Sheet Pan Chicken with Orange and Fennel

In this one-pan dish, we’re baking chicken pieces in an orange sauce on a bed of fennel. So easy, nutritious and delicious!

Who doesn’t love an easy dinner like this Sheet Pan Chicken with Orange and Fennel? There’s practically no clean-up! With its tart citrus-y/sweet fennel flavor, this dish will help shake you out of your usual “chicken rut.” We both liked it as a tasty change of pace and will definitely be adding it to our dinner rotation.

Why you’ll want to make this recipe

• It’s an easy sheet pan dish with minimal clean-up.
• There are only seven ingredients and no fancy cooking skills needed.
• It’s a convenient “make ahead” meal: Marinate it on day one and bake it on day two. Or if you’re short on time, one hour in the marinade works, too.
• Fennel is low in fat and calories but high in antioxidants, which have many health benefits. It also contains important nutrients like vitamin C, calcium and potassium.
• The active prep time is about 20 minutes.
• It’s easy to get creative with the recipe and add other fruits and vegetables (see ideas below).
• Sheet Pan Chicken with Orange and Fennel has a deliciously subtle flavor that your whole family will gobble up.

Notes on key ingredients

• Chicken: The original recipe calls for chicken thighs with bone-in and skin-on, which I plan to use next time. For my test recipe, I used large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half and pounded thin. I found they dried out a little, however, possibly due to overcooking or pounding them too thin. I recommend sticking with the recipe shared below — using bone-in thighs (and/or drumsticks), which should make for a juicier dish.
  
• Seville Oranges: A cross between a pomelo and mandarin, sevilles are bitter/sour and typically used for their zest and juice instead of as an eating orange. I’ve never seen them in our grocery store and decided not to go on a hunt. You can easily substitute regular oranges combined with lemon juice to get that slightly tart taste, which is a signature of the dish.
  
• Fennel: The recipe calls for two large fennel bulbs, but you can get away with less. Fennel has a light, licorice-like (anise) flavor that mellows out when cooked. Remove the fronds and reserve them as a garnish at the end, if you wish.
  
• Fennel Seeds: The anise flavor is a little more intense in the seeds, which you’ll find in the spice aisle. They also have many of the same nutritional benefits as the plant.

Yum! Another recipe with fennel

Baked Haddock with Fennel-Cauliflower Puree

Make the recipe your own

It’s simple to get creative with this recipe by adding different vegetables, fruits or spices. Keep in mind, you might need to increase the marinade ingredients. Here are a few ideas:

• Add a sliced tart apple, such as Granny Smith
• Add chopped yellow onion
• Try it with unpeeled potatoes, cut in small uniform pieces
• Use chopped garlic
• Substitute fresh chopped sage (or dried sage) for the Herbs de Provence
• Try it with fresh sprigs of rosemary

Hey there! Did you try this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and let us know how you liked it.

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