One Pan Oven Baked Garlic Chicken with Potatoes

This is another recipe from long ago that I don’t have a formal recipe for or know who it is from but it is easy and delicious and I thank whoever gave it to me years ago. It might have come from my Grade 9 Home Economics class recipe book – where we partnered up with a classmate and had to prepare a recipe for the class. As I recall, some recipes were complete flops and some were hits! My friend Janice and I made my Mom’s Gugelhopf recipe – the same recipe and cake pan that launched The Renata Collective! It was definitely one of the hit recipes! As was this One Pan Oven Baked Garlic Chicken and Potatoes one!

Ghee and butter are interchangeable in this recipe.

As always, when you make this recipe, please post a photo of your One Pan Oven Baked Garlic Chicken with Potatoes goodness and tag my IG account #RenataCollective or leave a comment with your thoughts!

Prep Time: 10 minutes / Cook time: 65 minutes / Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Cup Ghee (or butter)

• 6-8 Chicken Boneless Skinless Thighs

• 6-8 Chicken Drumsticks (alternate: use only boneless skinless thighs – increase to 12 or 16)

• 2 large Sweet Potatoes – peeled and cut into cubes

• 3 Large Potatoes - cut into cubes

• 1 Large Head of Garlic – separated into cloves – leave them unpeeled

• 1/8 teaspoon Ground Turmeric

• ¼ teaspoon Chili Powder

• ¼ teaspoon Paprika

• ¼ teaspoon Herbamare (or sea salt) - Herbamare is a seasoned sea salt available at Costco, health food stores and many grocery stores.

• Grindings of Black Pepper - to taste

• ½ Cup Maple Syrup

How Its Made

• Preheat your oven to 400°F.

• Select a baking pan that will fit all the chicken and potatoes in a single layer.

• Add the ghee (or butter) in the pan and place the pan in the hot oven.

• When the ghee (butter) has melted, add the chicken pieces to the pan and turn them in the ghee (butter) to coat them well.

• Add the potato cubes, the sweet potato cubes and the unpeeled garlic cloves to the pan. Turn these in the butter to coat well. (If you need more coating, you can use a little olive oil.) Add the spices and season with the Herbamare and grinds of black pepper and stir to distribute spices and seasoning on the 2 types of potato cubes.

• Return the pan to the oven and bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes. At 15 and 30 minutes, carefully, as the pan will be hot, spoon some of the ghee (butter) over the chicken and potatoes.

• At 30 minutes, pour the maple syrup over the chicken pieces.

• Bake another 20 minutes until the potatoes and garlic are nicely roasted and the chicken is fully cooked. When pierced the juices must run clear and a meat thermometer will register 165°F. As all ovens differ and depending on the size of your chicken pieces you may need longer so check every 5 minutes after these 65 minutes.

• Remove the pan from the oven and plate your chicken pieces and pile some of the potato and sweet potato cubes beside. Add a spoonful or two of the ghee/maple syrup sauce in the pan over the chicken and potatoes. When the garlic is cool to handle (should be fine after you have plated the chicken and potatoes) pop a few cloves open and squeeze them out to add to the plate.

Enjoy!

Variations:

• Instead of the turmeric, chili powder and paprika, season with rosemary, thyme, marjoram, or Italian seasoning.

• Reduce the number of potatoes and sweet potatoes and add carrots, cauliflower and/or green beans.