Chicken and Potato Tray Bake with Crispy Kale
By Jude Horak, UC patient. Remission. Dinner.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 45 min
- Total
- 60 min
- Serves
- 4
Kale is the vegetable I was most nervous about. Raw kale salads were a regular lunch before my diagnosis, and the idea of all that tough, fibrous leaf going through an irritated gut was enough to keep it off my list for a long time. Roasting changed my mind. A few minutes in a hot oven with a little oil turns kale into something crisp and light that shatters when you bite it, and the stems, which are the toughest part, get stripped out before it ever hits the pan. The rest of this tray bake is food I trusted much earlier: chicken thighs, potatoes and carrots roasted with lemon and thyme. The trick is staggering the timing so the potatoes get a head start, the chicken goes on when they are half done, and the kale only sees the oven for the last few minutes. One pan, about an hour from start to table with most of it hands off, and it feeds four with leftovers I actually look forward to.
Why it works for UC
Chicken is a lean protein I have never had trouble with, and boneless thighs stay moist in a hot oven where breast would dry out. Potatoes and carrots are both flare-list vegetables when peeled and cooked soft; here the potato skin stays on, which is a small remission step in itself. Kale is the real addition, and it is roasted until crisp rather than served raw, with the stems removed, so the leaf breaks down easily with very little chewing. Olive oil is spread across the whole tray at about two teaspoons per serving, and the seasoning is thyme, lemon and smoked paprika with no onion or garlic.
Ingredient pages: Chicken, Potatoes, Carrots, Kale, Olive Oil
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 6)
- 1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch chunks
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch coins
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 lemon
- 1 bunch lacinato or curly kale (about 6 ounces), stems removed, leaves torn into 2-inch pieces
Method
- 1Heat the oven to 425 F. On a large rimmed sheet pan, toss the potatoes and carrots with 2 tablespoons of the oil, the thyme and 3/4 teaspoon of the salt. Spread them cut side down in a single layer and roast for 15 minutes.
- 2Meanwhile, pat the chicken thighs dry and toss them in a bowl with 2 teaspoons of the oil, the smoked paprika, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, the pepper and the finely grated zest of the lemon.
- 3Pull the pan out, push the vegetables toward the edges, and lay the chicken in the center in a single layer. Return to the oven for 20 minutes, until the thighs read 165 F at the thickest point and the potatoes are golden on the bottom.
- 4While the chicken roasts, put the torn kale in a large bowl with the remaining teaspoon of oil and a small pinch of salt. Massage it with your hands for 30 seconds until the leaves darken and go glossy; this softens them so they crisp instead of just drying out.
- 5Scatter the kale over the whole pan, tucking some between the chicken and potatoes, and roast 5 to 7 minutes more until the edges are crisp and a few tips are browned. Watch it closely; kale goes from crisp to burnt in about a minute.
- 6Rest the pan for 5 minutes, then squeeze the juice of the lemon over everything and serve straight from the tray.
Tips and swaps
- Flare version: peel the potatoes, cut everything smaller so it cooks very soft, leave out the kale and the paprika, and go easy on the oil. Chicken, potato and carrot with lemon and salt was one of the most reliable dinners I had.
- Cut the potatoes evenly. Pieces of mixed sizes mean some are still hard when others are done, and a 1-inch chunk is the size that finishes in the same 40 minutes as the chicken.
- Lacinato kale, the flat dark kind, roasts more evenly than curly kale because it lies flat. Curly kale works but shed leaves on top burn first, so keep it tucked in.
- Bone-in thighs work too; add 10 minutes to the chicken time and put them on the pan at the same time as the potatoes instead of 15 minutes later.
What a serving gives you
A quarter of the tray comes to around 35 grams of protein from the chicken and roughly 6 grams of fiber, from the potato skins, carrots and kale together. Kale brings a lot of vitamin K and vitamin C, and potatoes are one of the better food sources of potassium, which I care about after any stretch of losing fluids. Fat is around 18 grams, mostly the olive oil and the thigh meat, and nothing here is fried.
Questions about this recipe
Is roasted kale really easier to digest than raw kale?
In my experience, yes, and the reasoning is that heat breaks down the tough cell walls that make raw kale so chewy, plus the fibrous stems are removed before cooking. Roasted kale also weighs almost nothing, so a big-looking pile is actually a small portion of leaf. That said, kale is still a high-fiber green and I started with a couple of leaves on my plate rather than a full bunch. If you are unsure, swap in baby spinach for the last 3 minutes instead.
Can I leave the potato skins on, or should I peel them?
Skins stay on in this recipe because potato skin is one of the gentler forms of extra fiber and roasting makes it crisp and thin. It was one of my earlier reintroductions and it went fine. If skins are new for you, or if you have had trouble with them, peel the potatoes and cut them slightly smaller so they still finish on time. The tray bake works either way and nobody at the table will notice the difference.
