This one-pan lemon roast chicken and asparagus (with potatoes!) is the ultimate sheet pan dinner. It’s lemony, it’s garlic-y, it’s healthy and a breeze to make. Perfectly quick for weeknights and delicious enough for weekend entertaining. Everything in a pan and the oven takes care of the rest!
This chicken and asparagus dinner is essentially the best sheet pan dinner that you’ll make this week. But there are a few things that you should know about making this.
Chicken & Asparagus Sheet Pan Dinner Top Tips
- If you want a meat with more flavor, you can use chicken thighs.
- If asparagus is out of season, you can use green beans, tenderstem broccoli or just about any other vegetable you want.
- Squeeze the roasted lemons straight into the pan and mix with the roasting juices to create the easiest pan sauce ever.
- To keep the chicken moist while roasting (if it’s getting too dark) you can place a piece of damp baking paper over the chicken for the last few minutes.
This chicken and asparagus bake is also completely doable in foil packets. If that’s the way you want to go, then there are some steps that you should take.
To make lemon chicken and asparagus in a foil packet
- For the potatoes, slice them thinly, then place them on a large piece of foil. Drizzle with some olive oil and add the herbs.
- Loosely wrap the foil and place in the oven or on the grill for about 10 minutes to give the potatoes a head start.
- Either use boneless skinless chicken breasts or take the skin off the chicken breasts. *You definitely want to get rid of the skin if you cook these in foil. The skin won’t brown and crisp when it’s covered, so you’ll end up with pale, soggy skin. Use skinless chicken!
- Use a mallet or a rolling pin to flatten the chicken so it cooks faster.
- Carefully unfold the foil with the potatoes, avoiding any steam, and wrap the chicken and asparagus with the herbs and lemon.
If you are going to make this for entertaining this would be awesome being baked in a ceramic baking dish like this one. That way you can just put it down in the center of the table and let everyone help themselves. Just make sure you put a pot holder down first!
Other than that, this stunning sheet pan dinner will be in heavy rotation all year long!
THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING AND COOKING ALONG WITH ME! IF YOU MAKE THESE BARS OR HAVE A QUESTION, I’D LOVE IT IF YOU LEFT A COMMENT AND A RATING. YOU CAN ALSO FOLLOW ALONG ON PINTEREST, FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM TO SEE WHAT WE’RE EATING, PINNING AND A LITTLE BEHIND THE SCENES TOO!
One Pan Lemon Roast Chicken and Asparagus
One Pan Lemon Roast Chicken and Asparagus with roasted lemon pepper potatoes. This is the one pan wonder dinner, of your busy Friday night dreams. Dinner goals, guys!
Ingredients
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 180c. In a small bowl combine the olive oil, grated garlic, lemon zest, honey and dried herbs. Spread the marinade over the chicken and leave to sit while you prep the potatoes.
To prepare the potatoes, slice the new potatoes in half lengthwise. This makes them thinner than if you cut them width wise and they will cook faster. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Scatter with some thyme sprigs and place in the oven for about 10 minutes.
*see notes
When your ten minutes is up, add the chicken to the pan and place the lemon slices on top. Put the tray back in the oven for another 20 minutes.
For the final 10 minutes of cooking add your asparagus to the roasting pan. Drizzle with some more olive oil and salt and pepper. Place back in the oven for the last 10 minutes.
Serve dinner right from the pan.
Recipe Notes
Note 1. It's a good idea to give the potatoes a head start on cooking to make sure that they're ready when the chicken is done.
Note 2. If substituting the asparagus for carrots or another dense vegetable either slice them thinly and add as you do the asparagus, or add them with the potatoes if keeping them thicker.
This looks amazing Debs – loving the feel of the new website too! This is all fantastic.
my family is not big on asparagus, is it possible to sub green beans and/or carrots? would I cook them the same way?
You can totally use green beans or carrots. If you want to use carrots then put them in the same as the asparagus. If you want to use green beans, then add them in the last 10 minutes of cooking time so that they don’t get overdone. 🙂
If we wer to use carrots you suggested we should put them in the “same as the asparagus” so in the last 10 mins of cooking as per the recipe instructions???
