Change-Your-Life Chicken — The Lazy Genius Collective

Name: Change-Your-Life Chicken — The Lazy Genius Collective
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: olive oil, salt, and pepper; 8 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs; 1 lb carrots; 1 onion, large; 10 oz cauliflower or broccoli

8 steps

Prep:15minCook:1h

This recipe is my Internet legacy, and, as such, I dedicated an entire episode of The Lazy Genius Podcast to it. Listen to it here. Twenty-seven percent of the Internet is dedicated to chicken recipes, but this is the one you want.  I shared the recipe on an Instagram story ,

Updated at: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 08:45:50 GMT

Nutrition balance score

Good

Glycemic Index

Low

Glycemic Load

Low

Nutrition per serving

Calories332.6 kcal (17%)

Total Fat23.4 g (33%)

Carbs7.6 g (3%)

Sugars3.4 g (4%)

Protein22.3 g (45%)

Sodium241.7 mg (12%)

Fiber2 g (7%)

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Ingredients

8 servings

1 lbcarrots

Instructions

Step 1

1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Not a typo. Five hundred.

Step 2

Line a baking sheet with heavy duty foil. Your pan needs to hold your vegetables comfortably - not too close together, not too far apart. Do not use glass. It will shatter. I’d recommend not using any kind of baking dish with high sides because you won’t get the same kind of crisp.

Foil

Baking sheet

Step 3

Cut your vegetables in large, bite-sized pieces, and toss with olive oil, more salt than you think you need, and black pepper. Carrots take the longest, so make those thinner than the rest. Consider cooking speeds with the vegetables you choose.

Knife

Step 4

Peel the skin back from the chicken. Don't wig out. It's cool. You want to generously season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper, but you want to season under the skin. So pull back the skin, season, and fold the skin back over.

Step 5

Pat the chicken skin dry with a wad of paper towels. This is how you get magic crusty chicken skin. The best order is to place the chicken skin side down on the vegetables, season, flip, pull back the skin, season, put the skin back, and pat dry. The worst is drying the skin and then realizing you forgot to season the bottom.

Kitchen Towel

Step 6

Place the chicken skin side up directly on top of the vegetables. Here's what happens: the fat from the chicken skin will seep into the vegetables underneath, imparting flavor and moisture while the exposed vegetables get a tiny bit charred.

Step 7

Bake at 500 degrees for 50 minutes. Don't worry if the chicken will be done; it will be. And we don't have to be concerned about the vegetables burning at such a high temperature because they're nestled closely together. The most you'll get will be a few crusty edges, and those are delightful. If you are concerned about vegetables burning, use a smaller pan or add more veggies.

Change it up

Step 8

1. Add fresh rosemary or thyme to the vegetables. 2. Rub the chicken (not the skin) with lemon or orange zest. 3. Reinvent the meal with different vegetable combinations: onion, potato, and carrot; leek and asparagus; onion and sweet potato; green bean and cauliflower. 4. Same goes for exotic spices. Go nuts with curry powder, a taco seasoning blend, or whatever you want to try. You won't know if it works until you try. 5. Use chicken breasts with the bone and skin if you must; be sure to bump the time to an hour. I can't vouch that it'll be as good, but I'm not your chicken boss.