Pop quiz: What are you having for dinner tonight? To continue our series of easy dinners that people actually make, we’re featuring this one-pan roasted chicken from Julia Turshen’s new cookbook, Now & Again. Plus, she also shares how to turn the leftovers into a killer chicken salad the next day. Here’s how it’s done…
Celebration Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Dates
From Julia Turshen’s Now & Again
This chicken doesn’t require much work and yields a crowd-pleasing, highly flavorful result. It calls for just one roasting pan, in which you both mix everything and cook. There are no extra bowls or pans, no browning chicken in batches and definitely no fuss.
Recipe: Celebration Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Dates
Serves 8 to 10
You’ll need:
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp kosher salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Two 3–to–4 lb chickens, each cut into 10 pieces (2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs and 2 breasts cut in half across the bone), backbone discarded, at room temperature
3 large sweet potatoes, about 2 lb total, unpeeled, scrubbed and cut into bite-size pieces
12 large dried dates, halved and pitted
A small handful of chopped fresh soft herbs (cilantro, parsley, dill and chives all work well)
Preheat your oven to 425F. In a large roasting pan, whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, water, garlic, salt and pepper. You want a pan that’s big enough to hold all of the chicken pieces in a single layer; a disposable aluminum pan is good for this if your roasting pan isn’t large enough. Add the chicken pieces, sweet potatoes and dates.
Use your hands to mix everything together and get the marinade on all of chicken, sweet potatoes, and dates. Warning: the following is a bit messy, but bear with me. Move everything around so the sweet potatoes and dates are in a single layer on the bottom of the pan and the chicken pieces, skin-side up, are in a single, even layer on top.
Roast until the sweet potatoes are tender (test with a fork) and the chicken pieces are firm to the touch and their exposed skin is nicely browned, about 1 hour. Let the chicken rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before serving.
To serve, transfer the chicken, sweet potatoes and dates to a large serving platter and pour all of the cooking juices over the top. Sprinkle with the herbs and serve warm.
Here’s an easy chicken salad to make from your leftovers…
Shred whatever chicken you have left, discard the skin and bones and roughly chop the leftover sweet potatoes and dates. Put all of that into a bowl, sprinkle with a generous amount of curry powder and add a large spoonful of mango chutney (or apricot jam, or just leave it out if you’ve got enough sweet dates) and stir to mix. Add just enough mayonnaise to bind everything together and season to taste with salt and pepper. Fold in some thinly sliced scallions and, if you’d like a bit of crunch, some chopped roasted almonds. Serve on toast or in lettuce cups.
Thank you so much, Julia! We love your new cookbook.
(Reprinted from Now & Again by Julia Turshen with permission by Chronicle Books, 2018. Thanks to Franny Eremin for helping with this series.)
I kid you not, I have made this upwards of ten times — once I immediately turned it into the chicken salad. I am obsessed. One thing I do to make it a little simpler is use boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I have to clean an extra bowl, but I’d rather do that than deal with the bones and skins.
I mix the sauce in a large bowl, mix the sweet potatoes in the sauce, and then take them out and into the roasting pan. I roast them for 15 minutes on their own while I let the dates and chicken marinate a bit in the rest of the sauce. After the 15 min, I add the dates and then the chicken on top and roast for about 20 min or until the chicken reaches 165 degrees. Perfection! If you go on to the chicken salad, I highly recommend adding apricot jam and vindaloo!
I finally got the chance to make it and while holy smokes was it DELICIOUS, with this incredible balance of sweet, salty, earthy brightness… let’s just say I don’t plan on ever trying to cut up a whole raw chicken again. Definitely should have watched a tutorial first! (It’ll be a fun new thing to try, she thought…)
This is a fantastic recipe. I removed the garlic since I can’t have it and subbed small potatoes for the sweet potatoes. My boyfriend loved it too and we both really like the next days meal that can be made with it! More meals -> leftovers please!
This is pretty similar to the Silver Palate’s chicken Marbella which is probably my favourite chicken dish of all time. https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_marbella/
I went in skeptical – I don’t love dates, I thought the marinade sounded too simple, but y’all it was SO good! Will definitely make again, thanks for posting!
I made it and it’s GREAT! Followed recipe exactly. I cooked it for about 50 minutes.
I scaled this way down for 3 people (1 lb chicken drumsticks, 1 lb sweet potato) but put it on a sheet pan – my mistake! It dried out a bit and cooked very quickly because it wasn’t tight together. I ended up adding a splash of water towards the end, but there were definitely no juices left when I pulled it out. So if you scale down, make sure that it’s snug together in its single layer. Otherwise it tasted great!
I had the same problem, except I didn’t check it while it was cooking and burned the whole thing. Some parts were salvageable but I want to try it again!
This looks very yummy and healthy!!!
I’m sorry but I need a lil clarity please! So to roast means to cook this uncovered correct? And does it also mean I should use a rack?
Thank you!
I’ve done chicken like this many times. Yes, uncovered. And I would not use a rack.
Okay, this is lovely, but I was put off by all the chicken cutting-up math and also that I don’t view cutting up a whole chicken as easy. Doesn’t seem easy! What am I missing?? Can I just buy the pieces??
Yes! Just buy the pieces!
I would love a tutorial on how to cut up a chicken. I buy the spatchcocked chicken from TJ’s but I know that I’m paying up for something I theoretically *could* do on my own but I find it 100% intimidating & overwhelming.
