Easy midweek meal idea – spice crusted chicken breast with roast vegetables

So like most people I often come back from work pretty bleary eyed and unwilling to cook. I mean, I might love eating so much I like to write about it and I might make up recipes and blogs but after a hard day at work (coupled with going to the gym) its pretty tempting to stick something in the microwave, especially as I’m usually just cooking for myself.

This recipe is easy, tasty and uses 1 pan and a roasting tray so it means less washing up, more time sitting in front of the television watching the programme of your choice after your dinner/tea, it’s also easy to follow and is not very fiddly.

For this recipe you will need:

1 chicken breast per person (or boneless chicken thighs if you prefer)

2 types of vegetable – I used baby parsnip (why are miniature vegetables so appealing?) and sweet potato. You can use anything; peppers, tomato; aubergine and courgette are also lovely in this recipe.

Olive oil

Butter

The spice mix of your choice (I used Asda Tex Mex as it was the first to hand).

A clove of garlic

Salt

Chilli flakes

A red onion or a shallot (I like colourful food)

Pre-heat the oven at around 220°C. Peel your sweet potato and chop it into wedges and cut the top off your parsnips. Par boil your sweet potato and parsnip for 8-10 minutes (skip this step if you’re not using hard vegetables.

Slice the onion/shallot and the garlic and put in a roasting tray drizzled in oil.

Take the chicken breast and pour your seasoning on. Lightly press the seasoning onto your chicken breast. This will form the spicy “crust” during cooking. Remember to wash your hands after handling chicken. (It really goes without saying but I’d hate for somebody to get food poising attempting this!

Drain the vegetables and place them in the roasting tray and place the chicken to one side. Make sure the vegetables are covered in oil. Sprinkle chilli flakes and salt over the vegetables. Add butter the parts of the tray where are parsnips (completely unnecessary but I just love buttered parsnips). Put into the hot oven for 15 minutes (20-25 if you’re using meat on the bone).

If you are unsure about whether your chicken has cooked make a tiny cut into it and make sure the juices run clear and that it’s not pink.

DSCN0556 — Post oven. I love how the onions taste in this recipe!

If, like me you get a bit overenthusiastic over how many vegetables you cook, place what you don’t want to eat to one side. Cold roast vegetables are wonderful in salads or soup.

4 thoughts on “Easy midweek meal idea – spice crusted chicken breast with roast vegetables”

Hello little sis,

Couple of pointers, First off I’d pre-heat the oven dish with the oil in it before you add anything to it (whilst your beg is pre-boiling is when I do it).

Second your hard veg needs longer if you want it to roast properly, sweet potato doesn’t need as long as your common or garden spud but you are still looking at 45-60 mins.

Finally, I always finds the harder veg roasts better if you toss them in the pan after the par boiled stage.

Hope my pearls of wisdom are beneficial,

Your favourite brother.

Thanks for the input. I suppose its more of a traybake the way I did it? It was definitely all cooked through and my aim was just to cook the vegetables until they were cooked through rather than properly roast them (like I would do with roast meat). I don’t think (unless I was cooking for more than myself) I would ever bother with proper roast potatoes or veg midweek.

I might make you do some guest posts.