Sheet-Pan Chicken With Zucchini and Basil

Instead of pouring the olive oil/seasoning mix over the chicken and zucchini on the sheet pan, why not just dump the chicken and zucchini in the bowl to toss. It's a lot easier and neater to toss in a bowl then turn out onto the sheet pan.

My wife won’t eat thighs, would bone-in breasts work as well if pulled out early and kept warm until the Zucchini gets caramelized?

Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature paper burns. :-) Thanks Ray Bradbury.

@Jim: Of course breast can substitute for thighs (though they're less forgiving than thighs because of their lower fat content. As you point out correctly, you have to pull them out earlier. Also, a trick that Jacques Pepin uses when roasting whole chicken is to sneak some butter under the breast skin: unless the skin is already quite fatty, butter might help here.

When the note calls to “toss” once on the sheet pan, I prefer to toss said ingredients in a bowl and then, spread out on the sheet.

Melissa lives in a small apartment, with a very cramped kitchen, in NYC. Those of us with room for those extra bowls should just consider ourselves lucky and cease all the negativity.

For chicken breasts (and for thighs), brine them: this keeps them moist and more forgiving regarding the cooking time. You can do a dry brine on the chicken with just salt, for 30 minutes, in the fridge; then proceed with the recipe. You can do any prep work during that time. You'll never go back to un-brined chicken.

Used boneless skinless thighs and cooked for 30 mins.

Chicken thighs exude a lot of water and fat. If you like your zucchini soggy and greasy, fine. I get better results by seasoning the chicken for an hour or so with an oil/spice/s8p rub - no garlic; then browning it in a cast-iron skillet; then roasting with a lot of whole garlic cloves for 15 -20 minutes. Remove chicken and garlic from pan, pour out most of the fat, fry zucchini until golden crisp. Return chicken to pan to warm, garnish with basil and lemon zest.

Am not sure where the reference to parchment paper came from as it is not mentioned in the recipe. Furthermore, why would you use parchment paper for a recipe like this? I agree with the idea of mixing the garlic, spice,oil, etc. mixture in a large bowl and tossing the chicken and zucchini before putting onto the baking sheet. I also lined the baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil to make clean-up a breeze. I also tossed in a couple Yukon gold potatoes cut up in 1 inch chunks to it.

I agree with others here, I've never understood "toss everything together on the sheet pan". If you toss everything in a separate bowl, you can actually cut down on the oil needed as well. Toss, toss, toss makes a little oil go a long way.

Did anyone like this recipe? Only critical comments as far as I can see. What did it taste like? Ms Clark’s recipes are always very tasty. We’ll be doing this one very soon!

This was fantastic. As other cooks mentioned, definitely toss the chicken and zucchini in a bowl before you put it on the pan. I also like to put my (empty) pan in the oven while it preheats. I did sprinkle a little baking soda on the skin while I prepped everything else and I do think it made them crispier than they otherwise would have been.

Many are complaining about soggy zucchini. Those comments are great, because that's why these cooking notes exist. Let's problem solve: One person mentioned that the instructions say to cut it in large pieces. Maybe larger than 1 inch would be even better. Another suggested salting to draw out water. Or maybe add the zucchini after 10 or 15 minutes, if you prefer it cooked less. Don't toss the recipe because it's not perfect!

Because that is one less bowl you have dirtied ....