Chicken
by: Sarah | Wisconsin from Scratch
April14,2015
4.4
34 Ratings
- Prep time 15 minutes
- Cook time 1 hour
- Serves 4
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Author Notes
This recipe is pretty simple: Roast some chicken and sweet potatoes with chile and spices, cook up some lovely, herbaceous cilantro rice while you roast, and top it all off with a nice dollop of lime-sour cream. —Sarah | Wisconsin from Scratch
- Test Kitchen-Approved
What You'll Need
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 poundboneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 4 thighs)
- 1/2 medium red onion, roughly chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 3 tablespoonsolive oil, divided
- 1 teaspoonancho chile powder
- 1/2 teaspoonsmoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoonground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoonground coriander
- 3/4 teaspoonsalt, divided
- 2 cupsloosely-packed cilantro
- 3 scallions, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- 4 tablespoonsfresh lime juice (from about 2 limes), divided
- 1 jalapeño pepper, roughly chopped and seeded if less heat is desired
- 1 cup uncooked white rice
- 1 14 1/2-ounce can chicken broth (or homemade broth)
- 1/2 cupsour cream
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- In a large bowl, combine the chopped sweet potatoes, chicken thighs, and red onion. In a smaller bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the oil with the chile powder, paprika, cumin, coriander, and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Stir until well combined. Pour over the chicken and vegetables and mix until everything is well coated with the oil and spice mixture.
- Spread the chicken and vegetables in an even layer on a baking sheet, and bake until the potatoes are crispy on the edges and the chicken is juicy and cooked through, about 35 to 40 minutes.
- While the chicken and vegetables are baking, start the rice. Combine the cilantro, scallions, garlic, 2 tablespoons of lime juice, jalapeño, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a food processor or blender. Blend until a smooth paste is formed.
- Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Once hot, add the rice and cook, stirring frequently, for about 1 minute. Add the cilantro purée and continue to cook for an additional 1 minute. Add the chicken broth, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook, covered, until the rice is tender and no extra liquid remains, about 20 minutes.
- In a small bowl, combine the sour cream with the remaining 2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice until well mixed.
- When the rice is cooked and the chicken and vegetables are finished roasting, chop the chicken into bite sized pieces. Divide the cilantro rice evenly between 4 bowls, along with equal amounts of chicken and roasted vegetables. Top each bowl with a dollop of lime-sour cream.
Tags:
- Mexican
- American
- Cilantro
- Coriander
- Cumin
- Lime Juice
- Paprika
- Potato
- Chicken
- Chicken Thigh
- Green Onion/Scallion
- Rice
See what other Food52ers are saying.
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BarbaraTheCook
-
Madeline Spiker
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Rahel
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Kevin Stradinger
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frecklywench
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43 Reviews
BarbaraTheCook May 11, 2023
Made this for family while on vacation. Only substitute I used was greek yogurt for the sour cream. Very good. Only had table salt, not kosher. Making again, I would add a little more salt to the chicken, perhaps seasoning the chicken itself before mixing with the potatoes and onions. It did not crisp up for me in the oven like stated, but I may play around with that until I figure it out. Perhaps separating the chicken from the veggies on two pans. Rice was out of this world. Entire family loved the dish. My niece took over the yogurt and the rest of us got what we could :D
Jackie D. August 6, 2022
So so good. A staple in my house + leftovers are delish!
Madeline S. January 1, 2020
Really enjoyed this meal! It was hearty and unexpected. However, We used farro instead of the white rice and it ended up being more of a risotto. What was the texture supposed to be like?
Sigita January 2, 2020
Yes we enjoyed it with white rice as written but I think I will try my usual brown rice next time. It had a moist fried rice texture - not quite risotto. I did withhold some of the cilantro mixture and added after the rice was cooked to brighten the color and flavor a bit - as was suggested by a another member in the comments. I will make again for sure.
