Elana's Pantry

New York Times Bestselling author Elana Amsterdam founded Elana’s Pantry, the go-to website for easy, healthy, grain-free, Paleo recipes, in 2006

chicken with cauliflower and olives

Chicken with Cauliflower and Olives

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This high-protein chicken dinner is a wonderful paleo one pot meal. Chicken with Cauliflower and Olives is also bursting with the gorgeous flavors of lemon and thyme.

This hearty, grain-free, savory paleo dinner recipe is a hit with our entire family, and as you can see is an all time fan favorite. I often serve this with a Spinach Salad for a filling, vegetable heavy dinner.

While we eat chicken once or twice per week, I also try to serve the boys (all 3 of them) steak each week as that is their favorite dinner. They are more than happy when I serve them grilled steak with a side of Mashed Cauliflower and Carrot Fries, which also go very well with this paleo chicken recipe.

Print Recipe
Chicken with Cauliflower and Olives
Serves:4
Ingredients
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
  • 1 bunch fresh thyme sprigs
  • 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
  • 1 shallot, finely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • zest of 1 lemon, use a microplane zester
  • ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1 cup Kalamata olives, pitted
  • 5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Instructions
  1. Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry with a paper towel
  2. Spread thyme sprigs evenly in the bottom of a 7 x 11 inch baking dish
  3. Place chicken over thyme sprigs and scatter cauliflower around chicken
  4. In a small bowl, combine shallot, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon zest and juice, olives and garlic
  5. Pour mixture over chicken and cauliflower
  6. Refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight
  7. Bake at 400°F for 45-55 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and cauliflower is well browned
  8. Serve

I combined and adapted recipes from Real Simple and food.com to create this easy paleo chicken dinner recipe. I hope you love this dish as much as we do. It’s so festive that I think it’s perfect for the Jewish holidays. I serve it over the High Holy Days, as well as Passover. It’s a great holiday dish because it’s so easy to prepare, but makes such an impressive presentation.

Here are some of my other favorite paleo chicken recipes!

Comments

  1. Made this dish tonight with sliced tomatoes and sauteed sugar snap peas. Both my husband and I loved it. Happened to have plenty of fresh thyme, yet not so much time, but even letting it sit for 30 minutes still produced a winner. Only difference was I used thighs rather than breasts. Still, a great dish all around.

    Reply

  2. Made this dish last night. I will admit, I was skeptical – the flavour combination seemed too subtle to make for a tasty dish….I couldn’t have been more wrong! It’s amazing how the bed of thyme infuses the entire dish. I made this with bone-in chicken thighs and put them into the oven for 15 minutes before adding cauliflower tossed in olive oil and sea salt, everything came out beautifully. The lemon keeps it fresh while the cauliflower adds a nice sweetness from the caramelization in the oven. All in one dish! A keeper!!!!

    (And my kids gobbled it up too!)

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  5. This was the first recipe of yours that I tried since deciding to ditch grains and go Paleo. It.Was.Delicious!!! My husband and I were in love! I will be making this one of my staple dishes from here on out! Thank you so much! Can’t wait to try some other recipes!

    Reply

    • Brittany, this is one of our favorites too because it’s so easy to make and full of incredible flavor. I’m glad you and your husband loved it :-)

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  6. I made this tonight and it is amazing. My husband’s exact words “why haven’t you made this before?” Needless to say, this is going to be a regular in our house.

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  7. This looks good, I love cauliflower & I love chicken! Have you ever made it with broccoli instead of cauliflower? Maybe I’ll try both! What does putting it in the fridge overnight do, like would it make much of a difference if I skipped that step if I wanted to make it right away?

    Reply

    • Chris, thanks for your comment! I haven’t made this with broccoli, feel free to experiment with the recipe :-)

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  8. Thanks for your site and recipes. This chicken dish and the scones are my favorite so far. This was so easy (used frozen califlower!)

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  9. This is one of our favourite dishes. Fresh, quick and a one bake wonder. We have this almost once a week. Also great the next day too. Highly recommend.

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  10. Thank you so much for your site. I am not ready to divoluge my illnesses, BUT I made this today, used a few less olives, added some grape tomatoes and served it over fresh baby spinach. It is FANTASTIC! ?

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  11. Was linked to this recipe by a friend. I’m trying to cook a brand new dish every week and I’m eyeing this up for next week!

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  12. Fantastic!!! I made this last night using skinless, boneless chicken thighs, and substituted sprigs of fresh oregano for the thyme. It came out perfectly. I just need a bigger pan so I can make more in the future!! Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe, Elana.

