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.
Chicken with Cauliflower and Olives
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
- Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry with a paper towel
- Spread thyme sprigs evenly in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish
- Place chicken over thyme sprigs and scatter cauliflower around chicken
- In a small bowl, combine shallot, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon zest and juice, olives and garlic
- Pour mixture over chicken and cauliflower
- Refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight
- Bake at 400°F for 45-55 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and cauliflower is well browned
- 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!
Sheila Perl says
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!
Alice says
This was super easy to make and delicious!!!! My family loved it!!!! Thanks!!!!
Alycia says
This looks amazing, but just curious… the chicken doesn’t get overcooked? 45 minutes at 400 seems like a long time?
Emily says
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!
Ellen R. Faulkner says
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.
Jessica Evans says
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!
Marcia says
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!
Lisa says
Can anyone tell me how many this dish serves? I’m hosting 9.
Lisa says
Can anyone tell me how many this dish serve? I’m cooking for my book club and have 9 coming… Thanks!
Amelia says
We’ve had this for dinner twice now and hubby and both girls and I all love it! Thank you!
Cindy Beeley says
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!