This entire meal takes 45 minutes start to finish. Your oven does most the work, so take some time for yourself to relax while dinner is cooking.
This is a perfect meal for a cool fall night.
Quickly sear the chicken in a skillet, stick it in the oven with the veggies, and in less than 45 minutes dinner is ready.
There's hardly any prep time, and your oven does pretty much all the work.
How nice when you're in no mood to slave over a hot stove.
Might I suggest making a cup of tea and relaxing with a good book... that sounds like a nice way to spend an evening after a long day of work.
Or you could catch up on any shows you have recorded on your DVR.
Or take a nice long bath.
Maybe read a magazine... Southern Living and Cooking Light both have new issues available today on the iPad!
Basically, you just need a task for 35-45 minutes to keep you busy while your oven makes this delicious, simple meal full of flavor.
I like using bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts because it helps keep the chicken from drying out. And who wants dry chicken? ew
The bone-in chicken breast are usually cheaper, so that's a nice little perk to using them as well.
I don't recommend eating the skin since that's where a lot of the unhealthy fat is, so just take it off after cooking.
Oh and bonus points go to this meal since you can have leftovers for lunch the next day. Or save the leftovers and eat them for another dinner this week.
It's up to you.
But the good thing is that, unless you are feeding a small army, this recipe will most likely give you leftovers. And mighty tasty leftovers at that.
Roasted Chicken and Veggies with Baked Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 sweet potatoes 1.5 pounds, well scrubbed
- 2 bell peppers roughly chopped
- 8 ounces mushrooms quartered
- 2 onions roughly chopped {any color}
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3/4 tsp salt divided
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 1 lemon
- 2 TBSP oil olive or avocado, divided
- 1.5 lb bone-in skin-on chicken breast split, pat dry
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Arrange oven racks with one on the lowest position and one on the middle position. Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Prick the potatoes with a fork and wrap individually in foil. Place in the oven on the middle rack {to the side, leaving room for the veggies}. Bake until soft all the way through, about 50-60 minutes.
- Toss together the bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, rosemary, juice from 1/2 lemon, and 1 TBSP oil. Transfer to a large baking dish or rimmed baking sheet {make sure the veggies are in a single layer}, and put in oven on the middle rack {next to potatoes}. Roast until lightly browned & crispy {about 30-45 minutes}, making sure to stir occasionally.
- Heat a large oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with remaining 1/4 tsp salt and pepper. Add remaining tablespoon oil to skillet, and put chicken in skillet skin-side down.
- Brown chicken on skin side for about 5 minutes. Turn chicken skin side up, squeeze remaining 1/2 lemon over chicken, and transfer {in the skillet} to oven on the lowest rack.
- Roast chicken until done, about 35-40 minutes {chicken should register 165°F inside}. Let sit for about 5 minutes before serving.
- Serve chicken with roasted veggies & baked sweet potatoes. I like to put a tiny pat of butter & a sprinkling of salt on my potatoes.
- Reserve leftover chicken and veggies for leftover lunch.
Notes
You obviously don't have to make this whole meal if you don't want. You can always just make the chicken. I posted the recipe for the whole meal, so you can see that you can get an entire meal prepared in less than 10 minutes and cook it all in the oven.
This recipe can easily be cut in half and you will have enough leftovers for probably 1 lunch or small dinner.
And now for the leftover recipe:
Chicken and Vegetable Couscous
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup couscous whole grain
- 1/2 cup cooked chicken shredded
- 1 cup roasted vegetables
- 1/4 tsp salt
- hot sauce to taste
Instructions
- Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir in couscous, cover, and remove from heat. Let sit 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
- Stir together cooked couscous {or other cooked grain}, cooked chicken, roasted vegetables, salt, and hot sauce to taste. Serve
- Keep tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
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