Sigita December 20, 2019
Amazing dish! But agree that it is worth it to double the recipe and also to use 2 sheet pans to spread out the veggies so they roast nicely and not steam.
cosmiccook September 9, 2019
Just made this again. I did add extra garlic and spices to the oil. I also boned but left a little skin on the thighs. I used Spice House Sunny Oaxaca in addition to the ancho powder. Easy dinner and clean up for game night.
Rahel August 26, 2019
I added lime juice and cilantro to the chicken and then grilled it. We ate it with grilled sweet potatoes, brown rice, and avocado. My son put it in tacos. Will definitely do again.
dancingapple June 14, 2019
I make this often in the fall and winter. It’s delicious and I usually have everything on hand.
Kevin S. March 22, 2019
This is one of my favorite recipes ever, I've made it easily a dozen times. But there is one essential tweak you have to make: reserve a little bit of the cilantro puree to stir into the finished rice. It boosts the color and flavor of the rice 100%!
LaurieLewis January 24, 2019
Just cooked this tonight. Since my garden last summer produced over 40 butternut squash, I substitited cubes of the squash for the sweet potatoes. This recipe was served like the currently-popular "budda bowl", with toppings such as tomato chunks, fresh green onions, red bell peppers, raw spinach, and feta cheese, added at the whim of the diners at the table. A divine meal that is getting added to my regular rotation. The rice was amazing!
Jen January 22, 2019
So delicious! The rice alone will have you coming back for more!
My sweet potatoes did come out a bit softer than crispy, but I think this could be remedied if you take better care than I did to space your veggies out or disperse over 2 pans to limit the steaming effect.
cosmiccook January 4, 2019
It depends on the salt being used. If you're using Mortons' Kosher salt vs. Diamond it's TWICE as salty! I can't wait to try this! May cook on the grill so my husband can help out!
frecklywench January 7, 2018
This is one of my all-time favorite recipes!
Tonight, I tried substituting halved mushrooms for some of the chicken, which I would highly recommend for those hoping to make this meal vegetarian friendly—though the mushrooms only took about 20 minutes to cook, so I kept them on the side of the sheet pan to remove earlier.
Stevie December 6, 2017
Absolutely delicious. The flavor of the chicken and sweet potatoes was perfection. Will add to my regular repertoire.
Lori O. November 29, 2017
This is such a good weeknight meal! It's super easy and delicious. Sometimes I don't make the rice, just the chicken and sweet potatoes - then I'll add a salad or a green vegetable to go with it.
S February 26, 2017
Omg! I made this with fish, and it turned out amazing! I added a little garlic salt to the lime sour cream...dope
Lisa November 6, 2016
Love this delicious (sheet pan ) chicken. The flavor of sweet potato contrast with cilantro Lind rice, all 3 parts work so well together, with lime sour cream for chicken, one does not need much salt at all.
Sara October 27, 2016
I made this with chicken breasts (boneless) and it was great! You may need to take chicken breasts out before veggies finish to avoid drying out chicken. You need 4 limes. Will definitely make this again!
Shortrib October 16, 2016
Yummy and quick! I also found chicken/ sweet potato needed a bit more salt & I love the idea of adding some zest to the sour cream. Happy husband tonite!
ghainskom May 26, 2016
Word of caution: the sum of the recipe is so much more than just the addition of the components, which I was a little disappointed when I tasted separately. But when the spiciness of chicken and sweet potatoes met with the flavorful rice and the tanginess of the lime-sour cream, light when on. Not the fastest recipe but one I'm sure I'll be making again... My only modification was to broil the chicken and sweet potatoes once they were done.
Julie May 12, 2016
This was so incredibly flavorful and delicious! The only thing was that the rice was a bit too salty, between salt in the purée and the chicken broth. Next time I'll either use low sodium broth or eliminate the salt from the purée mixture.
Julie May 12, 2016
It's weird that some people below say the dish could have used more salt. Now I'm wondering if I accidentally used more than 1/4 tsp salt in the purée mixture? Curious...
Sara October 27, 2016
Agree, it's too salty. I plan to eliminate broth next time and just add water to the rice.
