny capers, and creamy feta cheese in one gorgeous, flavor-packed dish.
You get all those bright, sunny Mediterranean flavors without having to juggle a million different pots and pans, which honestly makes my weeknight dinner planning so much easier.
The whole thing comes together in about 20 minutes, so you can have something that tastes like it took hours when really you just threw some pantry staples together with a chicken breast.
Ingredients List
You’ll need just a handful of simple ingredients to create this Mediterranean masterpiece that honestly feels way fancier than the effort you’re putting in.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1/2 medium red onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, drained
- 2 teaspoons capers
- 10 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced in half
- 2 cups cooked pasta
- 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Here’s what I love about this ingredient list from a health perspective:
- The olive oil brings heart-healthy monounsaturated fats that your body actually craves
- Lean chicken breast delivers protein without all the saturated fat you’d get from thighs
- Those kalamata olives and capers might seem indulgent, but they’re packed with antioxidants and healthy fats
- Fresh garlic and onions add flavor while boosting your immune system naturally
- The feta cheese gives you calcium and protein, plus a little goes a long way for that tangy punch
Step by Step Directions
This Mediterranean chicken pasta comes together in about 20 minutes with simple sautéing and simmering techniques that build incredible flavor.
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat.
- Pound the chicken breast until it reaches an even thickness throughout.
- Add chicken to the hot skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes on the first side until the meat appears white nearly all the way through with just a touch of pink remaining at the top.
- Flip the chicken and cook for another 3-4 minutes on the second side.
- Remove the cooked chicken from skillet and set aside on a cutting board.
- Add the diced red onion and minced garlic to the same skillet, adding more oil if necessary to prevent burning.
- Sauté the onion and garlic for about 1 minute until fragrant.
- Add the drained diced tomatoes, capers, and halved kalamata olives to the skillet.
- Simmer the sauce mixture for 3-4 minutes while you slice the chicken into strips.
- Place 1 cup of cooked pasta on each serving plate.
- Cover each portion of pasta with half of the tomato olive sauce.
- Top each plate with half of the sliced chicken strips.
- Sprinkle half of the crumbled feta cheese over each serving.
For even better heat distribution and durability, consider upgrading to professional stainless steel cookware which will elevate your cooking results.
Substitutions and Variations
- Pasta alternatives – Zucchini noodles, cauliflower rice, or even stuffed into bell peppers if you’re going the low-carb route and feeling particularly ambitious.
- Spice things up – A pinch of red pepper flakes or a squeeze of lemon juice can wake up all those Mediterranean flavors, especially if your tomatoes are being a bit bland and boring.
Additional Things to Serve With This Dish
This pasta is pretty hearty on its own, but sometimes you want to turn dinner into a proper Mediterranean feast.
- Crusty bread – Because let’s be truthful, you’re going to want something to soak up every last drop of that tomato sauce, and garlic bread never met a pasta dish it didn’t love.
- Simple green salad – Arugula with a basic vinaigrette cuts through all that rich feta and olive oil beautifully, plus it makes you feel like you’re eating vegetables even though you’re basically having cheese and carbs for dinner.
- Roasted vegetables – Zucchini, bell peppers, or eggplant tossed with olive oil and herbs, because apparently we’re committing fully to this whole Mediterranean thing.
- Greek-style cucumber salad – Cucumbers, red onion, and a splash of red wine vinegar, which is invigorating and crunchy and makes the meal feel more complete.
- A glass of wine – Not exactly food, but a crisp white wine or light red pairs wonderfully with all these bold flavors, assuming you’re into that sort of thing.
Cooking Tips & Tricks (Chef’s Notes)
A few small tricks can turn this already delicious dish into something that’ll make you feel like you actually know what you’re doing in the kitchen.
- Pound that chicken evenly – I can’t stress this enough, because nothing ruins dinner faster than biting into chicken that’s simultaneously overcooked and undercooked, which is somehow always what happens when you skip this step.
- Don’t drain those tomatoes completely – Leave just a tiny bit of juice in there, maybe a tablespoon or two, because that liquid helps create the perfect sauce consistency without making everything too dry.
- Toast your pasta water with salt – Your pasta water should taste like the ocean, or at least like a very salty lake, because bland pasta is the enemy of everything good in this world.
- Let the chicken rest – Give it just a minute or two after cooking before you start slicing, otherwise all those lovely juices end up on your cutting board instead of in your mouth where they belong.
- Warm your plates – Run them under hot water for thirty seconds, because cold plates make hot food sad and nobody wants sad Mediterranean pasta.
- Save some pasta water – Keep about half a cup of that starchy, salty liquid gold before you drain everything, just in case your sauce needs a little loosening up.
- Don’t overthink the feta – Crumble it with your hands like you’re five years old again, because perfectly uniform cheese cubes are for people who’ve way too much time on their hands.
Nutritional Facts
This Mediterranean chicken pasta delivers a balanced mix of protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates in every satisfying serving.
- Calories per serving: Approximately 520 calories, making it a substantial yet reasonable meal that won’t derail your daily goals.
- Protein powerhouse: Each portion packs about 35 grams of lean protein from the chicken breast, plus additional protein from the feta cheese.
- Heart-healthy fats: The olive oil, olives, and feta contribute around 18 grams of mainly monounsaturated fats that support cardiovascular health.
- Carbohydrate content: About 45 grams of carbs from the pasta provide sustained energy, while the tomatoes add natural sugars and fiber.
- Fiber boost: Approximately 4 grams of dietary fiber from the vegetables and pasta help with digestion and satiety.
- Sodium awareness: Contains roughly 850mg of sodium due to the olives, capers, and feta – about 37% of daily recommended intake.
- Vitamin C: The tomatoes provide about 20% of your daily vitamin C needs for immune system support.
- Calcium contribution: The feta cheese adds approximately 150mg of calcium for bone health.
- Lycopene benefits: Cooked tomatoes deliver this powerful antioxidant that’s linked to heart health and cancer prevention.
- Low saturated fat: Only about 6 grams of saturated fat per serving, keeping it within healthy limits for most dietary guidelines.
Fun “Did You Know?”
While you’re savoring this delicious Mediterranean chicken pasta, you might be surprised to learn that kalamata olives get their distinctive purple-black color and rich flavor from being harvested when fully ripe, unlike green olives which are picked early.
I find it fascinating that feta cheese was traditionally made in caves, giving it unique flavor characteristics.
The capers in this recipe are actually flower buds from the caper bush, harvested by hand before they bloom.
Ancient Greeks believed tomatoes were aphrodisiacs, which explains their prominence in romantic Mediterranean cuisine throughout history.
