Roasted Chicken with Harvest Vegetables is the perfect meal for fall.
THIS is why I love one pot meals. Oh my goodness. I love that there aren’t 100 heavy pots and pans to clean after the meal, I love the simplicity of it, and I love the way it tastes. Everything cooking together means the flavors have gotten meshed together to make even better flavors! In the case of this recipe, it means that even Taylor liked the brussel sprouts! This is big news, people. My husband doesn’t eat brussel sprouts, unless, apparently, they have been slowly roasted and basted in chicken drippings and spices!
If you’re kids (or significant other) won’t eat a certain veggie, just cook it under a chicken next time!
Obviously, one pot meals are not a new concept. Soup is kind of the original one pot meal, and I think it may be one of the oldest foods. (Remember Esau trading his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup in the Old Testament?)
There is no limit to how fancy, how many steps, how involved a recipe can get, but sometimes you just want wholesome food that has slow roasted all together in one pot!
One pot and that’s it! You throw ingredients in, do some stuff, throw more ingredients in, do some more stuff, and then you have dinner! MAGIC
This dish combines some of the tastiest harvest vegetables that I thought would lend themselves well to roasting. Mostly root vegetables: Sweet potatoes, regular potatoes (Taylor doesn’t like how squishy sweet potatoes get so I used both), brussel sprouts, and carrots. I used leeks instead of onions to give it a gentler flavor.
Notice how the chicken is flat? I butterflied it, also known as spatchcocking. It’s one of those things that seems really intimidating if you don’t know how to do it, but it’s actually so easy, and takes about 2 minutes. Sharp poultry shears help, but you don’t need anything fancy.
There are a lot of benefits to butterfly-ing, but the best part is that it cooks really evenly! It also helps when you’re cooking it in a round oven, because the chicken is wider and almost covers all of the veggies, and thus, more delicious fat and flavor get distributed!
I explain in detail how to do it, but I didn’t take any pictures. Something about touching raw chicken, washing my hands, taking a picture and repeating the process umpteen times made me feel demotivated. If you want to watch it being done, check out this Video from Fine Cooking!
To the veggies, I just added a little coconut oil, garlic, and apple cider vinegar, and I rubbed the chicken down with a super tasty spice mixture before it roasted for 75 minutes. You don’t have to follow my exact instructions for roasting. As long as the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 degrees, and the juices run clear when it’s done, you should be fine. I will tell you though, this is some of the juiciest chicken I’ve made.
I put it in the oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes to start. This started a nice browning on the outside of the bird, and got the veggies to start softening. Then, I turned the heat down to 375, and cooked it for about another 60 minutes. This slower cooking allowed the bird to cook evenly without drying out, but the first 15 minutes got it nice and brown. Usually, I just roast at 400 degrees from start to finish, and that works fine, but I will definitely use this slower method again.
What are some of your favorite one pot meals?
- 1 whole chicken (6-8 lbs)
- 2 leeks, ends trimmed off and stalk sliced thinly
- 3 medium yukon gold potatoes, cut into ½" cubes
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into ½" cubes
- 1½ cups brussel sprouts, cut in half
- 2-3 medium carrots
- 3 tbl coconut oil
- 2 tbl apple cider vinegar
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- ½ tsp granulated garlic
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
- Add to oven-proof 6-9 quart cast iron round oven all veggies.
- In a small bowl, combine 2 tbl coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, minced garlic, 1 tsp salt, and ½ tsp pepper. Pour mixture over veggies, and stir to coat.
- In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper, granulated garlic, and paprika. Set aside.
- Butterfly chicken. To do this, take a good pair of poultry shears and lay the chicken on a cutting board, breast side down. With the rear cavity facing toward you, grasp the end of spine with your non-dominant hand, and begin cutting roughly ½" to the right of the spine with your dominant hand. Cut straight up until the shears cut through to the neck hole. Repeat the process on the other side. Discard spine or freeze for making stock. Flip the chicken so it is breast side up. Take the heel of your dominant hand, and press down quickly and firmly to crack the breast bone. Congratulations! You just butterflied yourself a chicken!
- Place chicken on top of veggies and rub with remaining tablespoon of coconut oil and sprinkle spice mixture evenly over the top of the bird.
- Roast in oven, uncovered for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 and roast for another 45-60 minutes, uncovered. Chicken is fully cooked when the internal temperature reaches 165 in the thickest part of the thigh. Juices should run clear.
*The Nutrition Information is for a serving equal to 1/6 of the recipe*
Christine H. says
Your one-pot chicken meal is almost the same as mine! I make this when we have company. My family and friends LOVE it. I will have to try to butterfly the chicken, though. I’ve never done that. Thanks for the tip!
Lindsey Boubel says
Nice! I bet yours is delicious!