Tender and flavorful slow cooker mediterranean chicken with olives, onions, and roasted red peppers makes a hearty and tasty meal all made in one dish.
The slow cooker is constant around our house! If you’re loving yours too, try Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff Soup, Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala, Best Easy Slow Cooker Ribs, and Slow Cooker Parmesan Herb Chicken & Orzo.
I love slow cooker meals so much, I sometimes wonder if I should be a spokesperson for some massive slow cooker producer. I mean seriously, do you know how much I use this kitchen appliance?? Let’s just say it’s a lot. A LOT. It’s not just that it’s so convenient to toss everything in a pot, cover, and come back a few hours later to a whole meal ready to go. It’s also that I love the way slow cooking meals can bring out more flavor in the dish. Like in this mediterranean chicken dish. All those flavors melding together for a while in the slow cooker makes them ten times better.
But let’s talk about a couple of ingredients here. First of all the olives. I’ll preface this by saying that I rarely use regular black olives in my cooking because I just don’t care for them. But kalamata olives? Those are my jam. I adore the briny, salty taste of kalamata olives. If you haven’t tried them, this is your chance to fall in love with these little black beauties.
The other ingredient you might not have a pre-existing relationship with is capers. They too are briny and salty and I can’t get enough of them, particularly in this dish. They’re those little green pea-looking things you see throughout this dish ^^^. They aren’t expensive and they add a lot to this chicken dish. Together with those kalamata olives, onions, and roasted red peppers… there’s some serious flavor happening here. Not to mention aromas. Your home will smell like a little slice of Southern Europe when you make this dish and that is a very very good thing.
What people are saying about this Slow Cooker Mediterranean Chicken
“This is delicious! I made this today with bone-in chicken thighs. The chicken was falling off the bone, juicy and tender. I sauteed the onions and garlic before putting in the crockpot. Will make this again!” – Jennifer
“I made this tonight and it was so AWESOME! My guests said it was like a gourmet meal in a restaurant! Served it with garlic Parmesan potatoes and nothing was left!!! Not even a caper!!!” – Jerry
“I made it today and it was so delicious!! It is super easy to make. I didn’t have a lot of time so I opted to do the two hours on high but used thighs instead of breast, they were very moist.” – Gabrielle
“I tried this for my family of four tonight and it was DELICIOUS!!! Even the 3 yr. old & 5 yr. old enjoyed it! I served it over orzo pasta and topped with fresh thyme. Also used red/purple onion instead of yellow. YUM…definitely a ‘keeper’!” – Jill
Slow Cooker Mediterranean Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 medium-large boneless skinless chicken breasts - OR 4-6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- juice of 1 medium lemon - (about 2 tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 medium onion - chopped
- 1 cup kalamata olives
- 1 cup roughly chopped roasted red peppers
- 2 tablespoons capers
- fresh thyme, oregano, or basil for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Cook in a large skillet over medium-high heat 1-2 minutes on each side til browned. Transfer to greased slow cooker.
- Add onions, olives, red peppers, and capers to slow cooker (tuck them around the sides so they aren’t covering up the chicken). Whisk together italian seasoning, lemon juice, and garlic and pour over chicken.
- Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or on high for 2 hours. Garnish with fresh thyme, oregano, or basil and serve.
I have made this recipe multiple times using chicken thighs. Only thing additional i add is artichokes and we use it over angel hair pasta. It’s one of my husband and I favorite crock pot meals
So disappointed in this recipe, and very surprised it received positive ratings. Found it rather dry and not very tasty. Sounded good as I like the ingredients,,,but does not come together well in a slow cooker.
If I double this recipe will it crowd the crockpot and not cook the chicken right?
You shouldn’t have any issue with that when doubling the recipe, as long as it all fits in your crockpot. Keep in mind that when doubling a crockpot recipe you don’t double the liquid and seasoning but add half. You also only need to add a few minutes of cook time or so. Do not double the cook time as it’ll overcook the food.
I served this last week with a mix of thighs and breasts. Followed the recipe precisely. The only ingredient I added was a bottle of Kendall Jackson Chardonay, which I consumed over the 4 hours while the dinner was making itself in the crockpot. Loved by everyone. On to Honey Garlic Chicken tomorrow night. Looks awesome
For 12 servings, can you use 11 boneless skinless chicken thighs?
You can, but usually there’s one breast or thigh per person. It would all depend on how much each person would eat.
Can You Make this without Browning the Chicken First? Just Put the Chicken straight in the Slow Cooker?
I would recommend browning it because the browning seals the juices in the chicken and makes it more tender.
Have made this numerous times with a 👍🏻every time. Converted to instapot which makes the one pot experience so much better. Great combo of flavors ❣️
Is this recipe suitable for freezing?
Yes, it is 🙂
I would need to make 10 chicken breast for my family. Should I just double the recipe as far as the seasonings go?
If you hover your mouse over the number of servings in the recipe card a bar will pop up and you can change the servings to 10 and the measurments will change to the amounts you need.
ok all this sounds awesome, and I do plan to try these recipies, however, yeah one of those, sodium sky hi, so not sure about that one. any advice or help on that one??
If you’re talking about this recipe, you do not have to add the salt as it is to taste. If you’re talking about other recipes you can try and use onions, garlic, herbs, spices, vinegars, and citrus juices in replace of the salt or a little of it if you still prefer some in the dish.
Followed the recipe but saw a comment that someone added artichokes hearts, and I had a can. Made 1.5 cups of Orzo with a teaspoon of Better than bullion roasted chicken seasoning. It was awesome. My Husband loved it. Thanks for this recipe.
So delicious!! Super easy and great flavors for a cold wintery night. Put it on top of orzo pasta for my kids and brown rice for me!
Can it be done without browning the chicken first?
I would recommend browning it because the browning seals the juices in the chicken and makes it more tender.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. My wife and I give it 5 stars! Full of flavor and the meat was so tender! Paired, as suggested, with lemon rice. Used chicken thighs with bones (but removed the skin) because that was what was in our freezer and worked just fine after. Substituted green olives for the Kalamatra olives because my wife does not like black olives and it was delicious. My prep time was longer than the five minutes and that impacted the cook time. Ended up going 1 hour on high followed by 2 hours on low and it worked out real well. This is a recipe that is definitely going on our repeat often list!
Delicious, healthy and easy. I made it to instructions but added paprika to the chicken for browning. Also added marinated artichoke hearts to the crockpot. So flavorful. We’ll have this again. Company worthy.
My slow cooker settings are High 4 & 6 hours and Low 8 & 10 hours. The instructions are 4 hours on low or 2 on high. I don’t use the crock pot often and I am unsure what setting to use? High 4 hours and and check chicken after 2 or on Low 8 hours and check after 4 hours?
You can do whichever you prefer. Either way will work.