Easy Sheet Pan Chicken With Broccoli and Chickpeas!

we love a good sheet pan dinner recipe around here!

Longtime readers are very familiar with my love for the sheet pan meal. As far as meal prep goes it’s one of the easiest dinners you can make, and all you need is a baking sheet! I love how crispy and caramelized the ingredients get in the hot oven, and these types of meals are the only ones to get me to eat more vegetables!

food52 recently published a sheet pan dinner that caught my eye!

When a recipe proclaims that it is “the best” – especially for a recipe type that I make frequently – I take note. Bone-in chicken is typically the trickiest to do in the sheet pan style so I was curious about the workaround the author did here.

The article had my convinced that I needed to try this dish, and though I made a few changes (and would make a few more the next time – and there will definitely be a next time, this dish was a keeper!), overall this was a great recipe!

what ingredients do you need?

One of the many things I loved about this recipe was the short list of simple ingredients (save one, which I’ll get to in a bit). You can refer to the original recipe to see what she used; I’m going to share how I made it here:

whole chicken, cut up

kosher salt

black pepper

baking powder

paprika

cumin

olive oil

broccoli

chickpeas

sundried tomatoes in oil

parmesan

lemons

have you ever used preserved lemons?

If you compare my ingredient list to the original, you’ll see that the author used chopped preserved lemon peel. I had never worked with preserved lemons before and – being the rule follower that I am – I hunted down a jar.

THEY ARE SO SALTY!

The diced peel is added when you flip the chicken. You scatter the peel around the chicken pieces and then top them with your vegetables. Frankly I didn’t detect any flavor that they imparted, and when I did get a bite on my fork I was immediately hit by the saltiness. I’ve written this recipe to include lemon slices, which get a nice char in the oven like the ones from this recipe. I would also cut up an extra lemon to hit the dish with some lemon juice just before serving.

how do you make this easy recipe?

You start by putting an empty large sheet pan (you don’t need parchment paper here) in a very hot oven while you prepare your ingredients. The author used skin-on chicken thighs, which I love, but we have some light meat eaters here so a cut-up chicken allows everyone to choose what they like.

Make a spice rub by combining salt, pepper, paprika and cumin – along with baking powder – in a small bowl. The baking powder is one of the next level tips here, resulting in superior browning and a nice crispy skin. This spice mixture is rubbed all over the chicken parts, even under the skin.

When the oven is heated up you’ll drizzle the tops of the chicken with a little olive oil and then place the pieces skin side down in an even layer on that hot sheet pan. This sears the skin without the fuss and mess of doing it on the stove top.

While the chicken is cooking you’ll toss the broccoli, chickpeas and sundried tomatoes in a large bowl with some of the oil from the jar of tomatoes. The original recipe did not call for cutting the tomatoes but I’d do so next time.

Now you’re ready to flip the chicken and add your veggies. This is where I’d tuck some lemon slices in and around the chicken, versus using that preserved lemon peel.

Roast again and then shower the whole dish with grated parmesan. When the chicken is cooked through, remove it to let it rest. Give the veggies a stir and let them roast a bit more.

Sprinkle with some fresh lemon juice and serve!

this easy weeknight dinner can be easily adapted!

Just as I did here, you can easily adapt this dish to suit your family’s preferences or to use what you have on hand. I increased the amounts of spices in the rub, but next time might add some garlic powder, or sub the paprika with chili powder. This recipe is a great way to use up extra veggies or fresh herbs you have in the fridge, so toss in sliced red onion or some diced sweet potatoes if that’s what you’ve got! And while we ate this meal “as is” it would be great served with brown rice to soak up all those pan juices.

And again, I used a whole chicken cut up instead of chicken thighs but you can do a combination of whatever parts you like. To ensure that the chicken is cooked through, use a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh or breast and cook till the temperature reaches 165 degrees.

Our whole family loved this meal and I hope you try it too – let me know how you make it!