There aren’t many dishes I’ve encountered that are quite like this.
You might ask, “What’s so special? It’s just chicken and vegetables!”
Let’s put it this way: this dish is like the Golden State Warriors during Kevin Durant’s first season with the team: every element is a star in its own right, yet when they come together, they become selfless players working for the better good. Not one ingredient steals the show while all still having their own identity and uniqueness. As the great philosopher Aristotle once said, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Chicken thighs, skin crispy and meat tender. Asparagus, crunchy and seasoned. Potatoes, tender and dense. Radishes, savory and firm. Sauce, luxurious yet fresh.
This chicken and vegetables dish is complex, yet, together, they’re a surprising symphony of flavors and textures. Plus, it’s colorful, pretty to the eyes and delicious to eat! Extra plus, it doesn’t require a lot of work to put together! Great for lazy people like me to get on the table for a weeknight dinner!
Even though the oven is doing a lot of the work, the veggies and the chicken will be cooking on separate timetables. So have two timers ready for action!
Adapted from Epicurious’ Crispy Chicken Thighs with Spring Vegetables
If you like this Crispy Chicken Thighs with Spring Vegetables recipe, give this one a try:
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Crispy Chicken Thighs with Spring Vegetables
- Yield: 3 1x
- Category: Mains
- Method: Pan Fry, Roasting
Description
This chicken and vegetables dish is complex, yet, together, they’re a surprising symphony of flavors and textures. Plus, it’s colorful, pretty to the eyes and delicious to eat! Extra plus, it doesn’t require a lot of work to put together!
Ingredients
- 1 pound of asparagus, ends trimmed
- 1/2 pound of baby new potatoes, halved if any are wider than 1/2 inch
- 8 to 10 radishes, trimmed and halved
- Neutral-flavored cooking oil
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 3 or 4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs at room temperature, excess fat trimmed
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 2-ounce can of anchovy fillets packed in oil, chopped, canned oil reserved
- 4 tablespoons of cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
- 1/2 cup of chicken broth
- Juice from half a lemon
- 1 tablespoon of parsley, finely chopped, plus more for serving
Instructions
- Prepare the veggies. Preheat the oven to 450°F. In a rimmed baking sheet, toss the asparagus, potatoes and radishes with 2 tablespoons of oil, 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Set aside the asparagus. Roast only the potatoes and radishes for 15 minutes. Place an additional rimmed baking sheet on a separate rack in the oven as well.
- Pan fry the thighs. Preheat a pan to high. Use paper towels to pat dry the chicken. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Place them into the pan skin side down and allow them to cook undisturbed for 2 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium-high. Continue cooking skin side down for about 8 minutes, until the skin is golden brown.‡,◊ Turn the heat off and save the chicken grease in the pan.
- Let the oven do the work. Transfer the chicken, skin side down onto the empty preheated baking sheet and cook in the oven for 5 minutes. Flip the chicken and continue cooking until the meat is cooked through, about 10 minutes longer.
- Roast the asparagus. The potatoes and radishes have a total cooking time of 25 minutes.
For thick asparagus: Place the asparagus on top of the potatoes and radishes immediately after the 15-minute roasting period and roast the asparagus, potatoes and radishes for 10 minutes.
For thin asparagus: Place the asparagus on top of the potatoes and radishes 20 minutes into the roasting period and roast the asparagus, potatoes and radishes for 5 minutes. - Create the sauce. Reheat the pan with the residual chicken grease to medium. Add the garlic, anchovies, 1 tablespoon of the canned anchovy oil and 1 piece of butter into the pan. Cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the chicken broth and scrape up any browned bits in the pan. Simmer the broth for about 2 minutes. Turn the heat off and stir in the lemon juice. Stir and melt the remaining butter one piece at a time. Stir in 1 tablespoon of parsley to finish the sauce.
- Put it all together. Transfer the chicken thighs and vegetables to a platter, then drizzle the sauce on top. Add more parsley if you’d like before serving (highly recommended). Dig in immediately!
Notes
- ‡Oil may be sputtering everywhere while the chicken is cooking, so use a splatter screen if you have one.
- ◊If you have a burner that causes pans to cook food unevenly, occasionally rotate the thighs so that they will all cook at a similar rate.
- Time-saving tip: prepare the garlic, anchovies, butter, lemon juice, and parsley while the chicken is pan-frying.
