By Melissa Clark
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus at least 2 hours’ marinating
- Rating
- 4(3,675)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Beautiful to behold and easy to make, this sheet-pan dinner combines sweet plums and soft red onions with crisp-skinned pieces of roasted chicken. Toasted fennel seeds, red-pepper flakes and a touch of allspice add complexity while a mound of fresh torn herbs crowns the top. If good ripe plums aren’t available, you can substitute another stone fruit including peaches, nectarines or pluots, though if your fruit is very sweet, you might want to add a squeeze of lemon at the end. Serve this with rice pilaf, polenta or warm flatbread for a festive meal.
Featured in: Roast Chicken and Plums Make the Sweetest Sheet-Pan Meal
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Ingredients
Yield:4 to 6 servings
- 2teaspoons fennel seeds
- 2tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1teaspoon grated lemon or orange zest
- 4garlic cloves, finely grated
- 2teaspoons honey
- ¼teaspoon ground allspice
- Large pinch red-pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1chicken (about 3½ pounds), cut into parts
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 2cups ripe, soft plums, pitted and cut into ¾-inch thick slices
- 6fresh thyme sprigs
- 1medium red onion, peeled and sliced from root to stem in ½-inch wedges
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- ⅔cup torn mint, basil or cilantro leaves (or a combination)
- Flaky sea salt, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
482 calories; 32 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 15 grams monounsaturated fat; 6 grams polyunsaturated fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 8 grams sugars; 35 grams protein; 835 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
Step
1
Toast the fennel seeds in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Pour seeds into a mortar and pound with a pestle until coarsely crushed (or lay seeds on a cutting board and pound them with a can or jar).
Step
2
Put the seeds into a large bowl and stir in lemon juice, zest, garlic, honey, allspice and red-pepper flakes.
Step
3
Season chicken generously all over with salt and pepper and add to the bowl, turning the pieces to coat them with marinade. Mix in plums and thyme sprigs. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
Step
4
When ready to cook, heat the oven to 425 degrees. Put the chicken pieces, plums, and thyme sprigs on a rimmed baking pan. Add onions, spreading them out around the chicken and plums. Season plums and onions lightly with salt. Drizzle everything with olive oil.
Step
5
Roast until chicken is golden and cooked through, 30 to 45 minutes, removing the white meat if it’s done before the dark meat.
Step
6
Transfer chicken pieces as they are done to a platter. Spoon the plums and onions around the chicken. Drizzle a little of the pan drippings over the chicken and serve, garnished with the herbs and flaky salt.
Ratings
4
out of 5
3,675
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Cooking Notes
Trish
Is there something one could use as a substitute for fennel? I really, really live this recipe sans fennel.
Prakash Nadkarni
Roasting whole chicken is a neat idea, but I think that the end-result won't be much different from the above recipe. The pluses of marinating are: 1) You can use chicken parts that you like; 2) It's far simpler for adding flavor (which penetrates deeper) than basting; 3) The marinade tenderizes and hydrates the meat, so it cooks faster and is less likely to dry out; 4) It's more forgiving of meat quality: with some grocery chains, on-sale chicken parts are just a few days short of expiry.
Walter Sudmant
Do not underestimate the glorious quality brought to this dish by roasted fresh plums. Mine disintegrated into a heavenly sauce. Somehow Melissa has concocted a perfect marinade - this is not one to fool around with substitutions or proportions.
NMM
Have you ever read a recipe and realized you had every ingredient, or nearly, in the house? Quarantine kismet! Boneless skinless parts in the freezer, pluots on the counter, and dried thyme in the cupboard, close enough. I added the dried thyme to the marinade, followed the directions for everything else and marinated the chicken and pluots for 7 hours. Roasted for 30 mins. until a char was on everything, and served with brown rice and sauteed mixed greens - delicious! A keeper for autumn.
Lady Di
Delicious chicken but half of the plums cooked down to a burnt crust. Next time I will try roasting the chicken for 20 minutes and adding the plums and onions for the final 20-25.
JBrian
Delicious. Two notes: As with all sheet-pan dinners, be sure to line the pan with parchment. (Precut 11x18 sheets are available, and they are great!). And I suggest not using plums that are too ripe. The soft ones I had pretty much melted— tasty but vanishingly small.
phalgal
I have a small suggestion re the toasted fennel seeds: if, like me, you don't own a mortar and pestle, and don't want to send your attempts to smash the seeds all over your kitchen - cereal bags are your friend. I usually use this method for pounding meat but it will work here, too. Pour the cooled fennel seeds into a cereal bag, fold over and pound in total safety. Nothing will fly out.
