Roasted chicken has long been a favorite of mine, especially always-tender and juicy chicken thighs. So when it comes to putting together a late spring sheet pan dinner, it only makes sense that chicken thighs would form the base of such a meal. And, given the time of the year, it's easy to round it out with roasted baby red potatoes and asparagus spears. Give the chicken a lovely honey-balsamic glaze and you've got one sheet pan giving you an absolutely inspired dinner in under an hour with only a few minutes of actual prep time.
When it comes to prep time, there's putting stuff on a pan and seasoning it, mixing a glaze and applying it (twice) to the chicken, and adding asparagus to the same pan a little more than halfway through the cooking process. I'd be surprised if there's even 15 minutes of hands on prep time for this meal, which makes it ideal for tossing together while you have other things to get together for the many adventures June brings us all.
If you don't have access to baby red potatoes yet, feel free to use regular red potatoes. I did when I first made this recipe back in early April. Just make sure you cut them into bite-sized pieces so that when roasting, they will get tender on the inside and crisp on the outside as the baby taters do in this recipe. Tossing them in the oil is a critical step to helping this happen - don't skip it!
Finally, pay attention to the thickness of your asparagus spears. If you have very thin spears, you may wish to roast the chicken for 25 minutes and just give the asparagus another 8 minutes in the oven. If your spears are thick, the chicken might want to have those spears added after only 18 minutes of roasting and an additional 18 minutes of roasting might be required to achieve a tender spear. Pay attention to your ingredients and don't be afraid to tweak things a little bit to make your results amazing!
Balsamic Chicken Thighs
- Cooking spray
- 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- ⅓ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 pound small red potatoes, halved
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound asparagus spears, trimmed
Preheat the oven to 425° F. Coat a nonstick sheet pan with cooking spray.
Arrange the chicken thighs on the prepared pan. Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, balsamic vinegar, and Italian seasoning. Place the potatoes in a large bowl along with the olive oil, salt, and pepper; toss to coat. Arrange the potatoes around the chicken on the prepared pan. Brush half of the balsamic mixture over the chicken.
Bake the sheet pan and its contents for 20 minutes. Brush the remaining glaze over the chicken and add the asparagus to the sheet pan. Season the asparagus with salt and pepper.
Bake the sheet pan and its contents for an additional 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and the potatoes and asparagus are tender.
- Yields: 4 servings
- Preparation Time: 45 minutes