Sheet-Pan Chicken With Apple, Fennel and Onion
Updated October 17, 2018
Con Poulos for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
2 ½ to 3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, patted dry
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced (about 1 ½ cups)
1 medium fennel bulb, tough outer leaves removed, cored and thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
1 tart apple, such as Mutsu (Crispin) or Granny Smith, halved, cored and cut into 8 wedges
4 sprigs rosemary
Flaky salt, for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 to 6 servings)
11 grams carbs; 204 milligrams cholesterol; 565 calories; 19 grams monounsaturated fat; 8 grams polyunsaturated fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 42 grams fat; 3 grams fiber; 705 milligrams sodium; 35 grams protein; 5 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 425 degrees. In a small skillet, toast the fennel seeds over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until fragrant, about 2 to 3 minutes. Pound into a coarse powder with a mortar and pestle or, alternatively, roughly chop. In a large bowl, toss together the chicken with 1 tablespoon olive oil and the fennel seeds and season well with salt and pepper.
- Step 2
Place the onion, fennel and apple slices on the sheet pan. Toss with the remaining olive oil and season well with salt. Spread in an even layer. Add the chicken skin side up on top of the vegetables and lay the rosemary (distributing evenly) on top of the chicken. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the onions, fennel and apples are softened and have begun to caramelize at the edge of the pan.
- Step 3
Turn the oven to broil and move the oven rack to sit right below it. Remove and discard the rosemary sprigs and broil the chicken for 1 to 2 minutes until the skin of the chicken is crispy and golden. Season with flaky salt.
Private Notes
Comments
One small modification turned this truly into a full dinner: I sliced baking potatoes about 1/4 inch thick and placed them in a layer at the bottom of the sheet pan. Used boneless skinless thighs and everything was evenly cooked in 25 minutes. Smelled wonderful on the first snowy night of the season.
This was an absolutely delicious and simple meal. I will add that 25 minutes is not enough time to cook a bone in chicken thigh. The thighs were done and delicious in about 40 minutes.
Wonderful! Made exactly according to recipe and served with white rice. The crushed toasted fennel seeds made the whole dish. Definitely agree that more cooking time is needed for bone-in thighs. I cooked mine for 45 minutes and they were perfect. The skin crisped up on its own at this cooking length, so no need to broil. Also used baking parchment on my sheet pan, so clean-up was a snap!
This recipe is so good! Everyone absolutely loved it. I did listen to everyone else saying to bake for 40/45 minutes and that was the perfect time. Definitely worth a try if you’ve been eyeing this recipe.
So good- followed it pretty much exactly but added diced potatoes in the mix per others’ suggestions and cooked for about 40 min and it was perfect. My 14 year old loved it, went back for seconds. All the flavors mingle so well together. Perfect late summer, transition-to-fall dinner.
I prepared the chicken with the oil and fennel seeds a couple of hours ahead of cooking I also seasoned the onions and fennel and set them aside early. The apples were not put in the oven until the last ten minuted and I used my convection oven. In other words I followed all the adviceand the dinner was surprisingly delicious.