Sheet-pan Roasted Chicken with Fennel, Potatoes, Tomatoes and Olives

Sheet pans and cast-iron pans are indispensable tools in my kitchen. I regularly sing their praises. Not only do I use them for cooking, roasting and baking, sheet pans are the first to come out for prep work. The quarter sheets often sit next to the stove; I use them as spoon rests. Stacked two of them together, they are perfect for baking cookies, macarons and meringues. They don’t take up precious storage space in the kitchen since they are uniform in size and stackable. Roasting sheet-pan vegetables is my go-to method, but cooking a whole meal with it — is not. I’m a skeptic. Here, I’m putting sheet-pan roasted chicken with fennel, potatoes, tomatoes and olives to the test and judge its merit. I consider it challenging to cook both the meat and vegetables evenly in one pan.

There is also a lot to like cooking with a single sheet pan — for everything. Clean up is a breeze. For this recipe, you’d still need a few bowls to make the garlic lemon vinaigrette. However, the ease and convenience can’t be beat. There are times a one-dish meal is called for when extra company shows up at the last minute. There are times a low-key low-effort family meal saves the day. Plum tomatoes, red-skin potatoes, fennel, black olives and juicy chicken roast together in a garlicky lemon vinaigrette. How does the dish come out?

My husband, the critic, says it’s tasty when prompted. Not the enthusiastic thumbs up. If you are tasked to put a decent meal on the table for the family, this is an excellent dish. If you are a perfectionist, I’ll say the chicken skin needs to be crisper, the garlic-lemon flavor can be dialed up a tad, and the fennel is too brown and not juicy enough.

All and all, a good home cooked meal, considering the limitation of cooking every ingredient in one sheet-pan. You probably won’t find a professional chef doing this — like cooking with one hand tied behind you. I do need another gear to develop texture and flavor without limit! The dish would benefit from better timing in roasting (shorter for fennel and tomatoes) and longer marination to allow the flavor to meld. Maybe turn down the oven temperature to 425°F and brown the chicken pieces skin-side down before putting them in the oven. Again, choices to consider!

Print Recipe

Sheet-pan Roasted Chicken with Fennel, Potatoes, Tomatoes and Olives

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 medium fennel bulbs
• 1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes (about 2 inches in diameter), cut into quarters
• 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 14 garlic gloves (about 1 large head) peeled
• 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 4 chicken legs or breasts (with skin and bones) about 3 pounds, rinsed and patted dry
• 8 plum tomatoes halved, cored and cut lengthwise into quarters
• 1 cup Kalamata or other brine-cured black olives
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves or 1 teaspoon dried crumbled rosemary

Instructions

1

Preheat oven to 450°F, putting a sheet pan on the middle rack.

2

Cut off fennel stalks and discard. Quarter fennel bulbs. Trim cores, leaving enough to keep layers intact, and cut fennel lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

3

Toss fennel and potatoes with 2 tablespoons oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a bowl until well coated. Spread evenly in hot roasting pan and roasted for 20 minutes.

4

Mince and mash 4 garlic cloves to a paste with salt. In a small bowl whisk together garlic paste, lemon juice, and 4 tablespoons oil with salt and pepper to taste. Brush chicken generously with some of the garlic lemon mixture and set aside.

5

Thinly slice remaining 10 whole garlic cloves lengthwise. Transfer to a bowl and toss with tomatoes, olives, rosemary and 2 tablespoons garlic mixture.

6

Remove roasting pan from oven, add tomato mixture and stir to combine. Put chicken skin side up on top of vegetables and roast for 20 minutes, until breasts register 120°F and thighs register 135°F.

7

Brush chicken with remaining garlic lemon mixture. Roast chicken and vegetables until chicken is just cooked through, about 15-20 minutes more, or until a meat thermometer registers 160°F for breasts and 175°F for thighs.

8

Serve chicken with vegetables, spooning any pan juices over them.

Notes

Adapted from Gourmet Today, edited by Ruth Reichl