One pot easy baked chicken thighs with smoked paprika, onions, and chickpeas!
Do you ever cook with smoked paprika? It’s one of my favorite spices, reminds me of barbecued potato chips. It’s great with chicken and also perfect with chickpeas.
So for this dish, I decided to marry the two—chicken and chickpeas, all coated with smoked paprika (and some pepper and oregano), and bake them on a bed of sliced onions.
Perfect! Especially for a no-fuss midweek meal.
The chickpeas provide enough starch for the chicken, so there’s no need for rice or potatoes. The dish does need a splash of green, which is ably accomplished by the addition of either chopped cilantro or parsley.
Paprika Chicken with Chickpeas Recipe
- Prep time: 10 minutes
- Cook time: 40 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4 to 6
Feel free to add other spices if you have them on hand, like ground cumin, coriander, even a pinch of cinnamon.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground oregano
- 2 pounds chicken thighs (we used bone-in, skin-on), trimmed of excess fat
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 1 14-ounce can chickpeas, drained
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
Method
1 Coat chicken with spices: Stir together the smoked paprika, salt, garlic powder, pepper, and ground oregano in a large bowl. Place the chicken thighs in the bowl and toss to coat completely with the spices.
You can do this several hours ahead, or right before cooking. Your choice. The longer the chicken sits in the rub, the more the flavors will permeate.
2 Preheat oven to 350°F.
3 Layer a casserole dish with sliced onions: Place the thinly sliced onions in the bottom of a casserole dish large enough to hold the chicken pieces with room in between.
Toss with about 1 teaspoon of the olive oil and spread out in an even layer at the bottom of the dish.
4 Add chickpeas, lemon, oil to chicken: Add drained chickpeas, lemon zest, lemon juice, and remaining olive oil (2 Tbsp minus 1 teaspoon) to the bowl with the chicken and spices.
Toss to coat the chicken evenly with the lemon and oil, and make sure that the chickpeas are coated with the spice mixture as well.
5 Arrange chicken and chickpeas over onion slices: Arrange chicken pieces, skin-side up, on top of the sliced onions in the casserole dish. Arrange the chickpeas between the chicken pieces.
6 Bake: Bake uncovered at 350°F for 40-45 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken thighs is at least 165°F when tested with a meat thermometer, and the top is lightly browned.
Sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro or parsley. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with a side salad.
