This savory and sweet glazed sheet pan chicken with butternut squash and apples is the perfect no-fuss, one-pan paleo and Whole30 dinner. With a date-sweetened glaze, it’s free of added sugar but packed with flavor and kid approved!
Since we’re always honest around, I’ll let you all in on a secret. Brace yourselves, here it comes…
I’ve never been too keen on sheet pan dinners. Yup, that’s the big honest secret.
And no, it’s not because I like making things hard on myself or have something against turning on my oven (it’s on more often than it isn’t) but rather it’s simply because I just didn’t think the outcome tasted all that great.
I was thinking inside the sheet-pan box, trying to follow “the rules” (what rules?!) and not getting the least bit creative with sauces, spices, oven temp and timing, you know – everything involved in cooking!!
I’m pretty sure I was just being stubborn about the entire thing, and not giving my sheet pan dinners a fair chance. And by “dinners” (plural) I’m referring to all 4 that I made in my entire lifetime.
You see, I never, in fact, gave the sheet pan dinner a fair shot with real effort.
I’m not sure what changed my mind exactly. Okay never mind, I’m remembering now. My daughter Emily wanted to make homemade baked fish sticks from her own recipe book, so we gave it a go together.
The method involved a very high oven temp, and heating the oil on the sheet pan before placing the breaded fish sticks on it (nope, these weren’t paleo at all, but I’ll do anything to encourage my kids to love cooking!)
Anyway, the outcome was great – my kids LOVED them – and they came out all nice and crispy golden thanks to the high heat and oil combo. That’s when I realized that 1.) I need to attempt paleo fish sticks and 2.) That maybe a sheet pan dinner would benefit from this method.
Enter my glazed sheet pan chicken thighs with butternut squash and apples. Yes, this is sort of “fall” themed even though we’re smack in the middle of February, but I could always go for butternut squash and apples no matter the season!
To fancy up the chicken, I decided to create a Whole30 compliant sweet-mustard glaze using dates, spicy brown mustard, lemon juice and cinnamon. The oven temperature is nice and high to get the chicken skin crispy and the butternut squash caramelized without burning it or turning it to mush.
The apples are roasted only at the very end, to soften them and bring out the maximum level of natural sweetness! It’s a simple, kid friendly Whole0 and paleo dinner option that makes the best of the ingredients used.
I hope you’re ready for an easy, delicious and healthy meal – get the oven preheated – let’s go!
Glazed Sheet Pan Chicken with Butternut Squash and Apples {Paleo, Whole30}
Glazed Sheet Pan Chicken with Butternut Squash and Apples {Paleo, Whole30}
Ingredients
Glaze:
- 3 medjool dates pitted
- 1/4 cup water hot
- 3 Tbsp spicy brown mustard check labels for Whole30 compliance
- 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Chicken & Veggies:
- 4 bone-in skin on chicken thighs
- Salt and pepper
- 3 1/2 cups butternut squash cubed (about 3/4”)
- 2 Tbsp coconut oil melted, divided*
- Sprinkle of sea salt
- 1 large honeycrisp apple cut into 3/4” cubes
Instructions
-
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and coat a large baking sheet with 1 Tbsp of the oil. Position oven rack in top portion of your oven.
-
In a large bowl, toss butternut with remaining coconut oil and sprinkle with salt, toss again to evenly coat.
-
Once your oven reaches 400 degrees, put your empty sheet pan in the oven. When oven reaches 450, carefully remove sheet pan (it’s hot!) and place chicken thighs on it, skin side up, and sprinkle all over with sea salt and pepper. Arrange butternut squash all around chicken in a single layer.
-
Roast in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, meanwhile, make the glaze. In a high speed blender or food processor, place all sauce ingredients and blend until very smooth.
-
After first 20 mins, remove sheet pan and brush about 1/3 cup glaze all over the chicken, using tongs to turn if necessary. Brush some of the oil/rendered fat on top, and lightly stir the butternut.
-
Return to oven for another 10-15 mins, remove, brush remaining glaze over chicken along with pan juices and add the apples to the pan, placing in a single layer.
-
Roast for another 10-15 mins or until butternut is caramelized, apples are fork tender and chicken is cooked to an internal temp of 165 F. Serve hot and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*Avocado oil or light flavored olive oil are fine too
Nutrition
What I Used To Make My Glazed Sheet Pan Chicken:
Want More Whole30 and Paleo Chicken Recipes? Try One of These!
