The Greek dish known as kotopoulo skorthato is typically called “Greek garlic-lemon chicken” in English, but the ensemble also includes potatoes, making it a delicious complete meal. OK, so we added a side of roasted broccolini to make it a more veggie-forward dinner.
For this riff, Milk Street used their trusty traybake technique—roasting the ingredients on a rimmed baking sheet in a hot oven to ensure the quickest cooking possible and to develop nice caramelization.
As a finale, toss in black olives, dill and capers to ratchet up the flavors. If using chicken breasts, try to purchase pieces that are close in size so they cook at the same rate. Since we used both thighs (for The Hubs) and breasts (for Yours Truly), we cut the breasts halves in half again, making them more uniform in size to the thighs.
Because we cooked 4 pounds of chicken pieces (25% more), we doubled the spice mixture so that we had enough to sprinkle on all sides of each piece. This meal was sooo flavorful, and not difficult at all!
Don’t use extra-large bone-in chicken breasts if you can help it; 12-ounce pieces work best. If unavoidable, keep in mind that bone-in breasts weighing about 1 pound each require 40 to 50 minutes of roasting.
Greek Chicken and Potato Traybake
Ingredients
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- ¼-½ tsp. red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper
- 4 12-oz. bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts or 3 lbs. bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed and patted dry
- 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 1½ lbs. medium Yukon Gold potatoes, not peeled, cut into 1-inch-thick wedges
- 2 lemons, halved crosswise
- 8 medium garlic cloves, peeled
- ½ cup pitted Kalamata olives, roughly chopped
- 2 Tbsp. drained capers
- 3 Tbsp. roughly chopped fresh dill, divided
Directions
- Heat the oven to 475°F with a rack in the middle position. In a large bowl, stir together the oregano, pepper flakes, 1½ teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of the mix onto all sides of the chicken. To the remaining seasoning mix in the bowl, add the oil, potatoes, lemon halves and garlic, then toss to coat.
- Place the garlic in the center of a rimmed baking sheet, then arrange the chicken, skin up, around the garlic; this placement helps prevent the garlic from scorching during roasting. Arrange the lemons, cut sides up, and the potatoes in an even layer around the chicken. Roast until the thickest part of the breasts (if using) reaches 160°F and the thickest part of the largest thigh (if using) reaches 175°F, about 30 minutes.
- Using tongs, transfer the chicken and lemon halves to a serving platter. Push the potatoes to the edge of the baking sheet, leaving the garlic in the center. Using a fork, mash the garlic to a rough paste. Add the olives, capers and 2 tablespoons of the dill to the baking sheet, then, using a wide metal spatula, stir and toss the ingredients, scraping up any browned bits.
- Transfer the potato mixture to the platter, placing it around the chicken. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon dill.
Adapted from a recipe by Rebecca Richmond for Milk Street
Accounting for Taste 