Lemon and Garlic Chicken Tray Bake

Juicy chicken thighs, charred veg and perfectly roasted baby potatoes. This easy lemon and garlic chicken tray bake is bursting with flavour!

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As well as being incredibly simple to throw together, this chicken bake is SO mouth-wateringly good. There’s something about allowing all those flavours to mingle together in one tray that really levels up the deliciousness! Everything here is naturally gluten and dairy free – a combination of juicy chicken thighs, tender roasted red onion and courgette and crisp potatoes, all soaking up tonnes of flavour from the lemon and garlic marinade.

How to make chicken tray bake

5-10 mins of prep is all that’s needed before your wholesome trayful is on its way to the oven. First, veg and lemon are roughly chopped. These are added to the tray along with new potatoes. A little olive oil and seasoning are mixed through, then the chicken thighs are patted dry, sprinkled with salt and pepper and nestled on top. Once you’ve popped the tray in the oven, you can mix up the marinade (this is added a bit later).

What goes in the marinade?

A few simple ingredients go into this tasty mixture:

• Lemon juice
• Crushed garlic
• Olive oil
• Honey
• Veg/chicken stock
• Salt and pepper

Once your tray bake has been roasting away for 20 mins, the marinade can be poured over. Then it’ll need a final 25 mins in oven to get everything lovely and golden brown.

What to serve with lemon and garlic chicken tray bake

This recipe makes the perfect amount for a hearty dinner for two. However, it’ll easily stretch to serve four if you throw in a side or two. Here are some ideas:

• Brown rice (make sure to spoon some more of the marinade from the bottom of the tray over it – delicious!)
• Steamed broccoli or cauliflower
• A fresh green salad
• Warm crusty bread
• Grilled corn on the cob

How to reheat your leftovers

Any leftovers can be covered and kept in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheating is no problem, but make sure to do this only once. You’ll get best results using the oven. Just cover the tray with foil and bake at 160°C for 15-20 minutes, until the chicken is piping hot in the middle.

With this recipe, it’s super easy to swap things out to suit your taste. Chunks of sweet potato or butternut squash could replace the baby potatoes, while carrots, peppers or aubergine would work well instead of the courgette or onion. I find that skin-on chicken thighs are the most juicy and flavourful, but chicken breast fillets or drumsticks are great options too.

Looking for more easy gluten and dairy free dinners?

Why not try:

• Dairy Free Cheese and Tomato Pasta Bake
• Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry
• Mexican Stuffed Aubergines
• Miso & Peanut Noodles With Tofu

If you make this lemon and garlic chicken tray bake, let us know how you got on by leaving a comment and rating below. We also love seeing your foodie snaps on Instagram, where you can tag us @BlueSkyEating. Enjoy! 🙂

Please note that nutritional information is based on estimated quantities and therefore not always 100% accurate.