Crispy Chicken with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Classic “Breaded” Chicken Cutlets
Crispy Chicken Tenders {Nut Free}
Chicken Stir Fry with Veggies and Garlic Sauce
Chipotle Ranch Chicken Burgers
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I love that fish stick method! I would be so happy if you came up with a tasty Whole30/paleo version!
My kids are on me for that one!
I am planning to make this tonight but I don’t have any bone in thighs, would this work with breast or tenders? Both boneless and skinless? And how would you adjust temp? I love sheet pan dinners, they make my life so much easier! Thanks for solving my what’s for dinner problem!
The boneless skinless chicken won’t need nearly as much time baking, so you can add it probably 15-20 minutes into the baking time (for the butternut) I’d say.
Where is all the fat coming from. The fat grams and ingredients don’t seem to add up to 31grams
Hi Michele,
Can you sub sweet potatoes for butternut squash without changing any of the cooking steps?
Thanks,
Diana
That should be fine 🙂
That looks a great recipe, we call it tray bake, I love it, I put tin tomatoes, some times,and you can add Paprika if it’s ok
Thanks
Sounds great!
Hi. I too would like to do this with boneless skinless chicken breast. I know you answered this above but It was unclear to me. Are you saying I should bake the butternut squash 15 to 20 minutes first alone? And then at the chicken and glaze and cook for 10 to 15 more minutes and then add apples and cook for 10 to 15 more minutes? So the squash Ends up cooking about 40 to 50 minutes total? And the boneless chicken breasts 20 to 30 minutes total? Does that sound about right? Thanks so much! Looking forward to making this. Katie
Couldn’t you just use the chicken schnitzel breading for the fish sticks? ? been wondering to try that myself.
Not sure, it’s still on my list of things to try!
Just had it for lunch and it tasted lovely! 🙂
I loved this dish! I used dijon mustard instead of spicy brown because my don’t kids like the taste it and it turned out great! Such a tasty combination of flavors! We had it with roasted brussel sprouts and bacon. YUM!
Sounds delicious!
Yes really nice
I can not stand mustard. Is there anything I could use as a replacement?
my son does not like mustard at all…but loved this recipe..I added a few extra dates…we make it often
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This is AMAZING. It was so easy and I’m literally moaning while I eat it (soooooo good). Even the kids ate the chicken. SOOOO good.
These flavors are incredible! This was delicious. It was the perfect meal for our cool weather. It makes me want to eat roasted butternut squash more often. We are doing a Whole 30 and this was perfect! Of course, I haven’t made a recipe yet from your site that hasn’t been wonderful! Thanks!
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This is a great and easy recipe to use!!! Tried it last night and used chicken drumsticks and some different veggies(yellow potatoes sliced, red peppers, carrots and halved cherub tomatoes.) The chicken was so moist and the veggies delicious.
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Very moist chicken with a nice glaze and the squash was perfect. However, it was a little bland. Perhaps some garlic and rosemary? Roast red onions with the squash? And the apples need only 2-3 minutes at this high heat. Otherwise you’re dealing with applesauce. Which is good, but not quite the texture you’re looking for.
Probably one of my favorite recipes! Super easy to make and delicious!! I substituted butternut squash for sweet potato sprinkled with cayenne pepper and could not find the spicy brown mustards (I am in Cda), so used honey Dijon mustard.
Thanks for your recipe.
This is a fantastic recipe…we love it, and make it often!
Made this for the first time tonight and was amazing! Thank you for the recipe. Followed and also added herb de Provence and a little shallots at the same time as the apples and turned out incredible. Definitely recommend.
This was easy and delicious. I added alittle garlic to the marinade. I also used boneless thighs and the family loved it! Will make again. My daughter wants it once a week…lol
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This recipe is fantastic. The chicken was so delicious, and the glaze was fantastic. Really enjoyed it!
I don’t know if I’ve had a better chicken recipe than this one! Its delightful, and best of all its healthy too. With all of us trying to eat more healthy, this is a great meal entree.
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I made this recipe last week and LOVED it! I am currently trying to make it again tonight and the only difference is I used two pans to have more room for the chicken and squash and apples which were crowded on one last week. But holy smoke, Batman! Everything else is the same but my whole first floor is filled with smoke and my poor butternut is black. Is it really just the addition of the second oiled pan that could have done this?? Does the oven then get hotter when smoke is produced too? Any insight from anyone more knowledgeable than I am is appreciated!
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