Last Updated July 6th, 2021 at 10:50 am by Lisa
Sheet Pan Chicken with croutons and small potatoes takes 20 minutes to prep and this entire chicken sheet pan dinner bakes in 50 minutes.
Beautiful to serve for an easy family weeknight dinner or a fun meal prep idea.
The golden brown croutons go perfectly with the tender warm potatoes and lemony chicken...
Why This Recipe Works
- Sheet pan dinners are all the rage because they are a breeze! Simply slice the ingredients, place on a large sheet pan, "toss" to season each chicken piece, and bake.
- Everything you need for dinner is made on one sheet pan with a few ingredients for a fast delicious weeknight family dinner.
- EASY clean up, and one pan to wash.
- This is a "company-worthy" dish full of fresh flavor for any special occasion, and the lemony flavor is incredible.
You Will Need
Baking an entire dinner on one large baking sheet pan. This popular cooking technique will get dinner on the table fast, make fewer dishes to wash up, clean-up easier, and almost everyone has a large sheet pan in their kitchen. Most sheet pan recipes have protein (chicken, steak, or shrimp), vegetables, some fat like olive oil, and seasonings, and roast at high heat until everything is golden brown and cooked at the same time.
Let's Make Dinner!
- Fill a small bowl with cool water and a splash of vinegar, clean the lemons. TIP: The vinegar helps clean fruits and veggies, and leaves no after-taste. Cut each lemon lengthwise into 8 pieces. Place on the large sheet pan.
- Fill a small bowl with cool water and a splash of vinegar, clean the potatoes. Cut small potatoes in half. Place on the large sheet pan.
- Next, slice the baguette bread loaf into 1" pieces and place those onto the sheet pan. Drizzle the oil, salt, and pepper and toss lemons, potatoes, and bread cubes well to combine on the sheet pan. You can also do this in a very large bowl, but that is one more thing to clean. In a small bowl, mix smoked paprika (not hot paprika) and lemon pepper. Next, cut the chicken breasts into 1” cubes, and toss the chicken cubes in the smoked paprika (not hot paprika) and lemon pepper seasoning mix.
- Place chicken pieces on top of lemons, bread, and potatoes. Bake at 400 degrees 25 minutes, then drizzle a little more olive oil and toss again using tongs. Finish baking at 400 degrees for 25 more minutes until the bread is toasted, potatoes are tender, and the chicken is lightly browned and baked.
Sheet Pan Chicken Tips
Chicken:
If you leave the chicken breasts whole, I found it is much harder to get everything to brown nicely and to cook evenly, that is why I used 1" chicken pieces. Cook the chicken till juices run clear, and the internal temperature is 165 degrees.
Serving:
Squeeze a little tangy fresh lemon over the croutons, chicken, and potatoes. You can even eat some of the roasted lemon pulp spread onto the chicken, it is sweet and amazing. Serve with a fresh green salad, and a little homemade herb butter for the potatoes, and dinner is done!
Make-Ahead:
If prepping the sheet pan in the morning, cover well with plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge. Simply remove the plastic wrap, and pop right in the oven at dinner time!
Clean Lemons & Potatoes:
The splash of vinegar in a bowl of water helps clean fruits and vegetables and leaves no after-taste.
Small Potatoes
The best small potatoes for this recipe are:
- Immature Baby Potatoes
- Fingerling Potatoes
- New Potatoes
Baby Potatoes are just that, immature potatoes of larger varieties. They can come in all colors, purple, red, brown, or yellow. You will see them labeled in stores as baby, new or creamer potatoes. The best part is because they are so small, you can cook them whole, whether you roast, boil, or steam them.
Fingerling Potatoes are a special variety of potatoes named because their shape is like a slim finger. You can find them in regular grocery stores, farmer's markets, or high-end markets. I LOVE to put them on the grill with steaks, that recipe will be on Delicious Table one day!
Fingerlings can be boiled, roasted, grilled, or baked because they have thin delicate skin. They taste very close to the regular, mature potatoes we're used to, and they have a firm texture that holds up well to cooking.
New Potatoes are simply the baby version of any potato a farmer grows. In fact, those being sold as "baby" potatoes are the same as new potatoes, or slightly more mature. These are young or immature potatoes that are thinned out early in the season in order to make room for the rest of the potatoes to mature in the fields.
New potatoes have a round oval shape and are about the size of a large walnut or ping-pong ball. They have a slightly sweet delicate flavor with a creamy texture.
Small Potato Storage Tip
Since small potatoes have not had time to harden their skin, they are more perishable than regular potatoes. The best way to store them is in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks, then use them in a recipe.
More Chicken Dinner Ideas
- Oven-Baked Chicken and Rice by Recipe Tin Eats
- 86 Lighting Fast Weeknight Chicken Dinners by Delish
- Creamy Herb Chicken by Cafe Delights
What Readers Are Saying
- "Super easy and delicious! This is a GREAT sheet pan dinner. Thank you, Lisa."
- "This was SO easy to make and such great flavors! Definitely adding this to our meal rotation!"
- "What a quick and delicious one-pan dish! I love making this one on our busy weeknights!"
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Sheet Pan Chicken - One Pan Dinner!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 lemons each cut into 8 pieces lengthwise
- 2 ½ pounds small potatoes fingerling potatoes, or new potatoes (unpeeled)
- ¼ cup good olive oil
- 1 baguette cut into 1” pieces
- 1 teaspoon kosher sea salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
- 2 pounds 3 breasts skinless chicken breast, sliced into 1” pieces
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika (not hot paprika)
- 1 tablespoon lemon pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Fill a small bowl with cool water and a splash of vinegar, clean the lemons. TIP: The vinegar helps clean fruits and veggies, and leaves no after-taste. Cut each lemon lengthwise into 8 pieces. Place on the large sheet pan.
- Fill a small bowl with cool water and a splash of vinegar, clean the potatoes. Cut small potatoes in half. Place on the large sheet pan.
- Next, slice the baguette bread loaf into 1" pieces and place those onto the sheet pan. Drizzle the oil, salt, and pepper and toss lemons, potatoes, and bread cubes well to combine on the sheet pan. You can also do this in a very large bowl, but that is one more thing to clean. In a small bowl, mix smoked paprika (not hot paprika) and lemon pepper. Next, cut the chicken breasts into 1” cubes, and toss the chicken cubes in the paprika and lemon pepper mix.
- Place chicken pieces on top of lemons, bread, and potatoes. Bake at 400 degrees 25 minutes, then drizzle a little more olive oil and toss again using tongs. Finish baking at 400 degrees for 25 more minutes until the bread is toasted, potatoes are tender, and the chicken is lightly browned and baked with the juices running clear and an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
Super easy and delicious! This is a GREAT sheet pan dinner. Thank you, Lisa.
This was SO easy to make and such great flavors! Definitely adding this to our meal rotation!
What a quick and delicious one pan dish! I love making this one on our busy weeknights!