Want an easy delicious dinner, that is not only quick cooking, but quick clean up? One sheet pan dinners are the way to go.
On nights when the kids have karate, or I know we're going to get home later than usual, one sheet dinners are my go to. One of my favorite indulgences is anything with browned butter and sage. The two compliment each other perfectly. The fragrant nutty flavor of the browned butter, and the earthy floral sage make me very happy. Sage is thriving in my garden right now. So I decided to use some of it up.
What I love about one sheet pan dinners, is not only can I cook a main dish and a side, but the cleanup so easy! Here I used bone in, skin on chicken thighs. They are inexpensive and have a ton of flavor. But you could do this with chicken breasts as well. So preheat the over to 350 degrees. You are going to pat the chicken down with a paper towel to get all the moisture off. The dryer the skin, the crispier it will be. If you don't like the skin that's ok, leave it on and I show you why in a minute. So once you've patted the chicken dry, sprinkle the skin with a little kosher salt. Again this will crisp up the skin, and allow it to release the juices which will flavor the chicken along with the potatoes.
Next your going to make a sage butter to rub all over the chicken. Take the sage leaves and stack them on top of each other. Then run your knife through them. It will create long thin sage ribbons.
Let the butter come to room temperature and mix the sage and butter together to form and paste. Rub this all over the chicken, and under the skin. Then season with cracked black pepper, and set aside.
Next I line a baking sheet pan with aluminum foil. If you don't like to cook directly on foil you can put a piece of parchment paper on top of the foil. The foil is to protect your sheet pan for easy clean up. Put the potatoes in the sheet pan and season with a little olive oil, or olive oil cooking spray, salt and pepper, and sage leaves. Put the chicken on a baking rack, and place the baking rack into the sheet pan, above the potatoes. This will allow the air to circulate under the chicken, making is crispy. While also basting and flavoring the potatoes.
Place the sheet pan on the middle rack of your oven, and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes. The skin will have receded and be nice and crispy. Thighs are very forgiving and can't be over cooked. However, if using breasts in place of thighs, cook them until they reach an internal temp of 165 degrees.
Take the sheet pan out of the oven, and allow the chicken to rest for about 5 minutes. This meal is perfect on its own, however this night I did serve some steamed broccoli along side. For clean up, just pull off the aluminum foil once the pan has cooled and throw it away.
Butter Sage Chicken with Roasted Red Potatoes
6 Bone in, skin on chicken thighs
1 Tsp Kosher salt, divided
Cracked Black Pepper to taste
3 Tbsp butter
2 bundles of fresh Sage, chopped
5 large red potatoes, quartered. Or 1 lb small, halved
*If you like heat, you could add some red pepper flakes to the potatoes
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