One-Pot Chicken with Caramelized Lemon & Dates

If (or when) you find yourself craving a darn good roast chicken dish that goes from pot to plate in under 45 minutes, give this recipe a try! It’s from Alison Roman’s most recent cookbook, Nothing Fancy. While one version of the recipe has you using a whole chicken (which is delicious) – I just didn’t have the time/patience to roast a whole chicken, so I used a version of the recipe that’s meant for smaller chicken parts, like thighs or quarters. All in all, the recipe takes about 10 minutes of prep, followed by 25 minutes in the oven, and viola! We had a most delicious, one-pot dish of juicy, crispy-skinned chicken and some mouth-watering caramelized lemons, dates, and shallots that we spooned over brown rice.

ALISON ROMAN’S ONE-POT CHICKEN WITH CARAMELIZED LEMON & DATES

INGREDIENTS

  • ~3 lbs. bone-in, skin-on chicken quarters or chicken thighs

  • Kosher salt

  • Freshly ground pepper

  • 1 tablespoon canola oil

  • 1 lemon, cut into thick slices crosswise (about 1/4” thick), seeds removed

  • 2 shallots, peeled if you want, halved lengthwise (or one red onion, peeled and cut into wedges)

  • 6 medjool dates, pitted

  • 4 sprigs thyme or oregano, plus more for serving  

  • 1–2  teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 425°.

  2. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large dutch oven over medium–high heat. Place chicken, skin side down and using tongs or your hands (be careful!) press lightly to make sure the skin comes into even contact with the pot.

  3. Cook, without moving, until chicken is nice and browned, 5– 8 minutes. You will likely need to brown the chicken pieces in batches. Once you’ve finished browning a piece, remove it with tongs to a plate and a new piece in its place. A note that during this step while the chicken is browning, I’ll slices the lemons, shallots, and dates to speed up the prep for this dish.

  4. As you get to the end of browning the chicken, add the lemon slices to the pot, maneuvering the chicken as needed so that the slices come into contact with the bottom of the pot. Some of the chicken pieces will probably need to stay out of the pot a bit longer, for the lemon slices to fit.

  5. Let the lemons sizzle in the chicken fat until caramelized on one side, about 2 minutes. Add all the chicken pieces back into the pot (skin side up), along with the shallots, dates, thyme and 1.5 cups of water. Sprinkle the top of the chicken with crushed red pepper flakes and another pinch of salt.

  6. Place dutch oven in the oven (with the lid OFF the pot so the chicken skin can get crispy) and roast until the dates are plump, the lemon is jammy and the chicken is cooked through and golden (and a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken reads at least 165F).

  7. Remove from oven and let chicken rest in the dutch oven for 10 minutes before transferring it to a serving platter. Serve alongside shallots, lemons, and dates with some more thyme sprinkled over. I recommend enjoying with rice, and spooning some of the yummy juices from the dutch oven spooned over the rice.

  8. DO AHEAD: This chicken can be made a few hours ahead, kept in the dutch oven. If you wish to reheat it before serving, pop it back into the oven without a lid for 10–15 minutes or so.