Bacon Apple Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Brussels

This delicious Bacon Apple Chicken is the perfect fall dinner recipe. The bacon and chicken are crisped on your stove top then everything gets nestled into a baking dish and roasted together. It's a healthy and easy to make recipe that is bursting with flavor. It's also gluten-free + paleo + Whole30 compliant.

Are one pan chicken dinners the best or are they the best? Yep, they're the best, all the way. This bacon apple chicken wonder we have here today is all things fall and all things delicious. Insert big smiley faced emojis.

Do you see all those beauties nestled in there together? The colors! The taste! The everything! They are so meant for each other.

After you quick pan-fry the bacon and onions together you're going to crisp that chicken skin. ← LOVE crispy chicken skin! It's half the reason I eat chicken.

Then you're going to tuck everything into a pan and pop it in your oven. And by everything I mean sweet potatoes, apples, pecans, Brussels sprouts, and the delicious bacon and onions you fried and the crispy skinned chicken. All of it together in one happy place.

When you come back to your kitchen a half hour later, dinner will be waiting for you.

This bacon apple chicken recipe has all my favorite fall flavors. I'm a sucker for things like Brussels sprouts, apples, and sweet potatoes. And pecans are my FAVORITE. Seriously though, aren't they the best nut ever?

I know that it might seem a bit strange to put pecans in here. The look on my handsome man's face was all sorts of concerned when I mixed the pecans into the veggies. I had to reassure him (and reassure you now) that they totally work. They soften while cooking so they're not crunchy, but they add so much flavor to the dish. Definitely, don't leave them out!

It's really amazing how well all of the flavors here blend together. I'd felt a little bad about making this for dinner. I mean, I LOVE everything in here, but my handsome man's three least favorite foods are sweet potatoes, Brussels, and chicken. He gave me a look that was contemplating ordering delivery when I told him what I was making.

But when it came to dinnertime, he went back for seconds. A second helping of Brussels sprouts is a damn good sign, my friends!

This recipe was born when I was having a big craving for some sweet and sticky chicken. Even though I wasn't technically on The Whole30 Program, I was trying to eat that way most of the time. I cut out sugar, grains, and dairy completely. I allowed myself a glass of red wine with dinner because that's the thing I miss the most when I've done the Whole30.

Since sugar (of all kinds) is out, I knew I'd have to get creative. While this isn't sweet and sticky chicken, the sweet potatoes, apples, and caramelized onions added enough sweetness to curb my craving. Bonus that it's not the almost cloying sweetness that sticky chicken can often be. (Truth: I kinda like that almost too sweet factor. Please don't tell anyone. #SoNotSophisticated)

But back to this Bacon Apple Chicken amazingness. Can you please promise me you'll put it on your menu this fall? I know you're going to be happy you did!

If you love this One Pan Bacon Apple Chicken as much as I do, don't forget to give it a 5-star rating in the comments below!

One Pan Bacon Apple Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

• Author: Kristen Stevens | The Endless Meal

★★★★★

5 from 7 reviews

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Ingredients

• 4 slices of bacon, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 chicken bone in thighs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
• A generous pinch of cayenne
• 1 medium sweet potato (about 1 lb.) diced
• 1/2 lb Brussels sprouts, halved or quartered, depending on size
• 1 apple, cored and chopped
• 1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped (see notes)

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Instructions

1. Turn your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the fat releases. Add the onion to the pan and continue to cook until the onion is soft and the bacon starting to crisp.
3. While the bacon and onions are cooking, prepare the sweet potato, Brussels, apple, and pecans and add them to a casserole dish. Season with 1 teaspoon of the sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, and the cayenne. When the bacon and onions are finished cooking, add them to the casserole and mix everything together.
4. Add the chicken, skin side up, to the pan you used to cook the bacon. (Don't remove the fat from the pan.) Sprinkle the chicken skin with remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. After 5 mins, flip the chicken over and cook until the skin is brown and crispy.
5. Place the chicken on top of the veggies. For a richer dish, you can pour the oil from the pan over the top of the veggies. Roast in the oven for 35 minutes.

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Notes

If your pecans are not toasted, put them on a baking sheet in your oven while it is warming up. They will take 5-6 minutes at temperature to toast, a little longer if the oven is still heating.