Incorporate a Roasted Maple Chicken dinner into your routine that is easy and delicious. Crispy chicken over a bed of acorn squash topped with a maple syrup glaze will have everyone asking for seconds.
Around our house, things can get pretty busy at dinner time, so any dinner that I can make in 30 minutes is a God send. With just a couple of ingredients, this maple chicken dinner with acorn squash has made its way to my weeknight rotation.
Crispy chicken thighs are slightly sweetened with maple syrup while they bake. The chicken and maple flavors cook into the acorn squash and carrots in the bottom of the baking dish.
I generally jut bake acorn squash like a potato, stuffed with fruit and nuts as a side dish , as a main course stuffed with sausage. But cooking it with chicken gives it tons of flavor and you have your meat and vegetables all in one pan.
Since acorn squash if full of vitamins and antioxidants, I try to add it in whenever I can. While it’s at the peak in the fall and winter, you can find acorn squash all year round at most groceries.
Why you’ll love it
- This recipe is prepped in just 10 minutes!
- You only need 5 ingredients for an amazing dinner.
- The chicken gives acorn squash a lot of flavor as they cook together.
- It’s a healthy dish that is still full of flavor.
- The slightly sweet taste makes it great to serve over rice or on its own.
What you’ll need
- Chicken thighs– bone in chicken thighs with the skin are needed for this recipe. You can always remove the skin after it’s baked, but leave it on to seal in the juices while it bakes.
- Acorn squash – these can be found in the produce section of the grocery store.
- Pure maple syrup – this is not the same as pancake syrup that has no maple syrup in it. Pure maple syrup will be very thin.
- Carrots & Onions – these will absorb the chicken juices while it bakes.
How to make maple chicken with acorn squash
Step 1:
Salt and pepper the chicken and then brown it for a few minutes in a skillet until the skin is crispy and brown.
Step 2:
Slice the acorn squash and cut the carrots and onions.
Step 3:
Place the vegetables in the bottom of the baking dish and top with browned chicken.
Step 4:
Drizzle maple syrup over the top.
Step 5:
Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until a meat thermometer reaches 170º.
If you want to use boneless skinless chicken thighs, don’t brown the chicken in a skillet, just place it on top of the vegetables and cook for an additional 10 minutes or so.
While this bakes, it develops a delicious broth in the bottom of the pan. Try serving this over rice and pour the extra broth over the rice.
This is such a simple dish, but a healthy and easy dinner to throw together on a busy weeknight that the whole family will enjoy.
FAQs and tips
Acorn squash is at its peak in the fall and early winter, but it is available in the US all year long.
You can eat the skin of acorn squash, it gets very soft in this recipe.
This dish freezes very well. Let it cool first and then store in an air tight container. To re-heat, let it come to room temperature and bake for about 10 minutes at 350º. You can also microwave it but the skin will not be crispy.
MORE weeknight dinners
Maple Chicken with Acorn Squash
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs with bone and skin
- salt and pepper
- 1 acorn squash
- 2 cups carrots diced
- 1 medium onion diced
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450º. Butter a 13 x 9 inch casserole dish.
- Cut acorn squash lengthwise and remove seeds. Cut each half crosswise into ½ inch slices. Place squash, carrots and onion into bottom of prepared pan.
- Add chicken to top of vegetables, skin side down. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and turn chicken so that it is skin side up. Pour maple syrup over the top of the chicken and continue cooking for 25-30 minutes until a thermometer registers 170º and vegetables are tender. Skin should be golden brown.
Barbara’s Tips + Notes
- Don’t use pancake syrup instead of pure maple syrup, it will be way to sweet.
- This works best with chicken thighs with bones and skin. It’s better to remove the skin after its baked so that you have tender chicken thighs.
- You do not need to peel the squash, you can eat the skins.
Nutrition
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