Sheet Pan Roast Chicken and Cabbage
Author Notes: Inspired by the flavors in this baked tofu and coconut kale, this sheet pan supper comes together quickly. Staggering the entry and exit of the chicken and cabbage allows each to cook fully and brown nicely. —Alexandra Stafford
Serves 6 to 8
- 1 teaspoon neutral oil, for greasing
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil or olive oil
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar (or other)
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha, optional
- 8 pieces bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs or drumsticks
- kosher salt and pepper to taste
- 1 head cabbage, 2 to 3 lbs.
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Pour a teaspoon of neutral oil over a rimmed sheet pan. Rub to coat.
- In a small bowl, stir together the sesame oil, coconut oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sriracha, if using. Place chicken in a large bowl. Season all over with salt and pepper. Pour ¼ cup of the prepared mixture over the chicken and let marinate while the oven preheats. (Chicken can marinate longer, too, but try, if time permits, to bring it to room temperature before cooking—the coconut oil will solidify in the fridge and look clumpy, which is fine.)
- Cut the cabbage in half through the core. Cut again through each core and repeat this process until you are left with many wedges, no greater than 1-inch wide. Place the wedges in a large bowl, season all over with salt and pepper, and toss with the remaining dressing.
- Place chicken on prepared sheet pan spreading it out evenly. Roast for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven, and nestle cabbage wedges all around the pieces, tucking it under if necessary—it will feel like a lot of cabbage. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes more or until chicken is golden and cooked through. Remove pan from oven, transfer chicken to a platter to rest. Return cabbage to the oven to roast for 10 to 15 minutes more, or until juices have reduced and edges of cabbage wedges are caramelized.
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
More Great Recipes:
Cabbage|Entrees|Vegetables|Chicken|Chicken Thighs
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15 days ago shoresdiver
Has anyone tried this with chicken wings? I have done it with the legs as described, and it is truly wonderful, but I wanted to have something a bit more "finger food-ish" for a party.
15 days ago Lisa
I did. It works well.
When it is all done, I put chicken wing back under broil for few minutes under until skin are crispy and caramelized.
29 days ago Jim Mohan
Made this tonight with a whole, cut-up chicken (4 piece cut). Very delicious, so much flavor for something so simple and healthy.
29 days ago Alexandra Stafford
So happy to hear this, Jim! Thanks for writing in.
about 2 months ago Sharon Marie Cutri
Double the marinade and save to cook cabbage as a side dish for pork--yum!
about 2 months ago Cecile
Good idea to double the marinade.
about 2 months ago Alexandra Stafford
Yum!
2 months ago Basil and Roses
Hi Alexandra, loved this recipe! I just make the connection with Alexandra's kitchen and this recipe which I made a little while ago. I made it along with my Green Garden Herby Basmati Rice (which Food52 kindly featured :) and it was wonderful. My family loved the flavors and have repeatedly asked me to make it again. I used skinless boneless chicken thighs and they worked nicely. After making this recipe, I was also encouraged to use cabbage more, which was a vegetable I didn't use that often so thanks for that too.
https://basilandroses.com...
4 months ago Anne Murphy
This was absolutely delicious. Could not have been any easier. I used boneless/skinless thighs and kept cooking time the same. Chicken came out moist and delicious. Next time I'll add more cabbage - it was soooooo good.
4 months ago Alexandra Stafford
So happy to hear this, Anne! I love the cabbage, too :)
5 months ago vanda hembree
TOTALLY DELICIOUS!! I modified this recipe to allow for more thighs by using a sheet pan for the thighs and a cast iron skillet for the cabbage. I also made a happy mistake in calculating the cook time (50 minutes total cook time for the thighs). This was an amazing and delicious dinner. My family couldn't stop telling me how good it was. We will definitely be making this again and again.
5 months ago Alexandra Stafford
Fantastic! Thanks for writing in.
5 months ago Donna Sabbatani
OMG! I made this last night, and it was exactly as described in terms of not having to pay attention to the process. I followed the suggested amounts and cooking times, and the result was perfect. The chicken was deliciously, brown and succulent, and the carmelized cabbage is my now favorite way to eat cabbage - forever! Thank you. I can't wait to make it again.
5 months ago Alexandra Stafford
Yay!! So happy to hear this!
5 months ago Marcie
Since I used 8 large thighs and a 3lb cabbage, and some comments suggested using more sauce, I doubled the sauce. One of my few culinary fails. The whole pan was swimming in grease like about 3/8ths inch. The cabbage refused to brown even with 30 minutes after the chicken was removed, and was nearly inedible due to the dripping grease, even though I drained it. The grease overwhelmed the aluminum foil and burnt on, ruining the sheet pan. There was way more fat thank the extra quarter cup.
Could this be because I used premium chicken thighs, which tend to be fattier? I removed excess fat first, perhaps I needed to drain the pan after removing the chicken?
5 months ago Donna Frescura
Perhaps not doubling the marinade recipe would be a better idea. Too much liquid in your pan and the fat naturally rose to the top therefore everything was swimming in it.im making it tonight- I've done something similar with an Italian flavor profile- and fennel instead of cabbage. I test recipes frequently I'll update with my results
5 months ago Lauren Hayden
Can anyone weigh in on using red wine vinegar as a sub for the rice vinegar in this recipe? (By the way, my entire family loves this recipe -- I'm a recent convert after having it at my parents' place and I'm dying to make it for myself.)
5 months ago Rhonda35
It works out fine - I use whatever vinegar I have.
6 months ago Nancy Zoll
Made this last night, but bought cauliflower instead of cabbage by mistake!😣. Still quite good, but a little to white/brown!😆
Made with boneless and skinless thighs which were nice. Next time will be using low sodium soy and trying more colorful
veggies and some herbs. Cooked at 415* conv.bake for the 30 min.....Perfect!
