Name: Easy Cheesy Caprese Chicken Thighs Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 6 people
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 6 chicken thighs; 2 tbsp olive oil; 2 oz lemon juice; 2 tbsp Italian herb seasoning; 2 tsp salt; 2 tsp pepper; 2 tbsp clarified butter; 1 large beefsteak tomato (sliced into 6 thick rounds); 1 ball mozzarella cheese (sliced into 6 thick slices); 6 large basil leaves; 3 tbsp balsamic glaze or balsamic vinegar; 2 tbsp parmesan cheese (shrredded, to garnish)

picture of tomato over chicken thigh topped with cilantro balsamic and parmesan

At Ajpal, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. My goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

Easy Caprese Chicken

This easy and delicious low carb caprese chicken is full of flavor from melted cheese, roasted tomatoes, fresh basil, and perfectly cooked chicken thighs.

I could eat this chicken every day of the week – it is just so good. And because it goes from fridge to table in less than 30 minutes, it has been on my menu rotation way more than I care to admit.

This easy caprese chicken thigh dinner is one of my favorite recipes – I hope you love it as much as I do!

I get a lot of comments and questions on my post – so I try to answer ahead of time by providing lots of information for my readers.

I realize not everyone will want to take in extra tips and tricks to make these recipes perfect, every time – if you’d like to get straight to the caprese chicken recipe, please scroll to the bottom of the page, where you will find the easy printable recipe.

picture of chicken thigh with tomato balsamic basil and parmesan

Cheesy Caprese Chicken Breasts Recipe

If you’d like to make this recipe, but prefer to use chicken breasts instead of thighs, follow the following steps to get perfect easy cheesy caprese chicken breasts:

-Brown chicken breasts the same way you would chicken thighs in this recipe.

Chicken breasts take longer to cook than chicken thighs, so remember that in your considerations.

Bake chicken breasts for about 5-8 minutes before adding cheese, basil, and tomatoes – they should be about 145 degrees internally before topping, or you risk over browning the cheese but still having raw chicken in the middle.

picture of three caprese chicken thighs in pan in oven

One Pot Caprese Chicken Recipe

I prefer making this caprese chicken as written below, using a pan and a baking sheet to separately cook the chicken thighs – but this dish can easily be made all in one dish.

Turn Into a One Pot Recipe

-Brown chicken thighs well in your pan, and then remove from pan and set aside.

-Pan fry tomato on both sides for about 2 minutes per side.

-Remove tomatoes from pan and add chicken back in.

-Place cheese on top of chicken.

-Add basil.

-Put tomato on top of chicken. You can secure it all with a toothpick if you need.

-Place pan in oven and bake until chicken is 165 degrees internally and cheese is melted and bubbly.

-Serve immediately.

picture of caprese chicken thighs in pan

How To Tell When Chicken Thighs Are Done

If you’re looking for the absolute best baked chicken thighs, you need to go off the chicken’s temperature – NOT the time listed in this recipe.

Chicken thigh sizes can vary wildly, and differences in oven effectiveness, altitude, humidity in the air – they can all impact your cooking time, making it shorter or longer.

To avoid undercooked or dry chicken, its imperative to cook chicken to 160 degrees in the oven, and let it carryover cook to 165.

Chicken is safe to eat at 165 degrees internal temperature.

Check your chicken thighs regularly as they cook to monitor temperature.

When chicken is cooked to 160-165, it is done in the oven. Do not overcook. Do let chicken rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting or serving to continue carryover cooking and help chicken rest so juices don’t all rush out.

To measure, be sure to insert thermometer in fattest part of meat – without getting too close to bone as it will throw off temperature.

Keto Caprese Chicken Recipe

If you’re following a keto diet, this recipe does have some considerations to make sure you’re within your macros.

Balsamic Vinegar on it’s own works fine in a keto diet (it might seem as though it isn’t because of the intense flavor) – it contains under 3g carbs for each tablespoon – which we’re not going to fully use in this recipe.

The only thing to consider is in the recipe below, I am calling for Balsamic Vinegar Glaze – NOT Balsamic Vinegar.

Glaze does NOT fit into a keto diet – there are too many sugars and carbs.

I do love balsamic glaze, but if you’re following keto, just swap it for balsamic vinegar.