Everyone should have a good chicken and vegetable tray bake recipe in their repertoire, and this is one of my favourites.
It’s all made in one pan – making it seriously easy to compile and cook. It’s also packed full of some of my favourite Mediterranean flavours – olives, sweet peppers, red pesto, oregano.
I use simple chicken thighs for this recipe, with the skin on and the bone in. This is for three reasons.
- They’re cheap – chicken thighs with the skin on and bone in are among the cheapest meats you can buy. They also cook really well in recipes like this.
- The skin goes golden and crispy – and has so much flavour. It also protects the chicken flesh while it’s cooking.
- The bone flavours the dish – just as you can make stock with a chicken carcass, the bone in the chicken thighs deepens the flavour and means that the potatoes are cooking in all of those amazing chicken juices.
Ingredients, Substitutions and Variations
- Baby potatoes – baby potatoes are best for this recipe because texture works really well when cooked like this. But you can use any white potatoes – just make sure that you cut them into small chunks.
- Chicken thighs – don’t get ones with the skin and bone removed.
- Queen olives – large queen olives are best here because they stand up well to the cooking time.
- Baby sweet peppers – baby sweet peppers can be cooked whole in this dish and are absolutely delicious too. You could switch for bell peppers – just cut them in half and core them before adding to the pan.
- Oregano – for that fragrant, Mediterranean flavour.
- Olive oil – olive oil is best for this recipe, don’t switch for any other oil.
- Greek yoghurt – for drizzling at the end.
- Red pesto – you can either make your own or buy from the shop.
Top Tips
- Slicing the potatoes You don’t want the potato slices to be either too thin or too thick – they should be about 1cm thick. Any thinner and they will get mushy during cooking, any thicker and you run the risk of them not cooking.
- Chicken juices As this tray bake cooks, you’ll notice juices come from the chicken and peppers into the pan, and by the end of the cooking time there may be a fair amount of liquid in the bottom of the pan. This is good – and delicious! Drizzle it over as you are serving up.
- Get ahead You can compile all of the ingredients for this chicken and vegetable tray bake, pop them on a tray and put in the fridge for up to 24 hours until you’re ready to put them in the oven.
More one pot or pan recipes:
- One Pot Mexican Bean Stew
- Easy One Pot Saag Paneer
- One Pot Chorizo and Chickpea Stew
- One Pot Chicken, Bacon and Peas
- One Pot Bacon and Lentil Pasta
- One Pot Chorizo and Pea Pilaf
- One Pot Mushroom and Thyme Risotto
- One Pot Chicken and Green Olive Tagine
- One Pot Cheesy Pesto and Spinach Pasta
Get the cook books:
One Pan Chicken and Vegetable Tray Bake
A simple one pan chicken and vegetable tray bake with potatoes, sweet baby peppers and olives, drizzled with yoghurt and red pesto.
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs skin and bone on
- 800 g baby potatoes
- 8 sweet baby peppers
- 150 g Queen olives pitted
- 2 tbsps olive oil
- 3 tbsps Greek yoghurt
- 3 tbsps red pesto
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
- Get a large baking tray. Cut your potatoes into 1cm slices (no need to peel) and place in a single layer over the bottom of the baking tray. Place the chicken thighs on top, skin side up. Put the peppers in the gaps between the chicken, and sprinkle the olives over the top.
- Drizzle the oil over the ingredients, with particular focus on the chicken skin. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Put in the oven for up to an hour, until the potatoes are cooked and the chicken skin is golden and crisp.
- Remove from the oven and drizzle with the yoghurt and red pesto. Let everyone tuck in!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
