Colourful peppers, smoky paprika, sweet roasted tomatoes, and juicy chicken deliver big, moreish flavour with barely any prep—just pop the tray in the oven and get on with your evening. Fancy a twist? Try bone-in, skin-on chicken for crisp golden skin, swap in fresh rosemary for an aromatic lift, or go vegan with a chickpea-and-cannellini mix enriched with veggie stock and nutritional yeast. Make-ahead tip: assemble up to a day ahead and keep chilled, or bake completely, refrigerate, and simply reheat when you’re ready to eat.
Ingredients
- 4 large bell peppers, halved lengthways and deseeded
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
- 3–4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 200g cherry tomatoes
- 200ml chicken or veg stock
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp garlic granules
- Small handful fresh basil leaves or thyme sprigs, or dried herbs.
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 skinless chicken breasts (about 150 g each)
Method
- Heat oven to 180 °C (160 °C fan) / 350 °F /
- Prepare peppers: Arrange halves, cut-side up, in a roasting tin. Drizzle with 1 Tbsp olive oil; season with salt and pepper.
- Scatter sliced garlic and cherry tomatoes among peppers. Dust with half the smoked paprika and herbs.
- Add chicken: Place one breast ontop of the pepper halfs. Brush with remaining olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic granules, remaining smoked paprika, salt, and pepper and herbs.
- Roast 30–40 min, until chicken is cooked through and peppers are tender.
Vegan twist: Swap the chicken for a drained 400 g can each of chickpeas, cannellini or butter beans (or any mixed beans you have). Toss them with 2 Tbsp olive oil, 3–4 Tbsp vegetable stock, 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast, and the same smoked-paprika seasoning as above, then spoon the mixture into the pepper halves in place of the chicken. Roast at 180 °C for about 25–30 minutes—just until the peppers soften and the beans pick up a little colour—then finish with the fresh herbs. The beans stay tender yet hearty, while the nutritional yeast and stock lend a rich, savoury depth that keeps the dish satisfying without any meat.
Fresh rosemary variation: Swap the basil or thyme for a couple of finely chopped rosemary sprigs to give the dish a scented lift. Scatter the rosemary over the tray just before it goes into the oven so its fragrant oils permeate the peppers.
Prefer something heartier? Lay bone-in chicken halves, skin-side up, over the peppers instead of breasts; roast for 45-50 minutes, or until the skin is golden and crisp and the juices run clear.
Serve with fluffy rice, a crisp salad, warm crusty bread, couscous, creamy mashed potatoes, or herbed quinoa for even more variety.
Air-fryer: You can scale the recipe down to single-pepper portions in the air-fryer: set it to 190 °C (Roast) and cook for 15–20 minutes until the pepper is tender and the filling is piping hot. I often air-fry the vegan cannellini bean version for a grab-and-go weekday lunch—the circulating heat makes the beans go deliciously crunchy on the outside while staying soft in the middle, a texture that’s irresistibly moreish.