6 months ago btglenn
Cabbage may be awesome, but try it with Yukon golds and cut up carrots using olive oil, a shot of sriracha and a sprinkling of rosemary -- heavenly!
6 months ago Glenn
Genius suggestion!
6 months ago Carey Letts
The first time I tried this recipe I really enjoyed it and super easy. The next time I tried it, I did just the chicken with the marinade, and used skinless/boneless thighs for ease and served it with the suspiciously delicious cabbage recipe from this site and WOW! I was a very happy girl after that meal!
6 months ago rhonda.m
Gotta tells us which cabbage recipe!
6 months ago Carey Letts
The recipe is actually called "Suspiciously Delicious Cabbage".
6 months ago ECMotherwell
Delicious! And, although I KNOW it would be far superior with bone-in thighs, I must admit that we did it with boneless chicken tenders (adjusting the cooking time, of course) and it was still awesome. Served it all with rice, a total hit with the whole family. And so wonderfully easy!
6 months ago Alexandra Stafford
So happy to hear this!! Glad to hear you could adjust the timing for tenders and make it work.
6 months ago Glenn
Thank You for Your confession!
6 months ago Tarragon
Can you help me adapt this to using with either 2 bone-in chicken breasts, or 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts?
6 months ago Alexandra Stafford
I think you'll keep the timing about the same — I would just cook the chicken for less time. You'll have to keep an eye on it and it may take a little bit of trial and error, but it should work just fine.
7 months ago Cecile
Yummy. A hit with my husband. Will put it in rotation because it is so easy. If I can figure out a way to use more cabbage on a half sheet (my ovens are only 17.5" wide) I will. I inhaled the carmelized cabbage which leaves little for the rest of the chicken piece servings.
7 months ago Rhonda35
Use two sheet pans, one on each of two racks in the oven. Switch racks halfway through.
7 months ago Alexandra Stafford
Thank you, Rhonda, for your thoughts, here!
Cecile, I hear you — the cabbage is my favorite part.
7 months ago Cecile
Thanks!
7 months ago Millie Jenkins
I've been doing sheet-pan chicken for a few years now, either chicken parts or a whole chicken that I spatchcock (or sometimes cut it in half). Really good! My question: Does the cabbage become tender or does it get crunchy? I'm cooking for someone who needs vegs to be cooked very soft.
7 months ago karencooks
The cabbage toward the center of the pan was very soft and tender, but the edges were crunchy and delicious! Something for everyone!!!
7 months ago Alexandra Stafford
Thank you, Karen! My thoughts exactly :)
7 months ago ladyh
This was oh so good! Other than the unease of breaking down a whole chicken for the first time (and likely the last, I'm embarassed to admit I got really faint and had to call in my girlfriend for reinforcement), this was easy and especially delicious because of the ease! I used a mixture of (mangled) thighs, wings and drumsticks and a fairly small cabbage. I had less meat and cabbage than the recipe called for but made the same amount of sauce and I'm happy with that decision! Next time I might double the sauce and serve everything over rice. And though I am extremely wimpy about spice, I didn't find the Sriracha to be more than a pleasant flavor in the background.
Alexandra, your recipes have never led me wrong. You're the cream of the crop for food writing.
7 months ago Alexandra Stafford
Ladyh you are too kind! Thank you, means so much to hear this :)
I agree — the Sriracha is surprisingly mild in the end. LOVE the idea of doubling the sauce and serving with rice.
And good for you for going through the effort of breaking down a whole chicken! There was a period when I was adamant about only buying whole chickens because you can so much more out of them by way of the carcass, which you can use to make stock. I've gotten lazier in recent years, and I now buy cut-up chicken all the time, but I'd love to get back to my whole-chicken phase. Here's a video to help with the chopping if you decide to give it a go again: https://youtu.be/jr8ECSz...
7 months ago karencooks
A delicious and easy recipe that will be made again and again. I made it using olive oil, and exactly as written, and the chicken thighs were nice and crispy, no need to broil. I love good sheet pan dinner recipes and this is one of them!
7 months ago Alexandra Stafford
So happy to hear this, Karen!
8 months ago Sherrywine
Melted the coconut oil but when I put the marinade on the chicken it congealed. So it didn't really marinate. Think I will use olive oil next time.
7 months ago Alexandra Stafford
This does happen, unfortunately, in the cold — if the chicken is cold, if you marinate in the fridge, etc. Olive oil works great as well. If you use the coconut oil again, just know that it's OK if it congeals, and it's OK if it doesn't really marinate — the more and more I read about marinating, especially chicken, the less important it seems. The biggest advantage of it it seems is that it's something you can do ahead of time to save time. Hope you give the olive oil a go!
about 1 month ago Millie Jenkins
So chicken doesn't end up more tender or more flavorful if it's been marinated? Does this mean there's no point to adding a marinade, or does it add flavor but there's no benefit to adding it in advance?
8 months ago Lisa
This wonderful dish became weekly dish for my family. Not only because everyone loves it. Also all ingredients are simple and readily available in my pantry. I made it just like the recipe. I also have modified it. I use all organic produce and organic skinless boneless chicken thighs. It never fail. Lately I have been using red cabbage which gives a sweet undertone. I added some cauliflower florets which added contrast color and texture to the dish and cauliflower bakes the same time as cabbage. I finish it up with cilantro leaves. It is delicious and beautiful dish. Thank you for this well thought and worked out recipe!
7 months ago Alexandra Stafford
So happy to read all of this, Lisa!! Love the sound of all of your modifications.
Showing 45 out of 101 comments