Sheet-Pan Chicken with Cauliflower, Toasty Bread and Dates

Chef notes

We will never grow tired of a good roasted chicken dinner, especially when it’s made on a sheet pan. It is objectively the easiest and quickest way to get a hearty dinner on the table. When the days get shorter and colder, reaching for comforting one-pan recipes like this sheet-pan chicken is a no-brainer. It has all of the comforting feel of a roast chicken dinner with less hassle and close to zero cleanup.

This roast chicken is essentially like inside-out stuffing. Instead of filling the cavity of the bird — be it turkey or chicken — with stuffing, all of those same ingredients are roasted together on the sheet pan. A whole chicken is broken down into individual breasts, thighs, wings and drumsticks, and roasted on top of the crusty bread and vegetables, so all of those flavor-packed drippings infuse into every bite.

Seasonal cauliflower florets and red onion wedges are the vegetables of choice, but the great thing about this recipe is that you can use pretty much anything you like — broccoli, Brussels sprouts or even potatoes can stand in for the cauliflower; shallots and a few cloves of smashed and peeled garlic add a subtle sweetness when swapped in for the red onions.

If you were at all concerned about the chicken drying out in the oven, cast those doubts aside. There are two ways to keep the chicken moist and tender. First, start with bone-in, skin-on chicken. Chicken breasts are less forgiving than thighs, but since the bones help retain moisture, you will end up with nothing less than succulent meat. Second, everything cooks with some chicken stock, which is absorbed into the vegetables and toasted bread to add a punch of savory flavor.

Technique Tip: To make meal prep even easier, look for the prepared bags of cauliflower florets at the supermarket.