Healthy & Easy Chipotle Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner

Are you looking for a tasty supper meal without much work? Then try my “sheet pan” chipotle chicken and vegetable dinner. It may look like I spent a lot of time in the kitchen getting this meal ready. However, the preparation is very simple. Plus, the colorful menagerie of vegetables, fruit and chicken is nutritious; it is low-fat and full of healthy ingredients. To prepare this meal, I marinated the chicken for a short time to add flavor. Then I layered all the ingredients onto a sheet pan. Everything roasted together. The “secret” ingredient in this meal is a chipotle pepper. This smoky pepper gave this dish a sparky flavor. The entire supper was ready in a jiffy. You can’t go wrong with this healthy meal.

Spring has arrived here in Louisiana and I love to get in the spirit by spending time out-of-doors. Who wants to labor in the kitchen with cooking meals when it is so wonderful outside? I have been working on developing several very simple “sheet pan” dinners where all the ingredients roast together in the oven. This allows me to enjoy a healthy meal while I “chill” in my backyard. My home-cooked dinner tops any meal from a restaurant.

Sheet Pan Ingredients with Endless Variations

The basis for my “sheet pan” dinner is some sort of chicken. I have used boneless chicken thighs, bone-in chicken thighs, chicken quarters, chicken tenders and boneless chicken breasts. For this recipe, I used chicken tenders. The tenders cook in about the same time frame as my other favorite ingredients which allows me to put the sheet pan in the oven and then let things roast away. There are so many ingredient combinations which work well in this recipe along with the chicken; I generally use what is available in my kitchen. Some of my favorites ingredients are broccoli florets, red onions, red peppers, pineapple chunks and cherry tomatoes.

Secret Ingredient — Chipotles or “peppers in adobo sauce” — in the Marinade

This dish definitely is enhanced when the chicken is marinated in spicy or savory seasonings. For this recipe, I used seasonings which give a southwestern or Tex-Mexican flair. These ingredients include oil, lime juice, oregano, thyme, salt, garlic, pepper, ground ancho chile and chipotles in adobo sauce.

The “secret” ingredient in the marinade is chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. The chipotle and sauce gives this chicken a nice flavor and a little “bite.”

A chipotle pepper is simply a jalapeño pepper which has been smoked. The smoked peppers are packed in adobo sauce. This sauce is a marinade of tomatoes, chiles, garlic, vinegar, and spices.

Only two peppers are plenty for this (or any) recipe, so this can will last for many dishes — store in refrigerator.

Making the Recipe

To make the recipe, today I am using boneless chicken tenders. However, a chewy tendon goes down the length of the chicken tenders. I like to remove this tendon with a small knife. Cut into the chicken tender along the side of the tendon. Then scrape down the side of the tender to strip and remove the tendon.

Get the chipotles ready. For this recipe, puree two of the chipotle peppers plus sauce in a small food chopper or food processor, or mince by hand. And, if I’m out of chipotle peppers, that’s okay. The ground ancho chile give flavor. In that case, I’ll usually add paprika and red pepper flakes to the marinade.

To finish the marinade, blend the spices together and combine with the other marinade ingredients. Pour over the chicken and stir everything to combine well. Let this marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes (or longer).

While the chicken marinates, get the other ingredients ready — peel and slice the red onion, slice the red pepper. I used frozen broccoli florets. Remove these from freezer. (They defrost quickly.) Drain the pineapple. Why pineapple? I just like this ingredient.

Arrange prepared ingredients on a baking sheet lined with foil. Drizzle on canola or olive oil and sprinkle on salt and pepper. Add the marinated chicken tenders.

I made this recipe today again, substituting in other ingredients. This time my vegetable mixture included small potato chunks, whole green beans and jalapeño pepper slices. (Plus, I added cherry tomatoes, onion slices and pineapple chunks in the second half of roasting.)

Roast either version of the the sheet pan mixture at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. While the supper is roasting, boil long grain rice. (This takes about 30 minutes, so the supper is done at the same time.)

Hurry! Supper is ready to be served. Add a few more cherry tomatoes for garnish as well as parsley.

The second time I prepared this dinner, I included potato chunks instead of the rice and whole green beans in place of the broccoli. This is a flexible meal!

I really enjoy this easy-to-prepare “sheet pan” dinner. Not alot of fuss is involved after all the ingredients are prepped. Just place the marinated chicken and vegetables & fruits onto a sheet pan. Drizzle with oil, salt and pepper. Roast. Plus, this dinner is low-fat and full of nutritious vegetables. It is an easy and healthy meal!

And, you can go in may different flavor directions addition to Tex-Mexican. Give the dish a Cajun twist by adding Creole seasoning rather than the Chipotle peppers and lemon juice rather than lime juice. Yum!

Yes, spring has arrived here in Louisiana. Time to get out of the kitchen and get into the out-of-doors for a few months before the heat arrives.

Here’s my March azalea photo. The blossoms lighten up the world every spring and they were especially brilliant this year.