A very fast prep, super tasty midweek meal that’s worthy of a dinner party! The sauce is this Lemon Garlic Chicken and Potato Bake is the hero. Yummy Mediterranean flavours. All made in ONE PAN. PS Marinating is optional!
Don’t you love recipes with barely any chopping? This is one of those. And you end up with a spectacular dish that’s worthy of a dinner party. At least, in my books it is. Because….this sauce. The sauce! It’s so good! It would make a posh restaurant proud.
And the beauty of this? No fancy ingredients, no expensive wine or stock, just a handful of everyday ingredients – lemon juice, garlic, oregano and paprika – no whisking, no emulsifying, no straining – just chuck it all in a pan and you end up with this.
WITH an incredible sauce. 🙂 Score! Home run!
So – I must confess. Ordinarily I have more red onion in this. I feel that it adds an extra something-something to the sauce because caramelised onions are just divine. They magically convert from eye-waveringly acidic to sweet with a depth of flavour you can’t buy in any jar.
When I was at the grocery store, I was sure I had plenty in stock. But I should have known better. Because when I walked out of my house to go to the store, I had a bag of garbage in one hand and my phone and keys in the other. Opened the bin and threw my KEYS and iPHONE in the bin instead of my garbage.
GAHHH!!! Have you ever done that???? This happened to me on a Sunday, 2 days before garbage collection day which meant my bin was piled high with most of my weeks’ worth of rubbish!
Let me remind you – it is currently SUMMER in Sydney, Australia. My bin stinks. Fetching my keys and iPhone out of the bin was NOT a pleasant task!
So I was a little frazzled when I got to the supermarket. Still doing a little icky-dance from having to rummage through my bin to get my keys.
Hence why I forgot the red onions. 🙂 Took a while to explain that!
The photo below shows one piece from the dismal half red onion I had remaining in my fridge. STILL delicious, it didn’t affect the flavour much but I really do make this with onion – usually. When I remember to buy them -Nagi x
- 8 chicken drumsticks (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup lemon juice , preferably fresh
- 6 cloves garlic , crushed
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard (Optional - Note 2)
- 2 tbsp honey or 1 tbsp sugar (Note 3)
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Pepper
- 1 cup chicken broth/stock
- 4 small to medium potatoes , quartered (Note 8)
- 2 red onions , quartered
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 punnet cherry tomatoes (250g/8oz)
- Salt and pepper
- Oil spray (optional)
- Fresh oregano , for garnish (optional)
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If time permits, combine the chicken and marinade ingredients in a ziplock bag and set aside for 20 minutes or up to 24 hours. (Note 4)
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Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
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Pour the chicken and marinade into a baking dish, then add the chicken stock, potatoes and onion.
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Cover with a lid or foil and bake for 20 minutes.
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Remove cover, turn chicken (Note 5). Add cherry tomatoes, sprinkle with paprika and salt and pepper. Turn oven up to 200C/390F and bake for a further 25 - 35 minutes or until potatoes and chicken are cooked. Keep an eye on the liquid if you cook for longer - don't let the sauce evaporate! Add water if needed.
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Optional: For extra golden chicken and potatoes, spray with oil then broil for a few minutes. I do this.
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Remove from oven and rest for 5 minutes before serving, garnished with fresh oregano leaves.
1. To make this with other cuts of chicken:
- Bone in skin on thigh fillets: Add 5 to 10 minutes baking time and place chicken skin side DOWN to bake covered, then when you remove the cover, turn the chicken so it is skin side UP.
- Boneless skinless thigh fillets: Add the chicken into the pan 20 minutes into the baking time. If you leave it in for the whole time per the recipe, they will overcook.
- Chicken breast: not recommended, because there is a high risk of being dry and the cook time is very variable. However, it can be done - just add the chicken 10 to 15 minutes into the baking time to ensure it is not overcooked.
2. The Dijon mustard adds another slight layer of flavour into the sauce and also thickens it. But the dish can be made without it.
3. The honey balances out the sourness of the lemon. You can use maple syrup, palm sugar or anything else that is sweet.
4. This recipe benefits from marinating but it is not critical. The sauce has so much flavour it compensates for no marinating.
5. This technique of cooking the chicken covered for the first part of baking infuses the chicken flesh with more of the sauce flavour, which is why marinating is not critical. The chicken is turned to allow the other side of the chicken to cook in the tasty sauce.
6. Please make sure you don't use a ginormous pan for this. The ingredients should fit snugly. If they are too spaced out, too much of the liquid will evaporate while baking and you won't end up with much sauce.
7. For disclosure purposes, I halved a couple of lemons and panfried them with a little oil to make them lovely and golden. For decorative purposes only! 🙂
8. Potatoes - cut the potatoes to about 2.5 cm / 1" cubes to ensure they cook through in time.
9. Nutrition per serving, assuming 4 servings (2 drumsticks per person).
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Hi Nagi, I love this dish. Can I cook this in the slow cooker? I am looking similar dishes that I can cook in the slow cooker.
I cooked your pot roast beef last Sunday in the slow cooker and it came out very well.
