One-Pot Wonders

Extraordinary Roasted Chicken With Potatoes & Chickpeas

by:
October  4, 2022
4.3
32 Ratings
Extraordinary Roasted Chicken With Potatoes & Chickpeas
Photo by James Ransom
  • Prep time 24 hours 10 minutes
  • Cook time 1 hour 20 minutes
  • Serves 4 to 6
Author Notes

After its stint in the oven, the marinade cooks down to this incredible, sticky savoriness around the potatoes and chicken. And when combined with the crispy bits of chickpeas, tender chicken, and marinade-sodden potatoes, it's heaven on a plate. This is adapted from Elaine Boddy's "Lebanese Inspired Potatoes and Chickpeas" from her lovely blog "foodbod." —Selma | Selma's Table

Test Kitchen Notes

WHO: Divasparkle is an adventurous cook who hails from across the pond, in London.
WHAT: A comforting one-dish meal with a sauce built in.
HOW: If you've read the title of this recipe, you know the method -- just marinate, roast, and eat.
WHY WE LOVE IT: This is the ultimate dinner-party dish; it will taste like you've been working on it all day, but you'll know the truth: You spent 10 minutes mixing the marinade and turning on the oven, and had the rest of the day to yourself. Tell them, or don't; it's up to you. —The Editors

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 400 grams chickpeas (about one 15-ounce can)
  • 800 grams (1 3/4 pounds) potatoes
  • 1 medium head of garlic, cloves separated
  • 8 bone in, skin on, chicken thighs
  • For the marinade:
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 lemons, up to 3
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon harissa paste (or to your taste)
  • 1/2 teaspoon chile flakes
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 Salt and pepper to season
  • 2 teaspoons dry-roasted whole cumin seeds, for garnish
  • 80 grams chopped coriander leaves and stalks, (or one small handful), for garnish
  • 300 milliliters Greek yogurt or tzatziki (or enough for each serving to have a generous dollop), for garnish
Directions
  1. The day before, rinse and drain the chickpeas. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 3 inch chunks.
  2. Give the lemons 30 seconds or so in the microwave to help release more juice, or roll on a flat surface while applying a little pressure. Slice in half and squeeze out as much juice as you can. Mix the marinade ingredients together in a medium bowl. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
  3. Place the chicken, chickpeas, potatoes, and garlic in a large freezer bag and pour in the marinade. Squeeze out the air and seal the bag. Flop it around a bit to make sure that the marinade gets everywhere. Place on a plate or in a bowl and pop in the fridge to marinate for a day. Turn the bag over whenever you open the fridge over the next 24 hours. (Alternatively, you can just mix the chicken, marinade, and other ingredients in a bowl, and place that bowl, covered, in the fridge, mixing occasionally as it marinates.)
  4. An hour or so before you are ready to eat, heat the oven to 200º C (375º F). Remove the bag from the fridge and tumble the contents into a roasting dish large enough for everything to be spread out. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the dish tightly with foil and cook for 1 hour. Remove the foil and cook for another 15 minutes or so, until the chicken skin and potatoes are crispy and cooked through, and the chickpeas get a little crunchy. Watch carefully to make sure the marinade does not go from gooey and delicious to a burnt crisp. Remove from the oven and scatter over the roasted cumin seeds and chopped coriander leaves.
  5. Serve with a dollop of Greek yoghurt or tzatziki on the side, and prepare to be worshipped.
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144 Reviews

Linda P.
Linda P. November 19, 2022
Delicious! We loved the marinade flavors and made it quite spicy. It took longer to brown than 15-20 minutes and never really got crispy, but it was delicious nonetheless, not to mention simple to prepare.
 
angrychef1
angrychef1 April 23, 2021
During the lockdown, I have learned to cook, and have made many fabulous Food52 recipes. Unfortunately, I would not make this one again. I did the 24-hour marinade, flipping the zip-lock bag, as suggested, in fridge. Though the marinade resulted in very tender chicken (great!), the overall flavor was a little bland, nondescript. No big deal, but to achieve a crisp skin, I threw it under the broiler for a few minutes. It was pretty. Just not that tasty.
 
Xhuliano T.
Xhuliano T. February 18, 2021
Delicious
 
InlandMurmur
InlandMurmur February 2, 2021
What an awful recipe. I didn't anticipate that this contest-winning dish would be basically wrong at every step. The ingredients are solid. However, you'll notice all these comments say that "this was awesome, except I did everything orally different." I won't rehash here, but I will say DO NOT MAKE THIS RECIPE AS WRITTEN.
 
Isadora
Isadora February 2, 2021
Totally agree. Don't bother with this recipe! A waste of your time and ingredients.
 
ann H.
ann H. June 3, 2020
This is a wonderful recipe. I followed the recipe exactly, and this will be on rotation in our house.
Thanks for sharing this.
 
Elizabeth M.
Elizabeth M. May 26, 2020
My whole family, including my four year old, loved this! I modified it based on another users comments. Tripled the harissa (we like spicy food but even then it wasn’t too hot at all), sliced the potatoes thinly, sautéed onions and browned the chicken before roasting it. It was absolutely delicious!
 
