Maple Roasted Chicken & Sweet Potatoes

This is one of my fave go-to’s for a quick and simple comforting dish.  I usually cook this dish in fall or winter, when I’m craving something cozy and warm, but there’s no rule that says you can’t have comfort food in summer, too!  Plus, it’s so easy… literally a teensy prep, roast, and done.  I like that.

I highly recommend using bone-in/skin-on chicken… both breasts or thighs work.  The skin gets crispy and delicious and keeps the chicken moist.  The veggies are simple… just chop up some sweet potatoes and an onion, throw ’em in a pan with some olive oil, maple syrup, and fresh thyme, and then toss in a dash of salt and pepper… easy right?  Then you bake it and voila… done.  You might be thinking maple syrup in poultry sounds a bit bizarre, but it’s really good (sorry guys but the Aunt Jemima stuff won’t work here- it’s gotta be the good stuff).  You don’t need much though, just enough so that when mixed with the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes and the earthy tones of the thyme, it creates a sweet savory coating for the veggies and chicken… yum.  Bonus about this dish… you don’t have to worry about exact measurements- you can literally just toss the stuff together, bake, and eat.  Five main ingredients, lass than an hour, and boom… you have din din 🙂

INGREDIENTS

2-4 chicken thighs or breasts. bone-in/skin-on

2 large sweet potatoes

1 yellow onion

3 tbsp maple syrup (the real stuff, like this one)

8 sprigs fresh thyme

2 tbsp olive oil

3/4 tsp salt, plus more to taste

1/4 tsp pepper, plus more to taste

optional: fresh thyme, to garnish

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Peel sweet potatoes

Chop them into about 1 inch thick pieces

(smaller rounds can be left whole, cut larger ones in half)

Roughly chop up onion into about 1 inch pieces

In a large baking dish, toss the potatoes, onions, chicken, olive oil,

maple syrup, salt, and pepper  together

Position chicken on bottom of pan so that it will cook in the liquid and stay moist

Top with thyme sprigs and place on center rack in oven

Bake about 40 minutes, uncovered, stirring half way through

(the thyme leaves should begin to fall off as it cooks)

Once chicken is cooked, turn the chicken skin side up, atop the veggies

Broil for a few minutes, until golden brown and crispy

To serve…

Plate chicken and then top with potatoes and onions (and some sauce too!)

As with all meat, I recommend letting it sit for at least 5 minutes before cutting into it…

Sprinkle with a little salt, pepper, and fresh thyme leaves if you want… enjoy!