Easy Mediterranean Pasta With Chicken and Spinach

This easy weeknight dinner for Mediterranean pasta with chicken and spinach recipe is so delicious. The main portion of the chicken dish is cooked in a large skillet. The family meal is packed full of flavor from the juicy chicken breasts and vegetables, so there is no need to add sauce because each mouthful is a tasty combination of flavors from the black olives, spinach, roasted red peppers, artichokes, feta cheese, onions, garlic, and, of course, the chicken! It’s such an easy dinner for busy weeknights, and it’s a nice change not to eat pasta with red sauce and parmesan cheese. 

Over the years, there are some recipes you stumble upon that you make your own. They are so easy, and everyone loves eating them. This recipe for chicken and spinach pasta is full of Mediterranean flavors, and it’s always a hit at dinnertime. It is such a hit I have to make a massive pot of this next time; it’s just that yummy! My partner loves taking this in his work lunch the next day, hot or cold. You can’t argue with a meal like that!

When I first made this recipe, I used fresh bell peppers instead of roasted red peppers, so if you prefer, feel free to use bell pepper. It’s also a great winning dinner if you are in need of finding new spinach recipes for your dinner table. Because it is a perfect way to use lots of spinach! 

If you need more great chicken recipe ideas, be sure to see our Caesar chicken wraps and our maple lemon chicken breast recipe!

Why You Will Love This Easy Chicken Breast Recipe 

It’s so easy. Aside from chopping up the whole chicken breasts, the meal practically makes itself. 

The pasta dish is so satisfying. This pasta dinner is a complete meal in itself, so there is no need for side dishes. 

It makes a lot! You can either reheat leftovers for lunch the next day or entertain more people for dinner because this tasty pasta dinner makes enough to feed eight people!

Feta. If you love the saltiness of feta, you will adore how it almost melts into this pasta dish, making each mouthful taste of Tuscany. 

What’s in this fantastic Mediterranean chicken pasta?

The first and perhaps most obvious things are chicken and pasta. What type of chicken do you ask? We prefer using boneless, skinless whole chicken breast. It’s easy to work with. Now you’ve got the chicken, what type of pasta is needed? It doesn’t overly matter so long as it’s a longer noodle. For us, that usually means rotini, but penne would also work.

If this is your first time cutting boneless, skinless chicken breasts it is best to make them into bite-sized pieces. I make mine a little on the larger size, but smaller is okay, too. Be sure you are using a very sharp knife, as it will make cutting the chicken breast a lot easier. A point here is you can stretch the chicken out in the dish if you don’t have the recommended four breasts. Over the years, when money has been tight, I have often used less meat in pasta dishes, and no one was the wiser. 

Mince up your garlic and dice the onions because you want to cook those with the chicken. When you cut these smaller in size it releases the natural oils where the most flavor comes from. It’s also good to have everything ready to go ahead of time because this whole dish comes together in under half an hour, leaving little time between the cooking steps to do the slicing and dicing.

Heat your frying pan with some olive oil on medium heat (another neutral oil will work if you don’t have olive oil). Once it is hot, add the garlic, onion, and chicken pieces. We want to cook the chicken partially before adding the sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, black olives, and artichokes. 

The roasted red pepper is jarred, so it may not need cutting up beforehand. It depends on how it’s been packaged. In this case, there were three whole roasted red peppers, so I sliced them up. Not everyone loves black olives, so I used a small can. You should ensure they are sliced, though, or at least pitted before using.

You can use cherry tomatoes if you prefer them to the sun-dried tomato in the recipe; however, be careful to add them just at the last minute because we don’t want mushy cherry tomatoes.

Once the tender chicken has fully cooked with the other ingredients you can add the fresh spinach on top, which wilts a lot when cooking. (Test a piece of chicken to make sure it’s cooked-the internal temperature of cooked chicken should be 165F.) So your pan will be brimming at first, put a lid over the skillet to allow the spinach to wilt down faster with the steam. Once that is done, you can mix the ingredients in the pan better. Save the feta cheese for last. 

While all this is happening, you’ve heated a pot of salted water on medium-high heat for the pasta. Put the pasta on to cook as soon as the water boils because it does not take long for the other ingredients to be ready. When fully cooked, drain the pasta and return to the pot.

Put the chicken vegetable mix into the stock pot on top of the pasta. Mix it all together, and you have a delicious, easy chicken recipe that feeds many people. For more people, make more pasta. It’s so tasty you can almost commit to eating it on a daily basis.

Ingredients:

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast: This tender piece of chicken is juicy when cooked properly. It also is easy to work with since the skin and bones have been removed. 

Black Olives: The black olives are pre-sliced with pits removed. They can be full of salt, though, so if you need to watch your sodium intake, rinse them off well before using.

Fresh Spinach: We have used cooked spinach in this recipe. Generally, cooking spinach is older and tougher than fresh baby spinach, so it may take a minute or two longer to cook down than baby spinach. Either will work for this recipe.  

Roasted Red Peppers: When red peppers are roasted, they are sold in jars of oil. The oil brings added moisture to the recipe, and the red peppers impart great flavor. 

Sun-dried Tomatoes: This ingredient brings a tanginess to the dish and adds some texture to the finished meal. 

Jarred Artichoke: This ingredient can be packed with extra herbs. Whether you use plain or herbed, it is a nice textural addition that adds a subtle flavor.

Onion: This ingredient is pungent and is a great way to add flavor to the chicken breast. 

Garlic: When paired with the onion, garlic is a classic ingredient in many Mediterranean meals. 

What else can you substitute in this chicken and spinach pasta recipe?

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast: This cut of meat can be more expensive. If you would rather, you can use any chicken that has the skin removed as well as the bones, making it a more economical meal. 

Black Olives: If black olives aren’t your thing, then omit or add green, but make sure they aren’t pickled but rather fresh and pitted. 

Fresh Spinach: Fresh spinach works best in this recipe, but it doesn’t have to be cooking spinach. In fact, baby spinach works just as well. You can switch the spinach with kale or chard. However, remember these take longer to cook and adjust the timing accordingly.

Roasted Red Peppers: Jarred roasted red peppers in oil were used for this recipe. If you prefer, you can slice up fresh bell peppers and then saute down with the chicken near the end. 

Sun-dried Tomatoes: Note that these are meant to be rehydrated, so if you are using dry packaging, allow them to soak in the roasted red pepper juices for a bit before adding them to your skillet. If you are using sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil go ahead and add as mentioned in the instructions. If you don’t like sun-dried tomatoes at all, you can switch them out entirely for cherry tomatoes. 

Fresh Garlic: It is best to use fresh garlic cloves in your recipe, but you can get away with using jarred. It packs less of a pungent punch, though, so you may want to play around with finding the right amount for your personal palette. 

If you tried this easy chicken and spinach Mediterranean-inspired dinner recipe, we hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we do. Leave a comment below the recipe card if you test this recipe. As always, we love hearing from you, our readers!