I also cannot wait to make this on Sunday night and eat the leftovers as prescribed for a work lunch next week!
I made this last night with bone-in chicken thighs and cooked it for a shorter amount of time. It was awesome!! Perfect, easy meal.
so glad to hear that!
I may try this chicken with boneless thighs to see how it turns out!
Do you eat the sweet potatoes skin & all after they are cooked?
Can’t wait to try this recipe. Thank you for sharing! I love the way you add sweet potato in this pan.
This looks like the perfect sunday dinner!
Paige
This looks a bit like the New York Times recipe of chicken thighs with sweet potatoes and peppers, which is so delicious.
Perfect for a crowd! I can’t wait to try it over the October holidays when we have a full house of guests :-)
Thanks for this amazing recipe!
I was just telling my co-worker how Julia Turshen is the best! She has these deceptively simple but totally inspired ways of elevating a dish — her nice lasagna recipe has you add creme fraiche to the tomato sauce. Yum!
Also important to note is that all of those lasagna ingredients can be purchased at Trader Joe’s. WIN WIN WIN.
Sort of off topic, but I’m baking Julia’s applesauce cake with my preschoolers this afternoon. It’s from same cookbook and up on Design Sponge right now. I can’t wait!! Applesauce and cinnamon and ginger…..yum.
she’s the best and so talented!
Yay, something Paleo!!!! Most “easy” dinners include pasta and bread. Bravo
Keepers Cookbook (https://www.amazon.com/Keepers-Tried-True-Weeknight-Happiness-ebook/dp/B00AFU62ES/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536174954&sr=8-1&keywords=keepers+cookbook) and this way to cook broccoli or cauliflower (https://www.wegmans.com/meals-recipes/meals/sides/pan-steamed-broccoli.html) are great for dinners!
I’m a huge of that Keepers cookbook and also another cookbook by the same authors (possibly even better) – The Dinner Plan. Also, really loving the new Food52 meal plan cookbook, though that leans fancier.
<3
I just ordered her cookbook last night after watching her and Grace’s lovely instagram live, and when I saw the picture for this post my first thought was “That looks like a Julia Turshen recipe” haha
This might be a silly question, but how do you get the chicken in pieces? Is this something the butcher does or do you cut up the raw chicken yourself? New to cooking meat!
You can ask the butcher counter at the grocery store to cut up a whole chicken for you. I’m sure this would also work with an equal weight of chicken thighs and drumsticks.
Not a silly question at all. You can cut it up yourself. Melissa Clark has a quick and easy video.
Oh. My. Goodness. I just had lunch and this still made my mouth water! Definitely going on the list for my next week of meal planning.
Don’t discard the backbone (or neck if you have it)! Freeze and use to make chicken stock at a later date :)
I really want to pin this recipe, but the Pinterest button isn’t working.
UHM YUM??!!! just shared this with my closest ladies via copy and paste. This looks fabulous.
This reminds me (in that it’s a one pan meal, few dishes, and relatively easy) of a favorite smitten kitchen dish – https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/04/sheet-pan-chicken-tikka/
Thanks for the recipe- I think I’ll make it next week for a weekly dinner with friends!
I feel like I have asked numerous times for these recipes to be in print format? I want to be able to hand something to one of my kids to try for their night of cooking. Is there an issue with copyrights I am not aware of Joanne?
Thanks
You can print these pretty easily by copy-pasting to Word or just going to Print in the browser menu.
Sheila, why not copy and paste the text of the recipe into a word doc and print it?
Hi Sheila- perhaps you could try copying and pasting into a Word document?
someone woke up on the wrong side of the omelet!
(foodie joke to break the tension due to Shelia’s semi-abrasive comment – did it work?)
Even though I’m vegetarian, I love the fact that this meal is reflecting the changing season! Autumn/winter recipes are so cozy and wholesome (albeit fattening)
This is absolutely perfect for the upcoming Rosh Hashanah holiday. It’s traditional to have sweet food for a sweet new year, and I was looking for a great new chicken dish to serve. Thanks for sharing!
I JUST got this cookbook and this recipe is actually in a section with Rosh Hashanah ideas and leftover suggestions! There’s also an apple and honey cake recipe I’m so excited to try out this year!
Yum
This looks very good! I like sweet potatoes with chicken. I might also add some onion wedges, or some almonds. Thank you for sharing this one!
I love these pan recipes with chicken! We often cook for our parish’s homeless shelter and I can prep this in big ziplocks bags at home and then cook it off at the shelter. Delicious comfort food!
I adore Julia. So down-to-earth and charming. She’s my ideal dream dinner guest!
Oh dear. In Italy we would remove the skin or brown it before baking it in a pan like this. I can’t imagine the texture of the skin underneath being very pleasant. Is American chicken less fatty?
I’m not sure I am entirely clear on what your concern is, but I will say that using this technique the skin browns very well in the oven, and comes out crispy. I’ve done it many times, and it’s delicious. I have never found any unpleasantness with texture. Also, I have found that leaving the skin on helps keep the meat from getting tough and dried out.
Making this tonight!
Mmm I love how she turns it into chicken salad the next day! I just signed up for Sprouted Kitchen’s cooking club and I’m super excited to have some simple dinners like this planned for me. :)
This sounds delicious!!!
Whole30 too!! This looks perfect.