    Reply

    • Bone in meat always takes longer but it would be hard to guess how long to add exactly. My guess is an additional 15-20 minutes at 400F.

      The problem I see using bone-in breasts with this dish is that the cauliflower is browned a bit at the end of the normal cooking time. It definitely wouldn’t need an additional 15-20 minutes to cook alongside the bone-in chicken. So you might have to add in in part the way through (maybe reserving half of the liquid for the cauliflower/olive mix) so it doesn’t get overcooked. Or you could just cook in two separate pans. But that would take up more space in your fridge for the marinate.

      Reply

  15. One of my new favorites!
    I substituted French green olives and added a TBS of Dijon mustard.
    Love, love love.

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  16. This has fast become one of my favourite recipes of all time…my daughter pretty much follows a Paleo diet and loves your website and has made number of the recipes. She suggested we try this recipe…it is absolutely delicious and the textures and aromas of ingredients are a pleasure to work with even before it goes in the oven. I love that the olives come out a bit roasted and are amazing!

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  17. This was super delicious. I didn’t have enough cauliflower on hand so added some sweet potatoes and artichokes. So good. The sauce poaches the chicken and it is sublime.

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  18. Delicious! I must confess: I am terrible at following directions, so I cut up the chicken. It was great, and convenient for my young kids, but will try to follow next time to compare results. thanks for another great recipe, Elana!

    Reply

  19. Delicious!!! And I quote from my girlfriend, “its like a party in my mouth” ☺ I surprised her and she loved it! Thanks!!! She already amazon primed your book. Next is pizza muffins. Thank you for helping me score points.

    Reply

    • MP, I’m so happy I helped you score points and glad to hear your girlfriend said “its like a party in my mouth” :-)

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  20. I have another cauliflower recipe I love which incorporates apples, red onion, & rosemary. I have extra pears on hand, so I think I’m going to experiment with chicken, pears, red onions & rosemary. Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply

  22. I am batch cooking before baby arrives. Would you recommend fully cooking, then freezing and reheating when needed or freeze raw and cook fully when ready?

    Reply

    • Courtney, i haven’t tried that. If you do please stop back by and let us know how it goes. And congratulations in advance!

      Reply

  23. Also curious how many it serves. Planned to make for 9 adults on Rosh Hashanah and it doesn’t look to feed that many. Also curious how it doesn’t dry out with that long a cooking time??

    Reply

    • Rickk, these are whole boneless skinless chicken breasts and this dish is juicy and delicious! Perfect for the holidays :-)

      Reply

      • How many chicken breast come in the 1 pound package you are purchasing? Are you getting four or two? Thanks!

        Reply

        • Hi Sandra, it varies depending on the size/weight of the chicken breasts, but the number will not affect the outcome of this recipe.

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  26. Wow–this was delicious! I roasted a whole chicken and used marjoram instead of thyme, because I didn’t have any. The kids even loved the cauliflower. Amazing. Thanks!

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  27. I have just printed out the recipe and am on my way to the kitchen to get the chicken out of the freezer! Wow, I even have the olives in the fridge :) Sounds wonderful!

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  29. This looks amazing, but just curious… the chicken doesn’t get overcooked? 45 minutes at 400 seems like a long time?

    Reply

  30. I am brand new to the Paleo diet (as in, I’m still researching and haven’t started yet), but it looks like a good option for me – and your recipes look great! I have very little time (and by very little I mean about 5 minutes) to cook on a daily basis, so I’d like to find meals that I can prep and freeze on my day off at the beginning of the week, and microwave to reheat each day. Any tips on which of your recipes (chicken, fish or veggies only) work well for that? So happy that I found this site!

    Reply

    • I would hope that you could find a little more time to improve your health. If you become ill, who will do all the work you are doing today? Food preparation and consumption is best done in a relaxed atmosphere. How you eat is almost as important as what you eat. I take this from the macro-biotic book. Less stress is best. I, too, am very busy, but I take time to savor my food, love food shopping, love preparing new, healthy recipes and eating it all!! Good luck to you as you try to become more healthy.

      Reply

  31. I’m going to make this with my new favorite condiment, preserved lemon. It’s super easy to make and adds an amazing flavor. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

  32. Thanks so much for this recipe, it has become a family favorite! I use a variety of olives in this, and do as another poster suggested by tossing the cauliflower with some of the marinade so that it gets coated with the oil mixture. I’ve also varied some of the herbs occasionally to experiment.

    I saw someone else used Brussels sprouts – I’m going to borrow that idea!

