Updated. Originally posted 14th April 2020
This is a fresh and Springy take on a classic French dish “Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic”. It is made with creamy white beans that roast along with the chicken, lemon slices, and unpeeled garlic that roasts up into garlic butter that goes perfectly on crusty bread that you can dip into the pan juices of this fab dish. I finish it off by tossing the beans with fresh herbs and serve it with an extra squeeze of lemon juice. The perfect meal if you ask me. It’s a simple throw everything into a pan and let it roast in the oven until done kind of meal – set it and forget it as I say just like my Chicken Marbella dish which is so beloved by all of you. Those are my kind of dishes. Very little prep with maximum reward and flavour.
It’s a marvelous dish and I decided to add a little Greek flare to it and use some oregano instead of thyme and load it up with lemon slices and zest along with adding some fresh dill and parsley to the dish. To me this screams Spring and it’s a dish that my family loves and devours every time I make it. We are definitely bean people though. I have made this with butter beans and love it just as much. Gigantes would work too but I had loads of white beans on hand and used them when I made it this time around.
I have always wanted to make this French classic dish but was always skeptical of the recipe and cooking 40 unpeeled cloves with chicken. I even tried one version from a reputable food magazine that sounded like a great idea being made in the slow cooker. I thought that would mellow the garlic a bit. It was good but not great and I even added bacon to the mix to add more flavour to the brothy beans and fresh herbs and the chicken was even broiled after to give it a nice crispy exterior but the flavours were just not right – bland and just not the way I pictured this French dish. Until I found Nigella’s recipe. That is when it all made sense.
She says it perfectly: “Certainly, if you peeled and chopped – let alone minced – the garlic, it would be inedible, but garlic cloves cooked encased in their skins grow sweet and caramelly as they cook, like savoury bonbons in their sticky wrappers, rather than breathing out acrid heat”. She is 100 perfectly right about that. So I listened to Nigella and used the whole heads instead. I just sliced them in half for visual appeal and for ease of scooping out that caramelly garlic goodness out of them and not having to fish out every clove from the pan. It worked like a charm!
Easy Roasted Chicken And White Beans Recipe Ingredients
- CHICKEN: I used 8 bone in skin-on chicken thighs for this recipe and I recommend it for the flavor the bone and skin add to the dish. If you would like to use chicken breasts you can but cooking times will vary depending on the size of the pieces and the same goes for drumsticks
- WHITE BEANS: I used white beans for this recipe or cannellini beans but chickpeas, great northern beans or butter beans would work too.
- CAPERS: Capers add a briny, salty, and tangy flavor to dishes. They also have a subtle, lemony, savory, umami note.
- DIJON MUSTARD: Dijon mustard has a strong, sharp, and tangy flavor with a slight spice. I love it but if you prefer to use regular yellow mustard or even honey mustard you can for a slightly sweeter note.
- SPICES & HERBS: I kept things simple with dried oregano and salt and pepper but you could use dried or fresh thyme or even rosemary or Italian seasoning or even herbs de Provence. Those would all go beautifully with the mustard and lemony flavours. For finishing the dish I always toss in seem fresh herbs – usually my fav combination is fresh parsley, dill and green onions or chives.
- LEMON JUICE & LEMON ZEST: The lemon zest gets tossed in with the beans and then the lemon is sliced and the chicken bakes over the slices for extra flavor and moisture.
- GARLIC: We roast the garlic whole then squeeze it out after and enjoy it slathered on to crusty bread or stirred through the beans. I usually use 1 and a half bulbs or 2 if they are small – cut in half and nestled by the chicken and beans
- WHITE WINE: The white wine really adds loads of flavor to the pan juices and I always add it – but if you prefer to omit you can just replace it with more broth.
- CHICKEN BROTH: Chicken broth adds moisture to the dish – technically you could use water but broth adds way more flavor.
- OLIVE OIL: Extra virgin olive oil to drizzle over chicken.
- OPTIONAL ADD INS: If you would like to toss in some cherry tomatoes in with the beans you can – they will burst and you will have even more pan juices – or you can reduce the amount of broth in recipe as the tomatoes create so much juice.
How To Make This Easy Roasted Chicken And White Beans Recipe
This is a great one pan dish where essentially everything gets tossed in on pan and roasted off. Got to love a chicken dish like this. Here are the easy steps involved in making this tasty chicken and white beans dish (full details in recipe card):
- TOSS beans with broth, wine, lemon zest, capers and season with salt and pepper.
- TOP beans with lemon slices
- SEASON chicken with salt, pepper and oregano and place over lemon slices and beans
- SPREAD 1 tsp of mustard over each chicken thigh
- DRIZZLE chicken with olive oil
- BAKE chicken and white beans until chicken is golden and cooked through
- FINISH off with fresh herbs and freshly squeezed lemon juice.
