Roast Chicken Traybake with Shallots & Wild Garlic Pesto is quick & easy to put together & pop in the oven! Perfect, low-effort dinner with bags of flavour! Add couple of tasty sides of your choice and dinner is served! Fantastic use for wild garlic or any pesto!
Few tips for making successful Roast Chicken Traybake with Shallots & Wild Garlic Pesto!
There really isn't much to this one-pan dish at all with its quick prep time and very few ingredients! One thing to bare in mind is that the longer you marinade your chicken the tastier it will be. If you can pre-plan this dinner to the point that you pop your chicken in a bowl with some pesto and olive oil first thing in the morning and then get on with your day, the marinade will have a lot of time to really permeate through the meat! On the other hand if hour is all you've got for marinating, then by all means go for it! With only 45 minutes roasting time this delicious traybake is perfect not only as an alternative to full Sunday roast but also as a midweek meal!
Feel free to remove the skin from your chicken pieces prior to marinating them for a leaner option!
If you don't have wild garlic pesto, simply substitute it for whichever type you've got to hand whether it's homemade or store-bought it really doesn't matter. However if you fancy giving homemade pesto a whirl (even without wild garlic) you will find some how-to tips in my Wild Garlic & Walnut Pesto recipe.
What to serve this Roast Chicken Traybake with?
Feel free to serve this finger lickin' good chicken with your choice of sides. I love simple sautéed potatoes and Easy Grated Carrot Salad. Oh and don't forget some pesto mayonnaise on the side which is a simple mix of whatever pesto you're using and some good old mayo. It takes seconds to make and it's perfect for dipping both chicken and tatties in!
This Creamy Summer Coleslaw would also work well here. Or how about taking the chicken off the bone, shredding or slicing it and popping it in this delicious flat bread with a bit of salad and a dollop of wild garlic hummus?
Alternatively, try it with a side of Aubergine, Tomato & Mozzarella Bake, soo good!
How to store and what can I do with roast chicken leftovers?
Roast chicken pieces can be stored 3-4 days in the fridge or frozen for up to 3 months. You can freeze roast chicken pieces as they are or take them off the bone and freeze the meat only. Defrost in the fridge overnight and reheat in the microwave or oven until warmed through or serve cold in salad, sandwiches, wraps.
You can take the meat off the bone and add to risottos, pastas, pies and casseroles!
This Roast Chicken Leftovers & Black Bean Enchiladas would be perfect for your leftover chicken. You could also add it to this 30-minute Vegetable Egg Fried Rice.
How to make Roast Chicken Traybake with Shallots & Wild Garlic Pesto - Step-By-Step
Roast Chicken Traybake with Shallots & Wild Garlic Pesto
Ingredients
- 1 kg Chicken Pieces (thighs & drumsticks) skin on, bone in (see notes)
- 125 ml jar of wild garlic pesto or any pesto you've got available
- 250 g shallots peeled & small ones left whole, large ones halved or quartered
- salt, pepper, olive oil
Instructions
- Put chicken pieces in a large bowl and cover them with pesto. Add a glug of olive oil to the mixture and massage it together with pesto all over the chicken pieces making sure they are well covered.
- Let your chicken marinade for min 1 hr but the longer the better. If you can leave it in the fridge marinating for the whole day that would be perfect.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Prepare the shallots by peeling them and halving or quartering the larger ones. Try to aim for equal size pieces.
- Put chicken in the large baking tray together with shallots and bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, turning the chicken over half way through. Serve with your choice of sides and enjoy!
Notes
- Nutritional information is approximate and should be treated as a guideline only.
- Feel free to remove the skin from your chicken pieces prior to marinating them for a leaner option!
- Feel free to substitute Wild Garlic Pesto with any pesto you've got available.
- Pesto Mayo - simple mixture of pesto & mayonnaise is a perfect little dip served on the side of the chicken. It goes ever so well with roast or sautéed potatoes.
- Roast chicken pieces can be stored 3-4 days in the fridge or frozen for up to 4 months.
Nutrition
Update Notes: This post was originally published on 9 May 2018 and updated in April 2019 with updated recipe card, layout and some useful info.
Some more recipe you might enjoy!
Wild Garlic Chicken Stew with Cheesy Dumplings
Braised Pork Chops with Leeks & Carrots
Oven Baked Pork Chops with Carrots & Cheese Crust
Wild Garlic Pesto Baked Salmon with Gnocchi
Vegan Cheese Scones (with Wild Garlic)
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I’m linking my Roast Chicken Traybake with Shallots & Wild Garlic Pesto with the following pages:
Cook Blog Share with Recipes Made Easy
Cook Once Eat Twice hosted by Corina at Searching for Spice
Got to be gluten free linky hosted this month by Kate at Gluten Free Alchemist
Petra says
What a great way to use pesto! I love wild garlic, and roast chicken, delicious 🙂
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you so much Petra! 🙂 Wild garlic is amazing, isn't it and works so well in pesto! Roast chicken and wild garlic pesto is really delicious! 🙂 I wish I could get my hands on some more wild garlic but not much luck with foraging around where I live and no longer available through my weekly veg box 🙁
Monika Dabrowski says
This is a great recipe idea, very easy and yummy, and I really like how nice the shallots turned out too!
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Monika! 🙂 The shallots are so beautiful and sweet roasted, perfect match with pesto chicken!
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
My daughter would LOVE this! She is such a chicken pesto fan..... actually we all are at GFHQ. I love your tray-bake take on it..... I will absolutely be giving this a try x
Thanks for sharing with #G2BGF. Great to have you on board x
joskitchenlarder says
Aw, thanks Kate! 🙂 Chicken pesto is total perfection isn't it and traybake simplifies things which is great especially mid week! 🙂 Pleasure to link up! :): x
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie says
Yes please!!! You cannot beat a chicken traybake...and adding pesto into the mix to - YUM!! Eb x
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie says
*too
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Eb! 🙂 Means a lot coming from the Queen of Traybakes! 🙂 Sometimes simplicity is everything and this one delivers. 🙂 x
Michelle Frank | Flipped-Out Food says
We are gigantic chicken fans here, and anything that comes in traybake form that involves chicken thighs and drumsticks is a guaranteed hit! This sounds just delicious with those gorgeous shallots and your delicious wild garlic pesto.
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you so much Michelle 🙂 Traybakes can be midweek meals saviours and this one proves it. If only it could get in and out of the oven on its own too lol. 🙂 x
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
This looks incredibly delicious. I love the sound of pesto mayo too which I'd never thought of x
joskitchenlarder says
Aw thanks Cat! ? I have only thought of pesto mayo very recently, it was a lightbulb moment ? It is delicious and perfect on sarnies too. x
Corina Blum says
This sounds delicious! I know I've said it before but I would love to get my hands on some wild garlic to try some of your recent recipes out. But, we are having chicken drumsticks tonight and I do have a jar of emergency pesto at home so I might just make a slightly less exciting version of your recipe for a quick dinner tonight. Thanks so much for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice! x
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks so much Corina! 🙂 Unfortunately wild garlic is no longer available in my veg box delivery so once I've used up all my pesto it will be it 🙁 unless I can get hold of some more somehow. I'm sure regular pesto will work just fine in this dish and as it's so quick and easy it's definitely worth giving it a go 🙂 x