Our family loves this baked chicken breast with roasted red peppers and basil, all gently cooked in a citrus broth.
A pantry staple in our home is always a jar of roasted red peppers. They’re so versatile, colorful, and packed with flavor, making them perfect for everything from salads and sandwiches to dips and casseroles. In fact, one of those jars inspired the creation of this recipe. Their bright red color makes the dish truly pop!
Beyond the peppers, we add fresh basil, orange juice, lemon juice, and garlic. This casserole comes together in minutes and is fantastic served with cilantro lime rice, cooked quinoa, or mashed cauliflower, all of which are great for soaking up the delicious cooking liquid.
Key Ingredients
- Chicken Breasts: I use skinless, boneless chicken breasts in this recipe. They work perfectly, staying incredibly juicy because they gently simmer in the citrus broth, almost like poached chicken.
- Roasted Red Peppers: For convenience, jarred roasted red peppers are a great option. However, if you’re feeling ambitious, you can certainly roast your own (we show you how in our roasted red pepper hummus recipe!).
- Garlic: We only need one clove, but it perfumes the citrus broth nicely.
- Orange and Lemon Juice: If you can, use freshly squeezed orange and lemon juice. They will be less sweet.
- Basil: I love the pop of red from the peppers and the pop of green from fresh basil. It also perfumes the citrus broth, making this a super summery chicken dish. I love it.
- Butter: This recipe is really light on its feet (and totally works as a high-protein chicken recipe, by the way!). A small amount of butter adds just enough fat to give the citrus broth a wonderfully silky texture. It truly transforms the broth without making the dish heavy.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Baked Chicken with Roasted Red Peppers
Initially, I referred to this as a chicken casserole since we’re using a casserole dish, but I realized that might be confusing, as casseroles are typically heartier than this light and summery dish.
Whatever we call it, you’ll line up sliced chicken breasts, alternating them with roasted red peppers and basil, then pour over your citrus broth and bake. You can see how in our photo above. So easy, and that liquid you see around the chicken is pure gold! Don’t leave it behind. It’s great over rice or just slurped with a spoon.
Baked Red Pepper Chicken Breast
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- TOTAL
Our family is always on the hunt for new and interesting ways to cook chicken breasts, and this baked chicken with roasted red peppers, basil, and citrus is a perfect fit. The chicken slowly braises in a mixture of orange and lemon juice, which keeps it nice and juicy, preventing it from drying out. The cooking liquid is also quite delicious spooned over the chicken for serving. I especially love this over rice, like our cilantro lime rice.
You Will Need
1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 (12oz) jar roasted red peppers
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup (120ml) orange juice, freshly squeezed is best
1/4 cup (60ml) fresh lemon juice
1 bunch fresh basil, leaves picked off the stems
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
Directions
1Prepare oven and baking dish: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and set aside a 2-quart baking dish.
2Prepare the chicken: Slice each chicken breast, on an angle, into 1-inch slices and season all over with salt and pepper.
3Prepare the peppers: Open the jar of roasted red peppers, drain the liquid, and then cut the peppers into smaller chunks, similar in size to basil leaves.
4Assemble the casserole: Scatter minced garlic in the bottom of the baking dish. Pour half of the orange juice and half of the lemon juice mixture over the garlic.
5Starting in one corner of the baking dish, alternate chicken slices with pieces of roasted red pepper and basil leaves, then pour the remaining orange and lemon juice over the chicken. Cut the butter into small squares, then scatter them over the chicken.
6Bake the casserole: Bake the chicken until a thermometer inserted into the chicken reads 165°F, 20 to 30 minutes.
7Serve the chicken over mashed potatoes, with rice, or vegetables. There will be lots of extra cooking liquid to spoon over the chicken.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Roasted peppers: One 12-ounce jar of roasted red peppers usually contains 1 very large or 2 medium peppers. To learn how to roast them yourself, refer to our roasted red pepper hummus recipe for tips.
- Nutrition facts provided are estimates.
Can I use chicken thighs or will it be too greasy?
Chicken thighs would be great, but I recommend using skinless chicken thighs for this recipe.
This is an amazing recipe. Its a favorite! I serve it with rice. FYI if we have leftovers, I make paninis’ with provolone and a drizzle of Olive oil. Literally the best paninis we ever had. Great way to make 2 dinners from one. Absolutley love this dish!!! I cant tell you how much inspired tastes has saved me over and over! Many Thanks! Tanya
So easy and delicious! I have shared this recipe with my family and friends. Best new chicken recipe that I have tried in years. My new favorite.
I followed the directions and used fresh basil from my garden and it was amazing. Thank you so much . I will add this to my favorite dinners. I served it over cauliflower rice.
Excellent recipe. Very tasty and colorful and quick and healthy. What more could you ask for in a recipe. The only tip I have is don’t by the living basil just buy the packaged stuff or wait till Summer and grow your own.
