Gimme all the one sheet pan dinners! ?? ?? ?? Roasted Za’atar chicken and crispy potatoes that are garlicky and crunchy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside and take it from someone who doesn’t love potatoes, they are addicting. This recipe goes out to all my fellow lazy, easy clean-up people out there. Um.. hold the phone.. is there anyone out there that actually likes washing dishes? Because WHO and WHERE are you and can you wash mine? I promise to pay you with chewy chocolate chip cookies and roasted za’atar chicken. I couldn’t believe my mouth when I first tasted this chicken and potatoes dinner when it came out of the oven. I mean, simple one sheet pan dinners are my thing but when did 6 simple ingredients make a dinner so amazing that I wanted it at least once a week? I know baking or roasting is counterintuitive in the summertime, but when it’s rained and/or you’ve had gloomy weather for almost 4 weeks straight, all you want is a roasted chicken dinner that requires a quick 45 minutes in the oven and one sheet pan to clean. Plus there’s all this lemony, thyme, and garlic goodness going on that brings so much freshness to the table and to my heart. The best part about this recipe is that there is no baby sitting required! I pop my tray into the oven and around halftime, I flip the tray for even browning. How perfect is that for the hustle and bustle of a Wednesday night when there’s just no time for all that babysitting business? I used small red potatoes and cut them in half so the insides get nice and crunchy. You can use sweet potatoes or yukon golds if that’s what you’ve got around the house. Be sure to cut the potatoes into about 1 inch pieces if you’re working with larger potatoes, otherwise you may need to remove the chicken and continue cooking the potatoes for an additional 5-10 minutes. As always, the secret to my perfect one sheet pan chicken dinners, marination! I love to use a gallon sized zip-top bag and just let all those flavors soak into the chicken and potatoes. You can marinate the chicken for 20 minutes and up to overnight. If you want to marinate the chicken overnight, add the potatoes in a couple hours before roasting. You could even prep the roasted za’atar chicken for Monday night dinner on Sunday and then just pop it in the even for a quick roasted chicken dinner on a WEEKNIGHT. Um.. hello! Talk about having your life together when you serve roasted chicken on a weeknight while the rest of the world eats cold cereal and leftovers And as for the ingredients, most of them are ingredients that are kitchen staples like, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, and salt. The only thing that’s new — za’atar. Which is just a middle eastern spice blend that consists of thyme, marjoram, oregano, sesame seeds and sumac. If you can’t find za’atar in your regular stores, try a middle eastern or mediterranean speciality store and it’s also available online here. Other ways to use za’atar? We love mixing up ¼ cup of olive oil, a pinch of sea salt, and some za’atar seasoning to dip our pita bread in. It’s honestly one of my favorite quick snacks. This was a ginormous hit with the hubby. He couldn’t stop raving about how deliciously tender and juicy the chicken was. And me? I loved the dinner AND the easy clean-up afterwards. Also the fact that he could have his dark meat pieces while I had bone in white meat. This whole za’atar roasted chicken dinner thing has got it going’ on with it’s delicious eats and less dishes.
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Please note: the nutritional facts calculated are an estimate based on the ingredients i’ve used. If you’d like a more accurate count, please calculate them using the ingredients/brands you’ve used to prepare the recipe. The NFs are for 1/8th of the recipe.
Make ahead: The chicken can be marinated up to 12 hours in advance. If you decide to do that, add the potatoes 20 minutes-3 hours before baking.POTATOES: You can swap out the baby red potatoes for Yukon golds or even sweet potatoes if you’d like. Make sure to cut the potatoes into 1-inch pieces so that they cook evenly in the time allotted for the chicken. Larger pieces will not cook in the time and you will have to remove the chicken and continue roasting.
