This is the kind of weeknight meal I like to pull together, using just a handful of fresh ingredients and relying on my pantry to really amp up the flavors of what I have to hand.
That’s the beauty of this sheet pan Thai roast chicken dish, all cooked up in one pan and then drizzled in a speedy but extra delicious dipping sauce.
I’ll be honest, though. The first few times I made and tested this recipe, I didn’t even make the sauce. It’s a lovely extra touch, but I whipped it up at very short notice on the day I photographed this just to break up how orange all the ingredients are.
Not that there’s anything wrong with sweet potatoes and Thai red curry’d chicken being orange, but, well, let’s just say it was all a bit overwhelming to look at through my camera!
The great thing about this sheet pan Thai roast chicken is that it’s speedy and versatile. Oh, and that it comes with carbs. Yay, carbs.
Here I’ve used some adorable small sweet potatoes cut into wedges, but you could use white sweets or even little potatoes cut into bite size pieces if you like.
The peppers are what I had to hand and I love the sweetness they bring to counterbalance the spicy, but if you wanted this dish less sweet or more green, this is lovely made with cauliflower or broccoli instead.
The trick to getting the skin on the chicken thighs crispy is actually to pop the marinated chicken in, solo, for the first ten minutes of cooking. That helps give it the head start the skin needs to crisp up and brown nicely.
Lastly, I’ve tested this sheet pan Thai roast chicken using boneless, skinless thighs and it works well, although it’s obviously a little less pretty than all that crispy skin of the bone-in version. If you want to make that swap, reduce the total cook time down to 25 – 30 minutes, roasting everything all together from the start.
PrintSheet Pan Thai Roast Chicken with Sweet Potatoes & Cilantro Sauce
Keep this sheet pan Thai roast chicken meal in your weeknight stash: it’s a simple way to jazz up chicken & get a one pan meal on the table, stat.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes (10 of which happen while the chicken is in the oven)
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 45 - 55 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6
- Category: sheet tray
- Method: oven
Ingredients
For the sheet pan Thai roast chicken:
- 3 lbs / 1.3 kg chicken thighs, about 6 – 8 pieces
- 1 tbsp / 15 ml unseasoned rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
- 2 tsp / 8 g coconut sugar, optional, omit for w30
- 2 – 3 tbsp / 30 – 45 ml Thai red curry paste
- 2 tbsp / 30 ml avocado or olive oil
- 2 tbsp / 30 ml fresh lime juice
- 1 tbsp / 15 ml gluten free fish sauce
- 1 tsp / 5 g coarse sea salt
- 1 tsp / 2 g dried Thai basil
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 tsp coarse black pepper
- 1 lb / 454 g sweet potatoes
- 1 medium red onion
- 1/3 lb / 150 g baby sweet peppers, about 8 or so
For the green dipping sauce:
- 1/2 cup / 120 ml dairy free yogurt or coconut cream
- 1/4 cup / 20 g cilantro
- 3 tbsp / 45 ml fresh lime juice
- 1 tbsp / 15 ml no sugar added sunflower butter
- 1 tsp / 5 ml coconut aminos
Instructions
MIX: Preheat the oven to 425 F / 220 C. Measure the rice vinegar into a mixing bowl and sprinkle with the coconut sugar, then let the sugar dissolve into the vinegar while you trim the chicken thighs of any excess fat or skin. Stir the sugar and vinegar mixture together, then add the red curry paste, oil, lime juice, fish sauce, salt, basil, turmeric and black pepper, stirring the marinade ingredients until it makes a smooth paste.
MARINATE: To a second, larger mixing bowl, add the chicken and enough of the marinade paste to stir through and coat the chicken completely. Transfer the coated chicken thighs to a baking sheet. Alternatively, you can store the marinated chicken in the fridge for up to 2 hours before cooking, covered. Reserve the remaining marinade for later.
RENDER: The chicken is going to get a little oven head start here to render out some of the fat in the skin, so pop the baking sheet with only the marinated chicken into the oven and roast for 10 minutes.
CHOP: While the chicken is in the oven, prep the vegetables. Slice the sweet potatoes and red onion into wedges. Chop the baby peppers in half lengthwise, discarding the seeds and stem end. Add all the chopped vegetables into the reserved marinade mixture and toss to coat.
ROAST: Remove the baking sheet from the oven and arrange the marinated vegetables around the chicken on the baking sheet, laying the sweet potatoes down first so that they will brown nicely, then tucking the onions and peppers in the gaps. Return the sheet to the oven and roast until both the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender and caramelized in spots, about 25 – 30 minutes.
REST: Remove the tray from the oven and transfer to a trivet. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes or so while you make the sauce. Season to taste with additional salt.
BLEND: Add all of the dipping sauce ingredients to a wide mouth mason jar and use an immersion blender to process until the sauce is smooth and flecked with cilantro throughout.
SERVE: Divide the chicken and vegetables between plates and drizzle with the dipping sauce or serve on the side as you prefer.
Notes
- I’ve tested this recipe with both bone in, skin on chicken thighs and boneless skinless chicken thighs. Cooking with the skin will give you a richer finished dish, as the chicken skin renders its fat into the sheet pan as it crisps. That said, you’ll leave most of that behind on the sheet pan!
- If you choose to use boneless skinless thighs, reduce the total cook time to 25 – 30 minutes, adding the vegetables to the sheet tray at the same time as the chicken.
- Feel free to use regular basil if you don’t have dried Thai basil.
Make it AIP:
- Swap the regular red Thai curry paste for any one of my nightshade free Thai style curry paste recipes, but increase the amount to 1/4 cup / 60 ml: Nightshade Free Thai Yellow Curry Paste and Nightshade Free Green Thai Curry Paste.
- Swap the baby peppers for a small head of cauliflower or broccoli.
- Use white wine vinegar.
- Omit the black pepper from the marinade & the sunflower butter in the sauce.