    Reply

  36. Elana–I am writing to tell you that this dish is one of my new all-time favorites! I have prepared it twice, and it is the most flavorful, happy on the tongue dish! It is company-worthy, and I am thankful for your having created and shared it!

    Reply

  37. Hi Elana,

    I have used your recipe for preparing the chicken and it tastes really good. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

    Yeo

    Reply

    • You do not need to cover the dish, but I did baste the chicken and cauliflower with the liquids a few times. Came out succulent and delicious! I also added a little white wine to the liquid before cooking. Was a big hit!

      Reply

  40. This was wonderful, thankyou. If you think you don’t like cauliflower, try it this way, it is delicious. This was so good, I would serve it to company. And easy! I am not a fan of olives, so I just left them out. This recipe is going on my list of favorites!

    Reply

  41. That is such a simple recipe. For working mums it is perfect quick dinner,lunch – you name it or even party dish.Love olives and cauliflower.

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  44. This was so yummy! Savory and moist – it was a big hit with everyone in the family from our 4,6,& 8 year old to even Dad who is not a big fan of cauliflower!

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  45. This is a fabulous recipe, Elana! I am constantly looking for recipes that fit the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol which is no potatoes, tomatoes, chili and peppers, eggs and eggplant. So nice to find this yummy recipe. Also a good one for guests since so simple.

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  47. I made this tonight for my family and we loved it!! I also made a raw kale salad with mandarin oranges, sweet onions and a tangerine/fig balsamic dressing and it was so delicious together.

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  48. Thank you soooooo much. A great Paleo casserole/one pot dish! I just wish there were more of these. Made it last night and loved it.

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  49. This was my first post as a subscriber. Made it two days ago and the whole family, including 1.5 and 3.5 year olds, loved it. Thank you and looking forward to more awesome recipes!

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  51. This looks great! It’s very similar to a baked chicken dish I make with olives and lemons, but I’m looking forward to trying it with the cauliflower!

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  52. I made this for dinner tonight, and since I didn’t have any cauliflower on hand, I substituted Brussels sprouts. Which worked quite well, very yummy! Thanks for the great recipe Elana!

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  53. Sensational recipe Elana. Cauliflower is such an understated vegetable. Difficult to get kids eating it but it works for me. Great texture if slightly undercooked. Of course, abandoning the carbs – the best recipe in the world is cauliflower cheese.

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  54. I made this recipe for dinner tonight and it was delicious! I have already pre-ordered the cookbook. Thanks for this recipe.

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  57. Ive been making a lot of chicken recently, but today I had chicken with dried chilies and salad. was really good! and simply to make!

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  58. This is in the oven right now! I can’t wait to taste it. I was so happy (and surprised) that I had all the ingredients on hand, as I’m usually missing one crucial thing when I see something I want to make right away.
    I think next time I might add the cauliflower to the bowl with the marinade and toss it so that it gets coated and then add it to baking pan… although maybe it will soak up too much of the marinade that way. And I bet this would be REALLY good with some kind of firm white fish like scrod or hake. I wish it wasn’t going to take 45 more minutes to be done!!

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  60. I love buffalo chicken in the crockpot. I wash and dry chicken breasts and lay them in the crock pot. I mix together 1/4 cup of homemade chicken broth with 2 cups of gluten free buffalo sauce. Top the chicken with the sauce and cook on low all day. It’s great paired with salad, Elana’s carrot fries or cajun sweet potato fries and paleo ketchup.

    Reply

  62. Can’t wait to try this! I’ve been making almond flour quiches with cauliflower. The addition of lemon and olives sounds wonderful. hmmm, may even try this as a sort of pot pie.

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  63. This looks so delicious! Thank you for another easy recipe that can become a staple. Does anyone know if the ‘zest of one lemon’ part means I go around the whole lemon with the grater? I am guilty of not adding lemon zest to recipes because I can never figure that out.

    Reply

    • The zest of one lemon means exactly that. Take one lemon that you have washed and remove the yellow outer layer. DO NOT include any of the white pith; it is bitter. This can be done with a grater, but the easiest way is with a microplane; which is very sharp and can also be used for garlic, chocolate, etc. If you only need the lemon juice for a recipe, it’s a good idea to zest it before cutting and freeze the zest for another day.

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  64. I love roasted chicken, grilled whole chicken, and braised chicken thighs, but I think lemon or curry chicken in the crockpot wins for me!

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  65. This looks good – and healthy. I will definitely make this soon – I think on Wednesday. I can hardly wait!

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  66. This will make my hubby happy. The olives and lemon sound perfect with the chicken and cauliflower and I love that it’s so simple. :-)

    Reply

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