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
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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.
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In a large bowl, toss butternut with remaining coconut oil and sprinkle with salt, toss again to evenly coat.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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