Who is guilty of ordering takeout on a busy weeknight? *Raises hand*. Maybe you’ve just made it home after a long commute from work, or you’ve been chasing your littles around all day. You just want to sit down, and have been avoiding eye contact with that chicken that’s defrosting for dinner. 
Because cooking chicken is going to be such a pain. Tons of chopping, creativity, cleaning- and perhaps a trip to the grocery store for some exotic ingredients. It all seems so time consuming that poor exhausted you says “forget it”, and calls in a pizza or some Chinese food. Wait! Don’t put that chicken back in the freezer. What if I told you I had an excellent one pan chicken dinner that you could whip up in about one hour, and let the oven do the actual cooking?
Today I’m going to let you in on a special little one pan chicken dinner recipe that I like to make when I’m just too tired to cook. So, I let the oven cook for me! This is truly so simple and can be so versatile that it’ll have you reconsidering takeout in no time.
What You Need:
6 chicken thighs
3 carrots
3 red potatoes
3 zucchini
2 cloves garlic
Grated Parmesan cheese
Salt & pepper
Olive oil
BBQ sauce ~or~ Tomato Pasta sauce
Ok, to be perfectly honest these are ingredients most of us have in our refrigerators and pantries on a regular basis. One of the most dreaded tasks of cooking a dinner on a busy weeknight is going to the grocery store to pick up ingredients. If you hadn’t had time to do that in the morning or afternoon, chances are it’s just a chore at this point and forces you to crave takeout that much more!
But the ingredients listed are so basic that I can honestly say they’re usually right at my fingertips.
First preheat your oven to 400 degrees. The high temperature will roast the chicken and the vegetables. Trim the chicken of fat if you wish, I always do. Now you have a few options: you may throw the chicken in a pan to brown on both sides in some olive oil, or you can simply toss the trimmed chicken thighs into a casserole dish. Guess which option I choose when I’ve had a day? I’ll give you a hint- it doesn’t involve a pan.
Roughly chop up your carrots, red potatoes (perfect because you don’t even need to peel), and zucchini. Grate garlic. Add veggies to the casserole dish. Sprinkle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add whatever additional seasonings you love. You may either add your favorite bbq sauce or tomato pasta sauce into the mix. I’ve tried both, and both are delicious. I think my husband prefers the bbq sauce! Our favorite is from Bullseye.
Now get your hands dirty and mix making sure to cover chicken thighs and veggies with the oil, seasonings, and sauce. I like to separate the chicken from the veggies on the casserole dish just so that during dinner it’s easy to choose how much of what you want on your plate.
Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about one hour, mixing and flipping chicken breasts about halfway through. Remove from oven, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and return to oven for an additional 10 minutes. The end result is juicy chicken, roasted sweet veggies, and a dinner that was effortless!
When you’re serving this dish for dinner, you have your protein, your vegetables, and a delicious sauce. What’s awesome is it doesn’t require you to make any additional side dishes because everything you need is right there in the casserole dish. This makes great leftover lunch for the next work or school day. We love to garnish our plate with extra Parmesan cheese, and some chopped dill. I will add, if you have dinner rolls, bring ’em out! They’re scrumptious when dipped into the sauce.
I’ll let you in on a little secret. This is one of my husbands FAVORITE meals! He said he may even prefer it to lasagna! And we know how much effort goes into and how long lasagna takes to make! This is quite literally the easiest dinner ever, and one of the most delicious!