As a family of one, I sometimes don’t want to fix a standard sized meal, when there’s only me eating it. But that could be a mistake when something is as good as this sheet pan dinner comes to town.
My daughter-in-law’s sister Janice sent an email to the family recently, with a link to a recipe online at Food & Wine, that she raved about. I looked it up, added it to my MasterCook software and had it in the back of my head that I’d try it soon. As I glanced at the recipe again I realized I didn’t have white potatoes – but I did have one sweet potato. Okay, that could be substituted. I did have a red onion, and I had boneless, skinless chicken thighs – the recipe called for those thigh/drumstick combinations. I didn’t have a sourdough boule, but I did have sliced sourdough bread in the freezer. And last but not least, I didn’t have fresh oregano, but I prefer dried oregano anyway. I figured I could improvise. Since I want vegetables in my meals, I decided to add some yellow squash to the mix also, as there weren’t any veggies in the original (unless you count onion and potatoes). The original also called for slab bacon cut into square chunks. I certainly didn’t have that either, but I did have thick sliced bacon. It would have to do!
Because of the substitutions, I lowered the oven temp by 15°, to 385° (from 400°). Why? Because the croutons (nothing but sandwich bread cut into cubes) might have burned at 400°. Plus, the chicken was in smaller pieces as well. I just thought it would be safer baking at a lower temp. So, first I combined the bread cubes, sweet potatoes, red onion wedges and bacon. That was drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with red chili flakes, dried oregano plus salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix it all up so everything has a thin coating of oil. Into the oven it went for 15 minutes. Although the combo is spread on a large sheet pan (rimmed) you kind of bunch it up in the middle (but still in a single layer) and I actually laid the bacon slices over the tops of all the onion wedges. Meanwhile I combined the boneless skinless chicken thighs that I cut into more manageable pieces and the yellow squash and sprinkled them with salt, pepper and oregano. Those things were added to the pan, trying to put the squash on the outside edges (because they’re a wet veggie and would weep water) and the chicken draped over the top of the center stuff. Another 40 minutes in the oven and the chicken was done with a bit of browned edges, all the veggies were perfect. If you have some parsley, sprinkle it on top and serve immediately. For a family meal, just put the pan on the table (on a towel maybe) with a big spoon or spatula to serve with; otherwise, pour it all out onto a HEATED platter and serve. I promise, you’ll hear mmmmm’s.
What’s GOOD: how incredibly easy this is, providing you have all the ingredients on hand. I made a smaller size (using one package of Costco’s boneless, skinless chicken thighs) but it was enough for 4 meals. If you have hearty eaters, well, it might feed fewer. Flavor is magnificent – probably from the bacon and the oil, plus the chicken fat that slowly oozed out of the meat as it roasted. I could hardly keep my fork out of the pan when I was packaging up the leftovers.
What’s NOT: nothing that I can think of.
printer-friendly PDF and MasterCook 15/16 file (click link to open recipe)
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Sheet Pan Chicken Thighs with Bacon & Sourdough Croutons
Recipe By: Adapted from a Food & Wine recipe, 2017
Serving Size: 8
8 ounces sourdough bread — cut into 1″ cubes
2 red onions — peeled, chopped in wedges
5 slices thick-sliced bacon — cut in 1″ pieces
3 small sweet potatoes — peeled, cut in 1″ chunks
2 tablespoons dried oregano — divided use
3 tablespoons olive oil — divided use
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
8 boneless skinless chicken thighs — cut into big chunks
Salt and pepper and more dried oregano
3 large summer squash — either zucchini or yellow
3 tablespoons Italian parsley — for garnish, if desired
1. Preheat oven to 385°F.
2. Prepare a large rimmed sheet pan (line with foil for easy clean-up). Add bread, onions, bacon and sweet potatoes on the pan. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle most of the oregano all over and season with red chili flakes, salt and pepper. Using your hands, toss these ingredients so most of them are oiled. Spread out, but still leave it in a centered mass, but a single layer.
3. Bake for 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, lightly oil the squash and chicken in a bowl, and season with salt and pepper and oregano.
5. Remove pan from oven. Place the squash around the outside edges and place the chicken pieces on top of the middle mound (so the juices will drip into the mixture below it).
6. Return pan to the oven and roast for 40 minutes until the chicken has begun to brown around the edges and the squash is roasted. Remove and serve immediately. Sprinkle with chopped parsley if desired.
Per Serving: 403 Calories; 18g Fat (40.2% calories from fat); 27g Protein; 34g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 92mg Cholesterol; 509mg Sodium.
hddonna
said on November 19th, 2017:
I’m looking for quick and easy meals for the weekend after next, when my daughter and her four sons will be staying for three days so we can go to the Nutcracker performance and bake and decorate cookies. There won’t be much time for cooking and leaning up. This should be just the thing! I love the idea of roasting onions with bacon draped over them. That sounds fantastic!
In the last month I’ve prepared this dinner 3 times. And I’m not tired of it at all. You can also change up the contents a little bit with different potatoes, or squash, or adding butternut squash. But as I think I wrote in the post, it’s the bacon and sourdough bread croutons that put it over the top, for me anyway! Let me know what you think! … carolyn t
hddonna
said on December 7th, 2017:
I made this as planned last weekend, and everyone liked it–especially the croutons! Since I had bone-in chicken thighs–that’s what was on sale last week–I used the link to the original recipe in Food and Wine and followed those directions, but I used your guidelines for fat, and I used thick sliced bacon, as you did. It was still very rich. Those croutons are amazing–part crispy and part soft, moistened with chicken juices and bacon fat and flavored with oregano–wow! It was kind of like stuffing, which is my favorite dish in the Thanksgiving meal. Next time I think I’ll go with you and use skinless, boneless thighs, or at least skin the thighs, as the bacon and olive oil provide plenty of fat. And I’m eager to try it again with butternut squash.
I had enough leftovers that I could turn them into a soup the next day. I cut the potatoes, chicken and onions up and added some carrots and celery and some chicken broth. I re-crisped the croutons in the oven and topped the soup with them.
Your version sounds great, too, Donna. The nice thing about sheetpan dinners is that they’re versatile. So glad your family liked it, and how clever to turn the leftovers into soup! . . . carolyn t