Description
A flavorful and hearty dish featuring skin-on chicken breasts cooked with spiced lentils, kale, green olives, and lemon. This recipe combines warming spices like sumac and turmeric with tangy lemon and savory olives, making a perfect one-pan meal that’s both comforting and vibrant.
Ingredients
Scale
Chicken and Cooking
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 skin-on chicken breasts
- 1 red onion, finely sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tsp sumac
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 500ml low-salt chicken stock
Lentils and Vegetables
- 500g cooked lentils, tomato flavoured if available
- 125g kale, finely chopped
- 1 lemon, half sliced and half juiced
- 50g green olives, pitted and roughly chopped
Garnish
- Small handful of parsley, finely chopped, to serve
Instructions
- Brown the Chicken: Heat the olive oil in a casserole dish or deep frying pan over medium-high heat. Season the chicken breasts all over and add them skin-side down. Cook for 6-8 minutes until the skin is well browned and golden. Flip the chicken and cook for another 2-3 minutes until it is just golden on the other side; it does not need to be fully cooked at this stage. Remove the chicken breasts from the pan and set aside on a plate.
- Sauté Aromatics and Spices: Stir the finely sliced red onion and chopped garlic into the chicken cooking pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add the sumac and ground turmeric, stirring frequently and cooking for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
- Add Stock and Lentils: Pour in the low-salt chicken stock, scraping the bottom of the pan to lift any browned bits. Add the cooked lentils, chopped kale, lemon slices, and roughly chopped green olives. Stir everything together and bring the mixture to a simmer.
- Cook Chicken Through: Nestle the browned chicken breasts back into the pan skin-side up. Let them cook in the simmering lentil mixture for 8-10 minutes until the liquid reduces slightly and the chicken is cooked through.
- Final Seasoning and Garnish: Remove the pan from heat. Stir in the freshly squeezed lemon juice and season with freshly ground black pepper to taste. Garnish with the finely chopped parsley before serving.
Notes
- Using skin-on chicken adds flavor and richness to the dish but can be substituted with skinless if preferred.
- If tomato-flavored cooked lentils are unavailable, regular cooked lentils work perfectly well.
- The dish can be complemented by serving with crusty bread or a side of rice for a complete meal.
- Make sure not to overcook the chicken when browning initially, as it will finish cooking in the lentil mixture.
- Adjust seasoning with salt depending on the salt content of the chicken stock used.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keywords: chicken lentils recipe, Mediterranean chicken, sumac chicken, lentils with chicken, one-pan chicken dish, healthy chicken dinner
