Sheet Pan Roast Chicken Dinner. I love sheet pan dinners. If you are a person who is cooking only for one or two people, dinner cannot get much easier.Everything roasts on one pan. Your whole dinner. This makes for ease in cooking and an easy clean-up when you are done. Sometimes you just feel lazy. I get it. I feel lazy sometimes too. You cannot beat this kind of meal for times like that!
You may not think it is possible for you to cook your meat, vegetable and potatoes all in the same amoun of time using a sheet pan, but it is ABSOLUTELY possible.
With this recipe the chicken gets a head start in the oven first and then you add the potatoes and vegetables afterwards. Everything finishes at the same time. Easy peasy.
You can of course use boneless, skinless chicken breasts for this and put them into the oven at the same time as the potatoes, etc. They cook a lot faster than bone in/skin on chicken.
I actually prefer (for roasting) bone in/skin on chicken breast meat. The bone helps keep the breasts moist and tender because it helps distribute heat evenly through the meat. The skin also seals in moisture and juiciness. This is especially important when you are "roasting." Chicken breast meat drys out quite easily, which is why I prefer it bone in skin on when prepared in this way.
We eat a lot of broccoli in this house. Not only is it considered a "super-food" but it is delicious and lends itself perfectly to roasting in this manner. It also goes exceedingly well with chicken.
Did you know that Broccoli is just as rich in Vitamin C as Orange juice? Plus it is an excellent source of fiber and other important vitamins, including iron which is so important for our diets, as well as potassium.
You can use either regular potatoes or sweet potatoes for this dinner. If I am using regular potatoes I try to use a russet or a King Edward/Maris Piper (in the UK). These are potatoes that are well suited to being roasted.
They have a lovely white flesh with a mealy texture and will not fall apart as easily as some other potatoes. You can keep the skin on if you wish. I normally do because, again . . . fiber. We all need to have as much fiber in our diets as we can get.
If you scrub them really well this isn't a problem. I actually love the skin on potatoes. Its one of my favorite parts of the potato and I know I am not alone in this way of thinking.
Because bone in chicken takes slightly longer to cook than boneless chicken, I start the chicken off in the oven first. I create a tasty mix of flavourings that will flavor everything.
Onion powder, garlic powder and paprika are mixed with a bit of seasalt and freshly ground pepper. The chicken gets drizzled with a bit of oil and then some of the seasonings get sprinkled over top before you bang it into the oven.
The potato and broccoli go into the oven after the chicken has baked for a while. I like to cut the potatoes into chunks that are roughly 1-inch square, and I break the broccoli into large florets.
These sizes ensure that both will cook evenly and in about the same amount of time. You could also use other vegetables if you wanted to. Cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, diced carrot or butternut squash, turnips, beetroot, all work well.
Just bear in mind if you are using harder root vegetables, such as turnips or beetroot, they may take longer to cook. Celeriac, or celery root is also very good as is Kohlrabi.
If you want you can make a mix of vegetables. Bear in mind that beetroot will bleed its color into other things.
You will also drizzle them with oil and some of the seasonings as well. Interestingly enough, although you might think that broccoli or cauliflower would cook faster than potatoes . . . they don't! In fact you will find that in roasting them like this, you get a crispy tender finish. If that is not something you really like, then I would blanch them first.
You also sprinkle a quantity of finely grated parmesan Cheese over everything. I really love the flavor this gives to the chicken and the vegetables. Its really quite nice.
Then again, I love cheese. I probably eat too much of it, but here it works really well.
The end result is a delicious Chicken dinner with perfectly cooked, tender and moist chicken with a crisp and flavour-filled skin and perfectly cooked vegetables on the side. The potatoes have golden brown caramelised edges and the broccoli is wonderfully crispy tender.
The mix of spices and herbs that you sprinkle over top really compliment everything, so each article although cooked the same and in the same time, come out tasting individually really nice.
I blame the cheese. 😋😋😋
Sheet Pan Roast Chicken Dinner
Ingredients
- 2 bone in, skin on chicken breasts (I use free range, organic corn fed)
- 1/2 head of cauliflower or a medium broccoli crown
- 2 russet potatoes
- 1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tsp coarse black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 2/3 cup (60g) grated Parmesan Cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly spray with baking spray. Mix together the salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders, and paprika.
- Place the two pieces of chicken in the middle of the pan. Drizzle with 1/2 TBS of the oil, and 1/3 of the spice mixture.
- Place into the preheated oven and roast for 10 minutes.
- While the chicken is roasting, cut the potatoes and vegetables into small chunks. Put ito a bowl and toss together with the remaining oil and spice mixture.
- Remove the chicken from the oven and spread scatter the vegetables around the chicken on the baking sheet. Scatter the parmesan cheese over all.
- Return to the oven and roast for a further 20 to 25 minutes until the potatoes and vegetables are tender and the chicken juices run clear.
notes:
Variations - You can use sweet potatoes cut into chunks instead of the red potatoes, or a mix of both. Use Cauliflower, baby carrots, sliced butternut squash or pumpkin for the vegetables. Or even a mixture. All are very good. (Today I used half a Romanesco Cauliflower)
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You could of course make some gravy to spoon over top of this if you really wanted to. I like it just as it is. I do like a salad on the side also, but then again, I am a person who love, LOVES salad!
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