Jana Eldridge
Would boneless breasts work OK, or do bones add the flavor needed?
Mary Atlanta area
What is missing in this recipe? —-> Instructions to use a pan liner (repurposed crockpot liner). Who wants to scrub that pan? Not me.
Anne
Could this be done as a whole roast chicken with the plums/onions alongside and the marinade used also as a rub/basting sauce? We always find that roast chicken stuffed with lemon slices is yummy and moist. That bit of tart might be good with the plums/onions. This is definitely on the list for a to-try-dinner recipe--plums are my new favorite go-to ingredient. Melissa's recipes are always a big hit. This will probably be a big hit as well.
Pete
One of the best recipes I've made from the Times- fantastic flavors!What would I "tweak" next time?:1) Purchase pre-cut chicken pieces. (Cutting-up a whole chicken is a timely hassle in my opinion.)2) Slice the plums and onion into much larger pieces. (Visually, they cook down to an indistinguishable component when sliced so small.)3) I used the convection-roast setting at 410 degrees in our oven. Chicken cooked evenly/perfectly!
Sara Wykes
Used skinless chicken thighs; sub'd cumin, curry and smoked paprika for the pepper flakes; half plums and half peaches--delicious!
Martha
A whole chicken might work but I would suggest spatchco*cking it. The breast might not turn out as dry that way.
E Brunner
Fab! Our plums weren’t juicy so I used a Peach, a two nectarines and some figs. Next Time I will top w pomegranate seeds. Love the idea of more cardamom too . Will late again and again
Suzanne
This was delicious! I included brussel sprouts on the sheet pan which was a nice addition to the plums and all of the flavors. I would make it again.
kogs
I roasted fennel bulbs along with the plums, onions, and chicken, and it was fantastic. Also topped with chopped roasted almonds for texture.
Kim
I don't even really like chicken that much, but this was delicious.
Miriam Kaminer
What can I use instead of plums if I want to make this when plums aren't available (in the fall).
Karen
Made this twice now generally as written. Added shallots, which, with the plums and a bit caramelized, are amazing! In a hurry didn't have a lot of the stuff so just put some soy sauce on instead of lemon, fennel (sounds like a parody of a comment, I know :)) Still amazing! Served over farro. I think onions, plums, chicken, oil, salt and pepper are great whatever you do from there.. Delicious.
Lance
We've made this a few times, pretty much according to the recipe. In the Summer we used nectarines, and in the fall we used plums. Fantastic both ways. If I would change anything I would use more plums/nectarines and more onions, because they just taste so good.
Charlotte K
The flavors of the marinade were good, but I had issues with this sheet pan meal scorching--the sugar in the plums made a sticky, burned mess in the pan. There certainly weren't any "pan juices." I have a reliable oven as far as temperature. If I ever made it again, which I probably won't, I'd marinate the plums separately from the meat and add it or the last 15 minutes or so only.
kz
I love plum season for the sole reason I can cook this recipe! The flavor profile is so wonderful with orange, fennel, allspice…
MBH
This is a truly fantastic recipe.
GailG
Made this yesterday for a holiday meal and served with potato kugel. It was absolutely delicious and everyone loved it. I marinated chicken for about 5 hours and it was very flavorful. Will definitely make this again.
Marina
SO GOOD!! Made with chicken thighs only and took ~35 minutes- broiled for a minute at the end to get the skin a little darker & crispy.
Holly
Add more of all the seasonings and cook onions a bit before adding to the sheet pan.
Sandy
I made this and was very disappointed. There was not enough marinade to cover the chicken. Is it missing water? vinegar? wine? something! The dish came out OK but was not worth repeating.
Dee
No plums, used prunes instead, bone in chicken thighs and tripled the marinade. Heavenly. And someone suggested pilaf or rice with pistachios, a nice side. My new go to for dinner parties.
Ballydavid
A most delicious meal!
Susan from Luxembourg
Good stuff. Easy. I missed the bit about letting it marinate for 2-24 hours so had to postpone making this for a day. Worth the wait.
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