Chef Joel & Jenn: Garlic Ranch Chicken & Veggies
One of my favorite kind of meals to make are the easy ones. Don't get me wrong I have no problem putting the time into a recipe if I know with a high degree of certainty that our dinner needs will be met. But often times these recipes don't turn out. So when I stumbled upon the growing popularity of one pan (or one pot) meals I began looking for recipes to try out. The first one we chose was a Garlic Ranch Chicken with an assortment of veggies.
The recipe is as basic as they come. Chop up a couple cloves of garlic. Slice up the red potatoes. Throw the potatoes, carrots (we bought these pre-cut) on a pan that has some sort of cooking spray on it. Then take your bone-in skin on chicken thighs and spread brown sugar on both the top and bottom of them. Put those in the pan. Then sprinkle on olive oil, the ranch packet, salt and pepper and your chopped up garlic. Throw the pan in the oven at 400 degrees for a half hour (we did 40 minutes) and then broil it for around five minutes.
Although the chicken cooked perfectly in the 40 minutes we had it in the oven the vegetables didn't cook evenly. Some of them were perfect and others just didn't cook all the way through. By far the highlight of the meal was the chicken. The skin was incredible. Had a great mix of ranch and brown sugar. Really tasted great. The chicken was also incredibly moist. I did throw some left over asparagus we had in the refrigerator for the last ten minutes of cooking and that cooked really well. I think if I was to do this recipe again I would just cook the chicken in the pan and cook the other sides separate. I know that misses the mark on a one pot meal but it succeeded as one of our more successful chickens.
INGREDIENTS
- 8 teaspoons brown sugar, divided
- 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 16 ounces baby red potatoes, halved
- 16 ounces baby peeled carrots
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 (1-ounce) package Ranch Seasoning and Salad Dressing Mix
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or coat with nonstick spray.
- Using your fingers, work the brown sugar, about 1 teaspoon per thigh, onto both sides of the chicken.
- Place chicken, potatoes and carrots in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Ranch Seasoning and garlic; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Place into oven and roast until the chicken is completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 25-30 minutes.* Then broil for 2-3 minutes, or until caramelized and slightly charred.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Recipe Source: Damn Delicious
