One pan maple, orange and pecan chicken

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I’ve been meaning to reinvent this maple, orange and pecan chicken from an old recipe for a while. Now this one pan chicken dish is even easier and faster to make – but just as delicious!

If you could swear you’ve seen a recipe similar to this on the blog already, well you’d be right.

A good while ago, not long after I started this blog, I posted a similar baked one pan chicken recipe, but I’ve long been meaning to update it.

I made the old one with a whole chopped up chicken.

Nothing wrong with that of course, and in fact in that post I wrote about how it was much better to use a whole chicken than to use breast or thigh. Ha – what a joke! I was right that it’s generally much cheaper to use chicken that way, but these days I’m all about the skinless, boneless thighs!

Especially now we’ve got a little one commanding all our time, it’s all about the convenience! The quicker and easier the recipe the better.

Isn’t it funny how things change?

This recipe takes very little time to prepare. Just peel and chop sweet potato and toss into a baking dish with a handful of green beans and plenty of whole garlic cloves (don’t even bother peeling them – they’re so delicious squeezed into the sauce as you eat!). Tuck chicken thighs into the dish then drizzle with maple syrup and orange juice. Ten minutes before the end of the cooking time, wilt some fresh spinach into the dish and sprinkle over the crunchy pecans.

I love this quick and easy one pan chicken dinner, but I suspect it could divide a room as the finished result is quite sweet. Give it a try and decide which side of the fence you’re on.

Maybe this could even be another ‘one-handed’ recipe. It’s certainly very easy. I should test out the theory next time I make it!

I like to use this sort of heavy-bottomed pan to make this (affiliate link!):

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One pan maple, orange and pecan chicken

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  35 mins

Total time:  45 mins

Serves: 2 to 3

I can't get enough of easy one pot chicken meals. This is an old one I've been meaning to update for a while, and I don't think you'll be disappointed with the revamped version. Sweet potatoes, green beans, garlic, spinach, and chicken all get bathed in a delicious sweet maple orange sauce. Oh, and don't forget those lovely crunchy pecans.

Ingredients

• 2 small or 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped into small chunks
• 8 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
• a handful of green beans (about 3.5 ounces / 100 grams)
• 1 pound / 500 grams skinless boneless chicken thighs
• zest and juice of 1 orange
• 3 tablespooons maple syrup
• salt and pepper
• 2 large handfuls fresh baby spinach
• 1 handful pecan nuts

to serve

• fresh crusty bread, or rice

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 355F / 180C.
2. Add the sweet potato, garlic and green beans to a medium baking dish. Tuck the chicken between the vegetables.
3. Whisk the zest and orange juice with the maple syrup. Drizzle the whole dish with a little cooking oil (about a tablespoon), then pour the juice / syrup over the chicken.
4. Grind over plenty of salt and pepper, then bake for 35 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the sweet potatoes are tender. Ten minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the spinach, tucking it down into the sauce as much as possible, and sprinkle over the pecans.
5. Serve with the bread or rice.

Notes

Squeeze the garlic into the juices as you eat. Delicious!

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