The Trendiest Sheet Pan Chicken

This sheet pan chicken recipe is supposed to be the most popular recipe on the NY Times Cooking site, and it looked good, so we had to give it a try. Serves 4:

The Trendiest Sheet Pan Chicken

• 3 ½ pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken parts
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and ground pepper
• ½ cup white wine vinegar
• 1 ½ cups green Castelvetrano olives, crushed and pitted
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 1 cup parsley, tender leaves and stems, chopped

Heat oven to 450°. Place chicken on a rimmed baking sheet and toss with turmeric and 2 tablespoons olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Make sure chicken is skin-side up, then pour vinegar over and around chicken and place in the oven.

Bake chicken, without flipping, until cooked through and deeply browned all over, 25 to 30 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, combine olives, garlic, parsley, the remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper.

Once chicken is cooked, remove baking sheet from the oven and transfer chicken to a large serving platter, leaving behind any of the juices and bits stuck to the pan.

Make sure the baking sheet is on a sturdy surface (the stovetop, a counter), then pour the olive mixture onto the sheet. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, gently scrape up all the bits the chicken left behind, letting the olive mixture mingle with the rendered fat and turn into a sauce. Pour olive mixture over the chicken, serve and enjoy!

My verdict:

I think Frank liked this better than I did. It might be because for once, I cooked him a breast and kept the thighs to myself. Both were crispy skinned and tender inside, so I would definitely use this technique to make chicken anytime.

However, the next time I make the recipe, I’ll deglaze the sheet pan on the stove over heat.  I didn’t like the sauce being cold and while I love garlic, the raw garlic overpowered the dish (true confession, I have great garlic from our CSA and it’s very pungent, but I only used 1 good sized clove).

The other thing missing IMHO was a little acid, so maybe a squirt of lemon in the sauce at the end.

And if I’m being hyper-critical, the olives were good, but a little subtle. Maybe a mix of black and green would pop more.

And, on another note, use a sturdy sheet pan so it doesn’t warp and be prepared to do some serious oven cleaning afterward.

Have you tried this? What did you think?