I know it may be a silly question but would thin chicken breasts work too?
Hi Cathy, Thinly cut chicken breast or small chicken breast will work just fine.
Thank you Thank you !!! I felt like I had nothing to cook for my family tonight so I put in chicken and red pepper what do I cook and your site came up. My husband is a Sous chef here in Atlanta and he running home to eat dinner tonight and wine suggestions
Thank you
Quick, easy & delicious! I used dried basil because I didn’t have fresh. Just sprinkled some on. I think next time I would try it without the butter to see how it compares. The sauce is so fresh with just a little tang that I don’t think I would miss the butter!
What about some lemon slices layered in and a little less juice? Might make it even prettier? Thanks, jo
BTW, my hubby is a Cordon Bleu trained chef and I try to impress him occasionally.
Making this tonight! Sounds delicious! Thank you. Should I cover it with foil in the oven while baking?
Great! There is no need to cover the dish.
This is my first time trying a recipe on this website and this chicken came out AMAZING!! Definitely a big hit with my boyfriend. The acidic taste wasn’t very overwhelming which was my concern but it was the perfect amount of orange juice and lemon juice!
Trying turkey meatballs tonight! 🙂
Wow! This was so incredibly fresh and delicious tasting! There werent any leftovers and lots of requests for a repeat performance very soon :). I sliced the breasts about and inch thick and marinated them in the juices and garlic for 15 minutes. I used two tablespoons of lemon juice, and tripled the basil. I drizzled about 1.5 tablespoons of garlic infused olive oil over the top before baking. I thought it would be tasty but it was exceptional. As we were eating, I noticed the bites with basil had an extra yum factor so I would definitely triple the basil again. Thank you for delighting us with this recipe. I will definitely try more from InspiredTaste!
This sounds wonderful! Do you think it would work just as well with cauliflower & carrots replacing the roast peppers? 🙂
Sure! Any veggie will work!
Delicious! I wish I would have marinated the chicken for a bit in the juice, because it was so tasty and would have loved the chicken to pick up a bit more of it. I did take advice from previous comments regarding sourness and used only about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, otherwise kept all other ingredients the same.
Hi Joanne…. I want to make this to serve six and would be roasting my own peppers rather than the store bought, jarred ones… any stab at about how many large fresh red peppers I should start with to roast to make this recipe for six people? (I make a roasted red pepper soup with an orange creme fraiche and basil topping – and I’ll make quinoa with asparagus and red pepper and so your recipe will nicely complete the red pepper themed meal! LoL!). Thanks in advance for your response! Warm regards, Rachel
Hi there — we’d guess 2 medium peppers.
A dry white wine or lighter red (like Pinot Noir) would be nice.
can i use other peppers too or just red?
Any roasted bell pepper will work well.
Can I do balsamic vinegar with the lemon instead of Orange juice?
That could be really tasty. We suggest tasting the lemon and balsamic together before adding to the chicken to see if it seems too acidic. You might want to compensate with a little honey/sugar/maple syrup.
This was way too sour! I added extra garlic to the bottom of the baking dish and marinated the chicken with the juices during cooking so the basil didn’t get crispy. I like the idea of layering the roasted peppers and basil, but next time will not add 1/4 cup lemon juice. I was just too much for my taste.
Hi Karin — Next time, try a little lemon zest and not juice. That should tone down the sourness of the lemon.
This looks delicious. I would really like to try this out. Would it still taste good w/out the orange juice? I’m on a sugar detox and Orange juice has too much sugar. Thank You!
Yes, leave it out completely or add a little fresh lemon juice — about half a lemon should do it.
Orange and lemon zest would also work nicely to add the citrus flavor without the sugar.
I made this recipe as written and loved it. 🙂
I dont have roasted pepper in my country. Do you have a substitute in mind?
You can roast your own peppers — to do this, turn your oven broiler to high then place regular bell peppers underneath it (it is helpful to place them onto a baking sheet to catch any juices). Roast the peppers for 3 to 5 minutes on all sides or until the skin has blistered and darkened. Then, transfer the peppers to a plastic bag or bowl that can be covered. Leave the peppers for 10 to 15 minutes. In this time, they will steam and then cool. From there, you can easily pull the skin away from the pepper flesh. Remove the seeds and you have homemade roasted peppers. We show you how to do this in our Roasted Pepper Hummus recipe.
What do you think about using 1-2T olive oil drizzled over the top instead of butter?
That would be fine 🙂
I love this recipe so much. I’ve made it a few times and my family always devours it. Thanks!
This recipe is incredible, thank you so much for posting it! The flavors blended together in pure perfection. We had it over egg noodles with a side of broccoli. I’m definitely adding this to my repertoire.
I tried this recipe the other day, after finding it at tastespotting.com. I thought it was a really great recipe! Brilliant in both being easy, quick to prepare and full of yummy flavors. Thank you!
So glad you liked it!
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