Sheet Pan Lemon & Caper Chicken
Sheet pan recipes are great for making easy dinners. Fewer dishes, less mess, and usually less time. All of that is true with this Sheet Pan Lemon & Caper Chicken. Combining the tangy lemon with the briny capers adds flavor to this dish.
Lemons & Capers A Match Made In Heaven
What exactly is a caper? They are basically the unripened green flower buds of the Capparius Spinosa plant. They grow wild across the Mediterranean. Once the buds are picked, they are dried and preserved. Usually, they are cured in salt or pickled in brine.
A caper is kind of like a combo of a lemon and an olive. It’s that salty, tart flavor that pairs so well with lemon. Think chicken piccata. The brightness of the two ingredients they bring to a dish makes them a perfect match.
Keys To Sheet Pan Recipes
Sheet pan recipes are great because they are usually easy, requiring fewer dishes, less prep, and hands-off cooking. What is key to this recipe is the flavors from the ingredients work together. The juices cook the potatoes and carrots by layering the chicken over the vegetables, imparting more flavor.
One of the keys to a good sheet pan recipe is combining ingredients that have a similar cooking time. Or adding things that take less time to cook as you go. It’s also good to take into consideration how quickly things cook when you are prepping. For instance, in this recipe, the scallion will cook much faster than the potato, so they are cut larger. And the capers would be overcooked if you put them in for the entire time.
Get Creative with Sheet Pan Lemon Caper Chicken
The other nice thing about most sheet pan recipes is you can get a little creative. Don’t have potatoes or want to use a different root vegetable like parsnips or turnips, no problem. Or you don’t have leeks, double your scallions. Baking requires sticking to a recipe, but cooking on a sheet pan, go ahead and get creative.
Want another easy chicken recipe? Check out Chicken With Perfectly Creamy Mushroom Sauce Recipe.
Sheet Pan Lemon & Caper Chicken
Ingredients
- 2-3 Yukon gold potatoes sliced into 1/4″ rounds
- 2-3 carrots sliced into 1/4″ rounds
- 1 leek cut into 1/4″ rounds rinse carefully to remove all sand
- 6 scallions cleaned and trimmed and cut into 3 pieces
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons drained cappers
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt and pepper for seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°. Wash and cut the vegetables. Toss the vegetables with 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a bowl, season generously with salt and pepper. Spread half of the vegetables onto a prepared baking sheet. Pat your chicken dry and toss in the remaining olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Place the chicken on top of the vegetables and top with the remaining vegetables around the chicken. Sprinkle the lemon zest on the top.
- Roast for 30-35 minutes. Sprinkle the capers on the top and return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes, depending on the doneness of the chicken.
- Remove from the oven and squeeze the lemon juice over the entire tray. Move to a serving platter and enjoy.
Easy, healthy, and so fresh tasting. A great spring dish!