In an effort to tighten our family bonding, we agreed Thursday night would be dinner night with mandatory attendance. Since this was my idea, I was chosen to cook the initial meal which is very ironic, because although I CANNOT cook, I CAN follow directions. My objective was to create a meal that would impress my family, satisfy their appetite, and most importantly, “WOW” them. This dish was PERFECT and I exceeded my goal. With the help of YouTube to learn what garlic clove is or how to peal an onion, success was in my grasp. Since I was cooking for two (I am vegan and couldn’t participate) and prepared four drumsticks, I used half of the recipe ingredients. I will prepare the dish again on Sunday and accompany with a roasted garlic lemon broccoli (I bought “six garlic heads” before watching YouTube”) ;o)
Just had this for tonight’s dinner. Flavour was good but even after a full hour at 200c potatoes were still not cooked. Had to microwave them for 6 minutes then return to the tray to put under the grill. I guess it could be the type of potato that caused this but after following recipe to the letter it was disappointing. The “sauce” was very thin. I don’t think the stock was needed. iIt did get eaten but not sure if I’d have it again.
I had the same problem with the Potato and sauce.
Non-starchy potatoes take much longer to cook than standard idahoan potatoes which are best for mash.
Use 3/4 cup broth and add a little butter. If still a little liquidy, you could always stir in a dash of flour to make it more gravy-like but may not be the same intended outcome.
Made it today with bone-in chicken thighs, forgot to sprinkle paprika halfway through but delicious nonetheless! Planned to eat 1 thigh, ended up eating 2! Oh and I put 400ml of stock, became like a thin sauce, yummy!
Thank you, will be trying your other recipes!
I love hearing that Jessica!! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it! N x
THIS IS AMAZING! First time making it for guests this evening and it was a hit for both adults and children. So simple! Made it with thighs/legs, added a bit of extra time and doubled it for two pans. Served with rice as an option and Parmesan cauliflower. A hit!
I love hearing that Erin!! Thanks for letting me know – N x ❤️
Have just finished devouring this fantastic dish. Made exactly to recipe using skinless thigh fillets and it was delicious to say the least. The sauce is so good and my chicken so tender. And so quick and easy. I served with steamed Broccolini and crusty garlic bread…it was so yum ! This recipe is going on my favs list for sure.
Quick question…. I was wondering if I dusted the chicken pieces in a little flour before marinating if the sauce would come out slightly thicker ?
What a wonderful idea Jenny! I have been meaning to update this recipe with a video and new photos so will try that out! N xx
Made this beaut on the weekend, gotta love the one pan recipes.
The lemon and herby sauce perfectly complimented the chicken. Once again, all ingredients were in the pantry (except the chicken of course).
I find myself buying 3 punnets of cherry toms each week as they add a lovely flavour to so many dishes especially when they’re cooked in the oven and pop out their juice.
A really simplistic and satisfying meal. I served up with peas mixed through rice, delish. Thanks Nagi.
Glad to hear that Barb! Thanks for letting me know! N x ❤️
We loved this recipe!!! I made it with chicken breast as I’m not such a fan of drum sticks and it worked perfectly. And indeed the sauce is delicious.
I’m so pleased to hear that Yves! Thanks for letting me know! N xx ❤️
Hi there, this looks divine!! Do you think this would work well if I doubled it? Any adjustments to heat/time you’d recommend? (I’d normally just go for it, but will be feeding the extended family and I don’t want to make a shambles of it!) thanks 😊
Hi Tara! Yup, double will be find, can you fit two pans on the same shelf?? If so, just add an extra 10 minutes 🙂 Go by colour!
Made this for dinner awhile ago & it was so good! Instead of 8 drumsticks, I just use 4 so the sauce was really runny which is what we like because we paired this with rice & really taste good together. Will definitely keep this recipe. Thanks!
I’m so pleased to hear you enjoyed this Kaj! Thanks for letting me know! N x ❤️
Hi Nagi!
A keeper. For sure. My 3 year old son had 3 pieces and still wanted more. He didn’t even have the other food on the table! While my husband ate in silence. (Always to mean he is totally loving it!)
6 stars!! Thank you. Fast, easy, delicious 🙂
A few questions one on this:
1. Do the cherry tomatoes do anything for the dish? I made this with a few regular tomatoes cause its all I had. The sauce was a bit watery (but extremely delicious) so I thought it could be the tomatoes? Could I leave them out altogether? Or any advise for the runny sauce?
2. Can I cut the onions into rings instead of quarters without altering the flavors?
Thanks again!
Hi Sarah! Yes you can definitely leave tomatoes out, I find cherry tomatoes works quite well because it holds in most of the water better than chopped normal tomatoes 🙂 And yes you can definitely cut the onions as you please! N xx
I made this last night it was fantastic, made with chicken drumsticks. Flavours are great massive hit! This one is definitely on the list. Thanks 😊
I’m so pleased you like this Caz! Thank you for taking the time to come back and let me know – N x
OMG this is the most amazing recipe! Thank you for that! I have just had dinner and my husband, daughter and I and we were so amazed by how perfect the meal was. I took the potatoes that were underdone and nuked them for awhile and will make adjustments but no problem. I used honey, skin on, bone in thighs, only used one large red onion, I am glad I used the Dijon mustard (you were spot on) and poured on some olive oil on the chicken cause I couldn’t spray them and didn’t broil them but the recipe was still awesome. The chicken was nicely browned. What else can I say? Perfection! I am an experienced cook! Thanks again!
Hi Sheshe, thank you for that feedback! I’m sorry the potatoes were underdone, I have heard that feedback before and will come back to retest and reshoot the recipe. I’m glad you enjoyed the flavour though, thank you for letting me know!!! N xx
I had the same issue as other people in that my potatoes weren’t cooked. But, part of that was that I don’t think I had it in a big enough pan. Well worth the wait though and looking forward to leftovers tonight!
I’m sorry to hear that Karen! I did revisit the recipe and 45 – 55 min should be long enough to cook the potatoes 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it though, thanks for letting me know! N xx