Cheesy Baked Chicken Breast And Peppers (Print Version)
Tender chicken baked with colorful peppers and golden melted cheese for an easy family dinner.
# What You Need:
→ Meats
01 - 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 oz each)
→ Vegetables
02 - 2 red bell peppers, cored and sliced into strips
03 - 1 yellow bell pepper, cored and sliced into strips
04 - 1 green bell pepper, cored and sliced into strips
05 - 1 medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced
06 - 2 garlic cloves, minced
→ Cheeses
07 - 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
08 - 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
→ Seasonings & Oils
09 - 2 tablespoons olive oil
10 - 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend
11 - 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
12 - 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
13 - 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
# Directions:
01 - Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly coat a 9x13-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, ensuring even coverage across the bottom and sides.
02 - Arrange the sliced red, yellow, and green bell peppers along with the red onion in an even layer across the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then sprinkle with half the kosher salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning, and smoked paprika. Toss the vegetables gently to coat evenly.
03 - Pat the chicken breasts dry with paper towels. Season both sides of each breast with the remaining kosher salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning, and smoked paprika, pressing the seasonings gently into the meat.
04 - Place the seasoned chicken breasts on top of the vegetable bed in the baking dish. Scatter the minced garlic evenly over the chicken and vegetables.
05 - Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes, allowing the chicken to cook in the steam alongside the vegetables.
06 - Remove the foil and sprinkle the shredded mozzarella and grated Parmesan evenly over each chicken breast. Return the dish to the oven uncovered and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the chicken registers 165°F internally and the cheese is melted, bubbly, and golden brown.
07 - Remove the dish from the oven and let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving. This allows the juices to redistribute for a more tender result. Spoon the roasted vegetables and pan juices over each breast when plating.
# Expert Tips:
01 -
- The peppers roast underneath the chicken and soak up all those juices, becoming almost candy sweet in the process.
- It is genuinely weeknight friendly, with barely fifteen minutes of hands on work before the oven takes over.
02 -
- If your chicken breasts vary wildly in thickness, the thin ones will overcook while the thick ones finish, so a quick pound with a mallet between plastic wrap saves the meal.
- Resist the urge to skip the foil cover, because those first twenty minutes of trapped steam are what keep the chicken tender and juicy before the cheese goes on.
03 -
- Let the baked dish rest the full five minutes before slicing, because cutting into it too early sends all those flavorful juices running onto the cutting board instead of staying in the meat.
- A quick broil for the last two minutes turns the cheese topping from merely melted to deeply golden and slightly crispy, but watch it like a hawk because broilers go from perfect to burnt in seconds.