Grapefruit and lemon mixed with rosemary and onion create the most AMAZING baked citrus chicken sheet pan meal. You have to try it to believe it!
Baked Citrus Chicken Recipe
This weekend I started trying to think of ways to incorporate grapefruit into my recipes. My mom is always on me to eat more grapefruit in the morning, but it is just too tart for so early in the morning. I figured that I would put it in a dinner recipe for my family so that we can all get more grapefruit in our lives. This Citrus Baked Chicken came out amazing and lovely!
How to Prepare It Ahead of Time
You can save yourself a lot of time by doing all the prep work for it ahead of time. Here’s how to save yourself time on busy nights:
- Pre-Chop the Veggies. Diced the potatoes and onions and keep them in a plastic container. Same for the grapefruit and lemon juice.
- Pre-Make the Marinade. This is a really versatile marinade that you can use on pork, beef, and even veggies on other nights. Make a really large batch and keep it in the refrigerator.
Then all you have to do is coat everything in the marinade, pre-heat the oven and bake it all! Easy!
Baked Citrus Chicken Ingredients
- Chicken thighs
- Chicken Legs
- Grapefruit
- Lemon
- Onion (1/4 of it chopped finely, ¾ of it chunked in bite-size pieces)
- Fennel Bulb, sliced in rings, including fennel fronds, if any
- Rosemary sprigs
- Potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into bite size pieces
- Baby Carrots
- Sweet pepper, de-seeded and chopped into bite-size pieces
- Garlic, minced
- Chili flakes, dried
- Olive Oil
- Seasoned salt to taste, regular salt and pepper
How to Make Baked Citrus Chicken?
This is the easiest one-pan dinner idea you will ever make!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Season chicken pieces with seasoned salt and pepper. Place in a LARGE bowl or Ziplock Bag. You will need a really large bowl or bag because there are a lot of chicken pieces to toss.
Next, prepare the spices, fruits, and veggies.
Remove leaves off of the rosemary sprigs and chop finely. Set aside.
Zest both the lemon and the grapefruit. Squeeze the lemon and reserve the juice.
With a knife, CAREFULLY cut the peel and the pith from the grapefruit, and segment its pieces individually. Set the segments aside.
Then you will toss the chicken in the marinade.
Place the zest, the lemon juice, rosemary sprigs, and any residual juice from the grapefruit into the ziplock bag with the chicken. Add salt, pepper, chili flakes, and garlic. Marinade and combine. Roll and mix the pieces around to ensure they get well coated with the marinade. Set aside.
In another large bowl or separate ziplock bag, place carrots, fennel, onion, potatoes, and sweet pepper together. Add the grapefruit sections and season with salt and pepper.
Add the olive oil in the bowl or ziplock with the vegetables, season with salt and pepper and mix well. Place onto a parchment lined sheet pan.
Finally, it’s time to put them all on the sheet pan.
Nestle the chicken pieces onto the sheet pan around the vegetables. Try to keep it all on one layer. Bake in the oven for approximately 60 minutes or until the chicken is nice and browned.
Can you freeze baked chicken?
Yes, this meal makes a fantastic freezer meal. All you have to do is put it all in a freezer-friendly casserole pan before you bake it. So you toss the raw chicken and veggies in the marinade, then place them in the pan.
Then, cover the pan and label it with the recipe name and date you put it in the freezer.
When you are ready to eat it, just put it in the refrigerator overnight. Then, bake it at 375 degrees F for an hour.
Citrus Baked Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken thighs
- 4 Chicken Legs
- 1 Grapefruit
- 1 Lemon
- 1 Onion 1/4 of it chopped finely, ¾ of it chunked in bite size pieces
- 1 Fennel Bulb sliced in rings, including fennel fronds, if any
- 2 Rosemary sprigs
- 4 Potatoes scrubbed and chopped into bite size pieces
- 3 Cup Baby Carrots
- 1 Sweet pepper de-seeded and chopped into bite size pieces
- 1 tsp Garlic minced
- 1 tsp Chili flakes dried
- ¼ Cup Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Seasoned salt
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F.
- Season chicken pieces with seasoned salt and pepper. Place in a LARGE bowl or Ziplock Bag.
- Remove leaves off of the rosemary sprigs and chop finely. Set aside.
- Zest both the lemon and the grapefruit. Squeeze the lemon and reserve the juice.
- With a knife, CAREFULLY cut the peel and the pith from the grapefruit, and segment its pieces individually. Set the segments aside.?
- Place the zest, the lemon juice, rosemary sprigs, and any residual juice from the grapefruit in a bowl and combine. Add salt, pepper, chili flakes, and garlic. Set aside.
- In another large bowl, place carrots, fennel, onion, potatoes and sweet pepper together. Add the grapefruit sections and season with salt and pepper.
- Add the olive oil in the bowl with the vegetables, season with salt and pepper and mix well. Place onto a parchment lined sheet pan.
- Pour the bowl of zest and rosemary into the bowl holding the chicken pieces. Roll and mix the pieces around to ensure they get well coated with the marinade.
- Nestle the chicken pieces onto the sheet pan around the vegetables. Try to keep it all on one layer. Bake in the oven for approximately 60 minutes or until the chicken is nice and browned.
Video
If you make this Baked Citrus Chicken, be sure to snap a photo and hashtag it #GOLIGHTLYFOOD. I’d love to see what you cook!
More Amazing Chicken Recipes
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I love the idea of citrus and chicken together. Good call.
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