For me, it sometimes feels like fall is over once Halloween has passed and the mad rush towards the Holiday Season begins. However, I let myself look all around at the Autumn foliage, pops of color from chrysanthemums, and the many smells and flavors of Autumn cooking. This Autumn Sheet Pan Chicken – a celebration of Fall in all of it’s glory – reminds me that Fall is still with us, and so are Fall Eats.
So, this week our recipe has been inspired by a Food & Wine shared dish for Sheet-Pan Chicken with Sourdough and Bacon. The recipe epitomized simple comfort food. Sheet pan meals are definitely a favorite and this is because these one-pan meals come together quickly (only 5-10 minutes prep time). You can toss everything into the oven and then be able to serve dinner less than an hour later – DELIGHTFUL.
Kyle basically drooled over this recipe for two years. He finally got around to making it, but he tweaked the recipe a tad some with ingredient changes, leaning toward Autumn comfort food inspirations. He immediately nixed the potato. The combination of both potatoes AND diced bread seemed like WAY too many carbs. Plus, by only using bread, the crispy, chicken fat-soaked croutons really shine in the dish. If he could have somehow crammed 3 to 4 times more croutons in the dish, he would have, just for the sake of leftovers. They resemble the best Thanksgiving stuffing in crouton form!
The bottoms of the croutons char against the pan, while the tops soak up all the delicious chicken drippings, creating a great contrast of textures and flavors. Kyle also added some sliced tart apples and butternut squash (so Autumn-y). This combination of the tart apples and the caramelized squash really complement the savory croutons and bacon lardons. The oregano in the recipe was switched out for rosemary; however, any combo of sage, rosemary,or thyme would produce great fall flavors.
You might be surprised to read this, but there may be a little too much bacon in the original recipe (sorry!). The bacon flavor totally dominated the dish. It also increased the richness ten-fold. The butter, olive oil and chicken dripping make the dish quite luxe enough. While the original recipe was quite delicious, Kyle chose to dial back the amount listed in the recipe to balance out the other autumnal flavors in the dish.
To make the recipe into a gluten free version you can substitute in some gf diced bread, or, forego the bread completely, and use a 1/2 pound of diced sweet potatoes instead.
No matter how you serve it, this Autumn Sheet Pan Chicken is simple and delicious – a great way to usher in the colder weather and continue the Autumn celebrations. Enjoy your comfort food!!
Adapted from Food & Wine.
- ½ pound challah bread (or substitute with gluten free bread), broken into 2-inch cubes
- ¼ pound slab bacon, cut into 1-by- ½-inch lardons
- ½ pound butternut squash, diced
- 1 large red onion, cut into 1-inch wedges
- 1 Granny Smith apple, cut into 1-inch wedges
- 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced
- 4 rosemary sprigs
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- 6 whole chicken legs (about 4 pounds)
- Preheat the oven to 400°.
- On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the bread, bacon, butternut squash, onion, apple, butter, rosemary and crushed red pepper with the olive oil and season generously with salt and black pepper. Spread in an even layer.
- Season the chicken with salt and black pepper and arrange on the bread mixture.
- Roast the chicken and bread mixture for about 45 minutes, until the bread is crisp and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the chicken registers 160°. Discard the rosemary sprigs and serve.
Leave a Reply