Hey Serina. If the carrots are thin carrots like the skinny ones with the tops still on then, yes, they should only take about 10 -12 minutes to cook. If they are thicker carrots then they’ll take longer. Probably about 20 minutes. If you’re in a rush then you could cut larger carrots into smaller batons to roast more quickly.
Hello! The ingredients list mentions the juice of 1/2 a lemon, and sliced lemon, but I’m not sure where/when to use them? They are not mentioned in the instructions. Thank you!
You can add them before they go in to the oven so that the lemon slices roast with the chicken.
That’s just what I was wondering too! Thank you!
Absolutely loved this recipe! It’s going to be a new family favourite for sure. Have already made it twice this week. So simple and delicious. Thank you!
Made this last night and it was a big hit with the family. Since I didn’t know what to do with the juice of 1/2 the lemon, I added it to the marinade and it was great.
Ah Erin that’s awesome! This is one of my favourite recipes of all time. So happy that your family loved it too!
I feel like the measurements on this are all out of whack, 4 tablespoons of dried herbs to 1/2 a squeezed lemon? That’s one hell of a dry rub.
Are they meant to be teaspoon quantities?
Also, lemon size varies drastically! I’d suggest using a measurement that isn’t so subjective. I zested two lemons and that was a hell of a lot!
Hey Joseph. Thanks for the comment. I think you missed the second line of the instructions that say to add the herbs, lemon juice and honey together WITH the olive oil and mix. If you missed the oil out, then yep, that would be dry. As for the zest of 2 lemons being too much for you, that is subjective. Most of my readers like their food with a lot of attitude and have a pretty heavy hand when it comes to the lemon and garlic. But recipes really are a great starting point for you to put your own spin on a dish. Not a fan of all that lemon? Try using orange zest, or a mix of lemon and lime. Anyway, hope you give this dish another chance and add the oil to the herbs. It will get you the result that you’re after.
Thanks for this! Such a great meal! I featured it on my latest meal plan, check it out: https://www.mictomacro.com/blog/2018/2/26/weekly-meal-plan-spring-stalks
Hi Debs,
Delicious recipe and wonderful photography as always. I’ve tried this recipe 3 to 4 times, and it came out delicious every time.
I recently featured your recipe 1st in my 30 Low-Calorie Recipes article. Herbexcel.com/low-calorie-dinner-recipes
Thanks and keep up the Great work
Isabel
Thanks so much Isabel! It’s a great list of recipes. Thanks for including me!
hi debs! im not sure if my comment was posted so i’ll be asking you again. Will the recipe taste different if i remove Herbes de Provence? I cant find this herb in our local groceries here in the Philippines. thank you!!
Hey Cha. You can absolutely skip the herbs de Provence. The recipe will be different, but what you can do is use any dried green herb you have on hand. Something like oregano or rosemary will work just fine. And yes, you can absolutely use fresh basil. If you’re only using fresh herbs that will be fine too. If you mix it in with the lemon juice just like the herbs de Provence that will be perfect. Fresh herbs aren’t as potent,flavor-wise as dried, so you may want to double the amount of herbs you use if you are going with fresh. But that will taste absolutely amazing! Enjoy!
can i also use fresh basil and not dried?
how do you get such roasted color on the chicken at 350 deg. in 20 Minutes?
You need to get chicken with the skin on and make sure that you drizzle the skin with the olive oil and honey mixture. The sugars in the honey are what help it color quickly. Sugars cook very fast. Put the chicken into a preheated oven in the upper half and roast for 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your chicken breast and how long it will take to cook.
What is the benefit of grated garlic compared to chopped? Not much of a cook but would love to try this dish. You also mentioned in a previous comment that you could use orange. Is this instead of the lemon?
Thanks.
Hi Laura! I personally like grated because it just means that the garlic is finer and you won’t have any larger pieces of garlic. If you’ve got chopped that is absolutely fine too. The result of the dish will be the same. It’s just personal preference. And yes. You can use orange juice in place of the lemon, just know that the dish will be sweeter. Absolutely delicious, but it won’t have that zingy bite that you get from the lemon. Enjoy!