This Sheet Pan Chicken with Fennel and Olives is a one-pan Fall dinner delight! It’s AIP, paleo and Whole30 compliant, comes together in under 45 minutes and is full of rich and cozy flavors.
When it comes to easy and quick dinners, I am definitely a sheet pan, one-pan, one-pot kinda girl. This Sheet Pan Chicken with Fennel and Olives recipe is a personal weekday favorite. It’s especially great for when you just don’t want to be in the kitchen too long. This meal is AIP, paleo and Whole30 compliant if that’s your jam and has a beautiful combination of sweet and savoury notes.
Here are the main ingredients in this easy Sheet Pan Chicken dinner:
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts – slice these into strips to bake alongside the veggies.
- Lemon juice, garlic fresh thyme, olive oil and sea salt – freshly squeezed lemon juice is used as the base of the marinade with olive oil and thyme for all the other ingredients in this recipe
- Sweet potatoes – I recommend Japanese sweet potatoes or Hannah sweet potatoes or any other variety of white-fleshed sweet potato in this recipe. They are starchier and have a different sweetness that lend themselves well to the flavours of lemon and fennel here.
- Fennel – one large bulb of fennel is used here (fronds removed) and roasted alongside the chicken and potatoes
- Pitted olives – you can use any variety, just ensure they are AIP compliant – I like kalamata
- Pear – you can use any variety of pear here. It lends a beautiful sweetness and texture to the dish to balance the savory olives.
Here’s how you make this one-pan dish:
- Make a marinade out of the garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt and thyme.
- Toss the sweet potatoes with 1/4 of the marinade. Spread them onto onto a large, parchment-lined baking sheet (or two medium-sized baking sheets). You don’t want the ingredients to steam so make sure you’re giving yourself enough space.
- Bake for 10 minutes to give them a head start.
- While the sweet potatoes bake, place the sliced chicken breasts into a bowl with fennel, pears and olives. Cover with remaining 3/4 of the marinade. Bake for 15-20 minutes further until is cooked through.
If you tried this Sheet Pan Chicken with Fennel and Olives dish I would appreciate it if you would give it a star rating and short review. Be sure to snap a picture of the finished product and share it with me on Instagram by tagging @healmedelicious.
Here are some other one-pan meals you’ll be sure to enjoy:
- Balsamic Mushroom Pasta
- Sheet Pan Beef and Broccoli with Mushrooms
- Creamy Garlic Pork and Spinach
- Leek and Fennel Risotto
Sheet Pan Chicken with Fennel and Olives (AIP, paleo)
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 3–4 servings 1x
Description
This Sheet Pan Chicken with Fennel and Olives is a one-pan Fall dinner delight! It’s AIP, paleo and Whole30 compliant, comes together in under 45 minutes and is full of rich and cozy flavors.
Ingredients
- 3 large cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 3 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
- 1 lb Japanese sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 lb chicken breasts, sliced into strips
- 1 large bulb fennel, sliced*
- 1 pear (any variety), cubed
- 3/4 cup pitted olives (any variety, ensure they’re AIP compliant)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400F
- In a small bowl combine garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt and thyme.
- Toss the sweet potatoes with 1/4 of the marinade and place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes to give them a head start.
- While the sweet potatoes bake, place the sliced chicken breasts into a bowl with fennel, pear and olives and cover with remaining 3/4 of the marinade.
- After 10 minutes, add the chicken and vegetables to the pan(s) with the sweet potatoes.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes further, until chicken is cooked and everything has browned.
- Enjoy!
Notes
*Cut the stalks and fronds off the fennel bulb and reserve fronds for garnishing, if desired. Once stalks are removed, cut the bulb into quarters and then into 1-inch-thick slices.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Mains
Delicious. My sheet pans were too small so nothing browned at first. Spread everything out over more plans and raised the temperature to 420. It turned out amazing, even the unbrowned batches. Delicious and varied flavor that’s strong and satisfying. The timing was perfect with just enough time to prepare everything else while the potatoes cooked. I used more olive oil, thyme and garlic than stated. Olives from a jar, couldn’t be easier.
I love the easiness of sheet pan dinners & this one was DELICIOUS. I’ll be making this often in the future. Thinking of adding carrots for some color. Such a perfect AIP recipe. Thank you.
This is a 5-start recipe for flavor, simplicity, and heartiness. It feels really undaunting to make even when you’re tired. I only started eating fennel because of Heal Me Delicious recipes and I’m so grateful to be introduced to the fennel/lemon/EVOO combo – so yummy roasted. I made this slightly modified with canned black olives (which I realized had an extra ingredient, always read labels!!), no garlic, a frozen pears (a mix of Bartlett & red Anjou), and dried thyme. I think it turned out very solid, but would def spring for a fresh crunchy pear, the garlic, and kalamata olives next time, just to enhance the texture & flavor (the frozen pears got a little mush obviously). The great thing about this recipe is that it could be a base for subbing or adding other things to it. For me, it is a little on the pale side – I would love some more green in here, but it would be super easy and yummy to add broccoli IMO. I could also see adding carrots and/or artichoke hearts, or just serving it with a salad greens mix, to help with that color. Overall, a winner of a recipe!
Very good, especially with fresh fennel from the garden!