Sheet Pan Dinner –> Spatchcock Chicken with Potatoes & Onions
One pan/one pot meals are one of my favorite things because they are just so darn easy. You throw everything onto a baking sheet and stick it in the oven. Boom, dinner.
This spatchcock chicken dinner is no exception. It is easy, healthy, and suuuuuper delicious. And PLEASE don’t let the word ‘spatchcock’ intimidate you. It is a lot easier than you think, and it basically just means you butterfly open a whole chicken. I know that might sound complicated, but it truly is simple (here is a video). The reason I wanted to spatchcock the chicken is because it cooks a lot faster in the oven when you butterfly it open than when you leave it intact. It is able to cook all the way through while not burning all of the veggies on the pan at the same time.
This entire meal only requires three main ingredients, plus a few pantry staples that I bet you already have on hand. This is the kind of dinner that looks really impressive, but takes minimal effort and ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 (4lb) whole chicken
- 10-12 small red potatoes
- 1 large onion
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- pinch of salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp dried basil
- 1 tbsp dried thyme
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- To spatchcock the chicken: take the chicken out of the packaging and remove any of the insides (like the neck bone) if it is not already cleaned for you. Turn the chicken breast side down, using sharp kitchen scissors (or a very sharp knife), cut alongside the backbone until you get to the neck of the chicken. Then do the same thing on the other side of backbone. Once you have completely removed the backbone, turn the chicken over and use the heel of your hand to press down on the middle of the breast bone to flatten the chicken.
- Lay the chicken flat in the middle of a large sheet pan. Drizzle both sides of the chicken with 1-2 tbsp of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle the dried basil and thyme over the top of the chicken.
- Next, cut the potatoes into quarters and roughly chop the onion. Mix them together, then distribute the potatoes and onion all over the baking sheet surrounding the chicken.
- Remove the skin from the garlic cloves, and leave the cloves whole. Sprinkle them over the vegetables. Drizzle about a tbsp of olive oil all over the vegetables, and then season with a pinch of salt, pepper, and the dried herbs. Use your hands to mix the veggies around a bit until they are all coated with the oil.
- Make sure everything is in a single layer and evenly distributed around the chicken.
- Place the pan in the oven and roast for 45-55 minutes, until the chicken and potatoes are golden brown, and the chicken is completely cooked through.
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