Simple, Roasted Lemon & Fennel Chicken Thighs with potatoes | Gluten Free + Whole30 + Paleo

Winner, winner roasted lemon & fennel chicken dinner!……that’s how it goes, right?

Well it should be! Lemon and fennel on their own are already gorgeous – but throw some chicken in there and now we’re talking dinner goals.

Originally I planned on making this an entirely one pan meal. Just throw everything in a pan, pop it in the oven and set your timer. After playing around with the cooking methods I landed on this method here. It’s a little bit more work overall because it requires two types of cooking but the pay off it well worth the extra few minutes of work. This way we’ll end up with:

✔️Extra tender potatoes and fennel
✔️Extra crispy chicken thighs

SO….

How to Make: Roasted Lemon & Fennel Chicken Thighs

You’re going to start off your roast by placing your potatoes and fennel in a roasting dish along with some crushed garlic, fennel seed, mustard, and chicken stock. Gently mix all of those guys together in your pan and move it along to the oven to begin roasting while you work on making your thighs extra crispy…chicken thighs that is.

Begin by sprinkling the chicken thighs with a little additional salt and pepper + paprika for colouring. Once done, add the chicken thighs skin down to a hot skillet and let it sizzle and cook for about five minutes on each side. Don’t worry about fully cooking the insides here because you will finish them off in the oven soon enough. The idea here is to really give the skin opportunity to crisp up in a way that can’t be easily done in the oven without drying it out.

Pre cooking the chicken separately also give the potatoes extra time to roast on their own, uncovered in the oven so that they’re perfectly cooked in time with the chicken later.

When you’re all ready to go just add the thighs to your roasting pan and top with lemon slices to finish off.

The end result here is a dish that’s both juicy and crispy in under an hour.

Enjoy!

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Recipe

Roasted Lemon & Fennel Chicken Thighs

Yield: 6 servings Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 50 minutes Total Time: 1 hour

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Simple, Roasted Lemon & Fennel Chicken Thighs with potatoes | Gluten Free + Whole30 + Paleo

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup | 325 grams baby red potatoes, cut into quarters
• 2 small fennel bulbs, cut into thick wedges
• 3 large cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/4 cup | 60 ml chicken stock (aim for a lower sodium stock)
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon dried fennel seed
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt or more to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 2 pounds chicken thighs, bone-in and skin on (about 4-6 thighs)
• 1 lemon cut into 1/4 inch slices

Need help converting to weights? Check out my cups to grams Conversion Guide.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425° F/220°C. Lightly oil a baking sheet or roasting pan.
2. Add everything except the paprika, thighs and the lemon slices to the roasting dish. Gently toss the ingredients in oil and roast for 15-20 minutes.
3. While the potatoes are roasting prep your chicken thighs. Sprinkle the sides with the skin on with salt, pepper, and paprika.
4. Warm one tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet/frying pan on a medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the seasoned chicken to the pan skin side down. Let the chicken cook for about 5 minutes, or until skin starts to turn golden, before flipping and cooking for another 3-4 minutes on other side. Once that's cooked, remove chicken from heat
5. After the potato mixture has roasted for 15-20 minutes in the oven, remove the roasting dish. Add the chicken thighs and lemon slices to the mixture and toss to coat. Reduce the heat to 400° F/205°C and return the dish to the oven on the middle rack and roast for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through (internal temp 165°F). 
6. Broil the last 1-2 minutes to crisp up the skin at the end. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Notes

Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. 

Nutrition Information

Yield: 6

Serving Size:

g Calories: 388Saturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 148mgSodium: 326mgCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 25g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.

© A Saucy Kitchen, Sarah Nevins

Course: Mains Cuisine: Gluten Free