Mediterranean Chicken Bake: olives, lemon, and herbs over a creamy mash

1 pan does most of the cooking here. You salt the chicken, scatter olives, lemon, and garlic around it, pour in coconut milk, and let the oven do the rest while you make a soft green mash underneath. It looks like a real dinner because it is one.

Chicken thighs and drumsticks are a source of zinc, a mineral involved in immune regulation and in the repair of the gut barrier. The broccoli folded into the mash brings folate and vitamin C, and the white sweet potato gives you gentle, satisfying carbohydrate that supports steady energy through a long afternoon. Olives and their oil carry monounsaturated fat, studied for a calmer inflammatory picture.

Tarragon, lemon, and green olives carry the flavor of Provence, and they make a humble bird taste cared for. Plate it well, the pale mash underneath and the bronzed chicken on top. The bird gave its life for this meal, and a little gratitude as you serve it is simply honest.

Ingredients

Chicken bake

• 1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs or drumsticks
• 1/2 pound red onion, cut into wedges
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3/4 cup pitted green olives
• 1 cup coconut milk (shake the can first, then measure; coconut-free swap: use plain chicken broth, see verify flags)
• 2 teaspoons dried tarragon
• Sea salt

Mash

• 3/4 pound white sweet potato, peeled and diced (peeling is preference only)
• 1 pound broccoli florets
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (or chicken broth, to match above)
• Sea salt

Method

• Heat the oven to 400 F. Salt the chicken and lay it in a large baking dish. Scatter the red onion wedges, lemon wedges, garlic, and olives around the pieces. Pour 1 cup of coconut milk over everything and season with the tarragon.
• Bake for about 1 hour, until the chicken is cooked through and pulling easily from the bone. Oven temperatures vary, so check for doneness before pulling it.
• While the chicken bakes, boil the diced sweet potato and broccoli together for about 15 minutes, until both are fork tender. Drain well.
• Return the vegetables to the pot or a blender, add the remaining 1/2 cup coconut milk, and blend about 30 seconds until creamy. A potato masher works if you do not have a blender. Salt to taste.
• Spoon the mash onto plates or into 4 meal-prep containers and lay the chicken and its juices on top. Refrigerate up to 7 days or freeze. Leftovers reportedly taste even better the next day.

Air fryer variation

For a smaller batch (about half the chicken), you can air fry the pieces rather than wet-baking them, which gives crispier skin but loses the olive and coconut sauce. Toss the chicken with salt and tarragon, air fry at 380 F for roughly 18 to 22 minutes, turning once, until cooked through, then warm the olives, lemon, and a little coconut milk separately to spoon over. Times are an untested adaptation, check doneness directly.

*Adapted from asquirrelinthekitchen.com*

*Re-grounded from the source archive file aip-source-archives/a-squirrel-in-the-kitchen/aip-mediterranean-chicken-bake-meal-prep.md (Sophie Van Tiggelen). Ingredient list kept as factual reference; method reworded in ARM's own words. Coconut-free swap to chicken broth retained from the author's reader replies; the almond milk swap she mentioned is dropped because almonds are not elimination-stage AIP. Bake and air fryer times flagged for verification.*