Sheet Pan Chicken with Potatoes and Cabbage

Hellooo, life! Goodness, it’s been full. I haven’t been living under a rock, but I have been extremely busy – like many of you, I’m sure 😉 . And I’ve been very fortunate to be publishing a lot of memoir and essays these days, which has taken up the majority of any ‘free time’ I have! I also accidentally rescued a Rottweiler over a month ago who is my big, giant 3 year old baby. I’m still creating and producing things in my kitchen everyday… I’m just left without the time and space to document and share it all.

But yesterday I was high on Sudafed after I let my guard down and made out with my husband and the head cold I forgot he had. So. I guess I found some extra time and energy to bring you something!

Incidentally, I was also up all night from said Sudafed, so I’m not sure if the trade-off makes much sense. But I’m here 😉

This is an extremely easy, wonderfully humble and yummy meal to prepare on any of these busy nights we all are having this time of year. And I don’t know about you, but when I’m scraping the barrel on fresh produce before the next grocery trip, and tapping into the freezer reserves for protein… a head of cabbage and a mound of potatoes staring at me from the corner seem be all that’s left. Add a couple packs of thawed boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and you’ve got yourself a complete one-pan meal!

A couple of wordy nerdy notes –

If you had boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead, I would slice them in half down the middle so they aren’t so thick. And since white meat cooks faster than dark, just make sure your chicken is at 160* when you pull it out and reaches 165* after resting. I don’t recommend using bone-in chicken with the directions I have here, as that will affect the cooking time.

And please do not skip the potato pre-cooking. This helps them get crispy and lets everything else get on the same page with their done-ness. If you have sweet potatoes that need to be used instead, Great! You wouldn’t need to pre-cook those. Maybe you’ve got a head of pretty red cabbage withering away in your fridge, beautiful! Any cabbage will do 😉

But you all know my ‘;recipes’ tend to be more like inspirations that you can use to make something your own. I’m just not into the idea of telling you what to do and like. This was just what I had on hand and is a very simply seasoned version of all the various places this dish could go. There are so many flavor possibilities here!

But I always find that making meals with freedom is such a great way to get creative in how you feed your loved ones. At the end of the day, all anyone really needs from you is the love and thought that you put into it❤️.

So hopefully you can use this as simple inspiration to whip up something for you and yours this week. I think we all could use a little comfort right now. My thoughts are will all my neighboring areas who are still struggling with the effects of Hurricane Helene. Anything we can do to help needs to be done.

Love and safety to you all x

Sheet Pan Chicken with Potatoes and Cabbage

You will need :

• roughly 4 lbs small-medium waxy yellow potatoes (about 10-12, depending on size)
• 1 head green cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 8-9 boneless skinless chicken thighs (around 2 lbs.)
• extra virgin olive oil
• kosher salt or your favorite all purpose seasoning blend (I LOVE this inexpensive white truffle salt)
• white sugar
• fresh parsley (optional, but definitely worth it if you have it!)
• fresh lemon zest / juice (optional, but definitely worth it if you have it 😉 )
• CHICKEN MARINADE (CAN BE DONE HOURS IN ADVANCE & KEPT IN FRIDGE) :
• 1/3 cup dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup red or white wine vinegar (any vinegar you had could work!)
• splash of chicken stock or water if you don’t have any on hand / open
• 1 tsp kosher salt, or your favorite seasoning blend

You will do :

• Preheat oven to 350*.
• In a gallon zip bag, add all the marinade ingredients and smush it up to combine.
• Add your chicken thighs and make sure each one is coated. Place in a bowl in case of leakage.
• Refrigerate if making in advance, or set aside while you prepare the rest of the meal
• After piercing with a knife of fork, either bake or microwave your potatoes until cooked through and tender. Set aside.
• For easy clean-up on those extra busy nights, line a large sheet pan with heavy duty foil and drizzle coat with olive oil.
• Add your sliced cabbage and onion to the pan.
• Slice your cooked potatoes into bite sized pieces. Arrange evenly on the pan with the cabbage and onions.
• Drizzle with more olive oil to coat.
• Season well with kosher salt, or your favorite seasoning blend. And a few pinches of sugar.
• Place in a preheated 350* oven and bake for 45 minutes. This will fully cook the cabbage and begin to brown everything slightly.
• If your chicken was refrigerated, remove it during this first cooking block to come up to temp.
• Raise the oven temp to 475* but leave the pan in the oven.
• Once preheated, remove the pan and arrange your marinated thighs over the vegetables.
• (Note that any veggies under the chicken will be softer than any that are exposed.)
• Season each chicken piece with kosher salt and drizzle with olive oil.
• Place the pan back in the oven and roast for another 30 minutes.
• Check for doneness if necessary to be sure you’re between 160-165* with your chicken.
• Sprinkle the top with the zest of one lemon and half of its juice if you have one.
• And with fresh parsley leaves if you have those as well.
• Serve and feel the love❤️

thanks for reading, y’all . much love x