One Pan Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables!!! This make ahead meal is a must during your busy work and school week!! Infused with garlic, fresh thyme and rosemary, your family will love this “make ahead” one pan roast chicken!!
Everyone is now back in school and back to their weekday school year routines. I don’t know about you but I’m always pressed for time the few hours leading up to dinner time. I tried the cook 4 meals over the weekend thing and freeze/store for the rest of the week but then found myself just cooking all day on a Saturday. . and who wants to do that?
I’d much rather prep some things the night before and have dinner ready to go the following day. Enter this glorious cookbook. The Make-Ahead Cook by America’s Test Kitchen. Oh my gawd you guys. This cookbook is a life saver and a gem.
“The Make-Ahead Cook presents eight different strategies that provide solutions for the time-pressed cook who appreciates the ease of make-ahead meals, but demands great taste. Each chapter focuses on a different path in make-ahead cooking, taking into account a variety of needs, budgets, and lifestyles, adding up to what is essentially eight cookbooks in one.
The 150 recipes (see full recipe list here!) in the book are specifically designed for preparing and cooking ahead: time-intensive stews reengineered to spread the workload over two days, favorite casseroles and pot pies reimagined to taste fresh after reheating, and hearty roasts reinvented into completely different meals for the following day.”
If you are crazed during the week and are always being asked, “What’s for dinner?” This is the cookbook for you. The fact that it is written by America’s Test Kitchen was a huge selling point for me. Why? Because I know the recipes have been tested like crazy and they provide the rationale as to why they did what they did and what works.
For example, for this recipe, when laying everything down onto your baking sheet (you prep and marinate everything the night before), “to ensure that the delicate white meat stayed moist while the darker meat cooked through, we placed the breasts in the center of the pan and the thighs and drumsticks around the perimeter where the heat was more intense. And similarly for the vegetables, Brussels sprouts in the middle, hardier potatoes and carrots on the outside, also proved effective. And placing the chicken on top of the vegetables was a simple way to infuse them with savory flavor.”
So, you just come home from work, (remember, you prepped and marinated everything the night before), assemble everything on the baking sheet, bake and dinner is served!
I seriously love this cookbook. It couldn’t have come to me at a better time. I’ve already made a few more things in here and have the Slow-Cooker Asian Braised Beef Short Ribs (pg. 262) next on my list.
One Pan Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables
Ingredients
- 12 ounces red potatoes unpeeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 12 ounces Brussels sprouts trimmed and halved
- 8 shallots peeled and halved
- 4 medium sized carrots peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces, thick ends halved lengthwise
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
- 6 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 4 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves or a handful sprigs of fresh thyme
- 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves only; split
- 3 1/2 pounds bone-in, skin on chicken pieces (breasts, drumsticks and thighs)
- salt and pepper
- chile lime seasoning blend optional
Instructions
To Prep:
- Place potatoes, Brussels sprouts, shallots, carrots, 2 tablespoons oil, minced garlic, 2 teaspoons thyme leaves and 1 teaspoon rosemary in 1-gallon zip top bag. Press out the air and seal; toss to coat. Massage vegetables so everything gets nicely coated.
- Place the chicken, remaining 2 tablespoons oil, remaining 2 teaspoons thyme, remaining 1 teaspoon rosemary, a little garlic if desired, salt and pepper in a separate 1-gallon zip top bag. Press out the air and seal; toss to coat.
To Store:
- Refrigerate chicken and vegetable mixture zipper-lock bags for at least one hour or overnight, up to 24 hours, flipping the bag at least once or twice to ensure the chicken marinates evenly if you can.
To Finish and Serve:
- Adjust the oven rack to upper-middle position and preheat oven to 475 degrees. Spread vegetables in a single layer on lined, rimmed baking sheet, discarding any excess liquid and arranging Brussels sprouts in the center and potatoes and carrots along the outside. Season vegetables with more salt and pepper if desired.
- Place chicken skin side up on top of vegetables, arranging breast pieces in the center and leg and thigh pieces around the perimeter of the sheet. Season with more salt and pepper if desired and add any additional seasoning (chile lime seasoning) to the chicken if you'd like.Bake chicken until breasts register 160 degrees and drumsticks and thighs register 175 degrees, for about 40 to 45 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through baking.
- Transfer the chicken to serving platter, tent loosely with aluminum foil, and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes. If desired, return vegetables to oven and continue to bake until lightly browned, about 5 to 10 minutes. Toss vegetables with any accumulated chicken juices and transfer to platter with chicken. Serve and enjoy.
One Pan Roast Chicken recipe reprinted here on Hip Foodie Mom with permission from America’s Test Kitchen.