Amanda G.
Amanda G. May 10, 2020
We just finished this for Mother’s Day dinner. What a great dish

I subbed sweet potatoes for the white potatoes, added onions and used cut up chicken breasts

I did not marinate overnight. Whoops. Didn’t matter at all.

I did salt the meat prior and also sautéed the onions and browned the chicken before putting it all in the oven.

I added all the marinade to the mixture prior to putting in the oven in my Dutch oven. Bumped the temp up to 400 and removed the lid after reading the reviews. Stirred every 20 minutes.

Served with fresh day old sourdough bread and shelled edemame on the side to add green.

The yogurt was essential. I used the recipe used in Food52’s fish tacos- cuz I made those last night and they were really good.

Give it a try and keep an eye on it because I could see how it would go wrong if you just set it and forget it.

 
Elizabeth M.
Elizabeth M. May 26, 2020
Thank you so much for your notes! I followed your suggestions and the dish turned out great.
 
askacharlton
askacharlton January 29, 2020
This recipe was delicious however, I also found that there would have been too much sauce for the chickpeas and potatoes to crisp so I removed half the sauce after the initial hour in the oven which I then used to make a gravy-like sauce. I also removed the potatoes and some of the chickpeas and added them to a different pan along with some duck fat so that they went really crunchy.
 
Bridget A.
Bridget A. December 7, 2019
We loved this -- so different than our usual chicken recipes! Good one to make when you are having friends over -- so much is done the day before.
 
Sabine G.
Sabine G. November 28, 2019
We LOVED this. However, there was a ton of sauce that needed to be cooked down so I boiled it off on the stove top. I'd recommend not covering at all for the entire duration of cooking or just cooking off as I did. This was so easy to prep and loved the flavors. Will be making again...and again....and again!
 
Megan F.
Megan F. October 23, 2019
Fabulous recipe!!! We will be tripling it next time!
 
Stevie
Stevie June 27, 2019
This was a good one pot chicken dish. After reading the other reviews, I increased the amount of harissa paste substantially (my family likes spice) and I sliced the potatoes thin in a food processor. I followed the cooking instructions and did not find the dish too saucy or greasy. My only gripe is that my chickpeas were not crispy.
 
Hollis R.
Hollis R. March 8, 2019
great global recipe! the toasted cumin seed and chopped cilantro are Latinx-ish, and the addition of Tzatziki on the side is oh-so-Greek -- what a nice touch! added together, this is a real Greco-Roman recipe, a real example of *culinary cultural appreciation* at its best -- i like grated cucumbers and garlic in my tzatziki, with coarsely-ground fresh black pepper a very *fruit-forward* essential. the harissa paste, chili flakes, and tomato paste add a nice North African touch(maybe Morocco?), and the soy sauce provides some Eastern umami. truly an international feast!
 
Melissa M.
Melissa M. November 21, 2018
Forgot to ask -- does anyone have a clue on how to determine calories per serving for this recipe?
 
Melissa M.
Melissa M. November 21, 2018
This dish - easy to assemble - was devoured and received high praise from four reliable foodies on a bitter cold Saturday night. Leftovers reheated in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes were even more rewarding and satisfying. This is definitely a keeper recipe. I will add that a gallon size freezer bag wasn't big enough for all the ingredients but a bowl is fine. Large rectangular roasting dish was perfect and all ingredients carried the tangy and roasted flavor of the marinade.
 
meme S.
meme S. October 15, 2018
***** Delicious, easy, a winner and we love it!
 
caroline0ne
caroline0ne October 11, 2018
The 2nd step involves "the" lemons; but there are no lemons listed as ingredients. Please advise.
 
BR95510
BR95510 October 11, 2018
2nd item under "For The Marinade." 2 lemons - up to 3. Unless it's been corrected since you posted.
 
krikri
krikri January 15, 2018
My version had thighs and drumsticks; lemon, lime, and orange juices and orange zest (we only had one lemon and one lime but 1 orange tree); normal potato and sweet potato; and no brown sugar. I baked it in a rectangular pyrex, not on a baking sheet as I'd considered (I thought it might be too spread out and get dry). Cooking times were pretty close to as the recipe said, although to get the full effect of my version you have to throw some of it onto the floor of the oven before the last foil-less 15minutes (cursing, to taste). It was delicious and tasty and golden but not crispy or gooey and delicious. We really liked it. Next time I'll try for the crispy goo and hopefully keep it all in the pan.
 
HoiDauBepAAu
HoiDauBepAAu October 20, 2017
It's a good recipes for me. In my counstry. I will try this for my bussiness
 
MSargent
MSargent October 7, 2017
This was a great recipe! I roasted UNCOVERED for 1 hour at 400 degrees in a metal roasting pan. Right amount of sauce and the thighs and potatoes were done perfectly. Love incorporating full fat greek yogurt in anything recipe I can find.