Sheet pan dinners: chicken tikka

There are books, there are blogs, there are podcasts, there are Food Network shows, all about sheet pan dinners.

The beautiful dream of weeknight cooking as expressed in the sheet pan dinner is as follows: cover a sheet pan with something meant to reduce cleanup (foil, parchment paper); assemble items on pan; insert sheet pan in oven; BING! one hour (or less) later, open oven door to reveal delicious dinner. Enjoy dinner, recycle foil, move along with your evening.

Sadly, not all sheet pan dinner recipes achieve the Platonic ideal: straightforward prep, nutritious and delicious, easy cleanup. Below is one that does, and we keep it on pretty heavy rotation.

Sheet pan chicken tikka

This write-up is my slight adaptation of the smitten kitchen recipe, with my thanks.

Ingredients

• Approx 2 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and drumsticks
  You can (and I have) used bone-in chicken breasts, but they tend to cook at a different rate. Also, practically speaking, the dark meat is less expensive and has more flavor.
• For the chicken marinade:
  • 1/2 - 3/4 c plain yogurt – preferably greek, preferably whole milk, but if you like/have something else, that works too
  • 4 cloves fresh garlic, minced or pressed
  • Fresh ginger – for ease, I use the kind that comes in a squeeze tube (2 Tbl or so) but if you prefer you can peel and mince a fresh piece (approx 2")
  • Diced fresh jalapeno pepper (without seeds) – in a pinch I have also diced pickled jalapenos and that worked okay too
  • 1 teaspoon each of the following:
    • kosher salt
    • paprika
    • cumin
    • garam masala
  • 3/4 teaspoon granulated sugar (okay to go a little light on this)
  • 1/2 teaspoon each of the following:
    • cayenne or chili powder
    • ground turmeric
    • ground cumin (I love cumin so I actually put in more like a full teaspoon)
• Cauliflower (one, medium to large, depending on the size pan you want to use), roughly chopped into florets
• Small potatoes, roughly chopped in halves or quarters to the approximate size of the cauliflower florets – I prefer baby dutch potatoes
• Seasoning for the vegetables:
  • 2 Tbl olive oil
  • Kosher salt, black pepper to taste
  • 1 teaspoon each of the following:
    • turmeric
    • cumin
• Fresh cilantro to garnish (chop, mince, fling, etc., as you prefer)

Combine the ingredients for the marinade thoroughly in some vessel that can be refrigerated (I find that a gallon baggie works best) and then add the chicken. Make sure the marinade is fully and equally dispersed across the chicken and refrigerate for minimum one hour or as long as overnight.

When it's go time: preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Cover a half sheet pan with foil or parchment paper (optional, but really helps with cleanup).

While the oven is preheating, prepare the vegetables, and season with oil and spices. I do this on the pan, so as to keep the dish burden low. Distribute the vegetables relatively evenly across the pan.

Remove chicken from marinade, removing excess, then making room within the vegetables, place the chicken pieces on the pan as well.

Bake for 30 minutes, shake pan, and return to oven for 5-10 minutes or until chicken is well-browned and veggies are fully roasted (brown bits on the cauliflower, chicken at the requisite 165 degrees). Sometimes this stage can go as long as 50 minutes so if you feel faint with hunger, you might want to deploy a snack when the pan goes into the oven.

Once done, remove from oven and serve immediately, with optional garnish of cilantro, and optional sides of rice and/or green peas. If you like naan, have some of that too!