Cast Iron Pan Chicken Dinner For One

My fusion version of a ‘sheet pan’ chicken and roots dinner for one, with smoked paprika, Chipotle and veggies!

Come Into My Kitchen and Let’s Cook!

Cast Iron Pan Dinners For One

Don’t you just love it when your entire dinner can be served out of one pan, particularly if you are just cooking for you! Or perhaps you have several picky eaters in your home and often prepare variations on the one dinner you were thinking to prepare.

Cast iron pans are so easy to saute on top of the stove, any ingredient you want a crisp finish on, then pop it into the oven with added ingredients to finish cooking in the oven.

A chicken breast in one pan with a spicy dusting, and a simple dusting on a few legs for the kids. Easily done this way, and you could even begin to think of yourself as a ‘short order cook’ in a professional kitchen!

Cast Iron Pans

This healthy dinner for one, can be prepared in under an hour, start to finish, or simply double up the ingredients and use a slightly larger pan for more than one.

The best pan to cook for one. I find the small cast iron pans are truly a worth-while investment, of which you don’t need a name brand in order to get quality.

Cast iron is a heavy iron that holds heat better than steal. I always find them for really cheap at variety of home shopping stores. In fact, the small one I use in this dish was just nine bucks!

Why Are Cast Iron Pans Better Than A Sheet Pan?

Why are they so good? Heat! Heat is what is needed to sizzle a steak, fry a piece of chicken, or put a crunchy crust on your frittata, and nothing distributes the heat quite like cast iron.

The other thing I love about cooking with them is they can be used to sauté on top the stove, and then pop them into a hot oven to finish cooking, with or without a lid.

Chicken And Roots For One

For this dinner, I used 1 small cast iron pan, about 6-inches in diameter which is plenty big for the one portion of chicken to cook, and the added vegetables, halfway through the cooking time.

If you prefer a larger quantity of vegetables to chicken ratio, a baking sheet to par-roast the veggies can be used, which are then added to the chicken pan near the end of its cooking time.

Wash up that baking sheet, and set out your dinnerware while the meal finishes its last 15-minutes in the oven, and clean up time will be fast and done!

Other Dinners For One

Shrimp and Quinoa Buddha Bowl – A Shrimp Quinoa Buddha Bowl recipe, vibrant in color from veggies and fruit, protein rich from seasoned quinoa in Asian satisfying flavors.
Beef Short Ribs – For the Best Short Ribs Marinade, you will want this blend of pomegranate juice, Aleppo pepper, spices and red wine, for ‘Fall off the Bone’ tender ribs.
Mango and Squid Buddha Bowl – Mango and Squid Buddha Bowl is the perfect balance of hot, sour and sweet, topped with the crunch of peanuts and fried shallots – My PBS Remake!

Ingredients Needed

Chicken pieces with the bone in and skin left on. The selection is up to you, dark or white meat.
Fingerling potatoes cook quickly, especially once sliced open lengthwise.
Carrots cut in one-inch sections at a diagonal expose the most of the root and helps them to cook quickly.

Onion, just a small onion for the added sweet earthy flavor onions bring when cooked.
Baby Bok Choy, a small bundle, the dwarf size often 3 to 6 inches long, release a refreshing juice and cook in less than 5-minutes.
Flour is used to dust over the chicken skin, along with the spices, which aids in a lovely crust on the skin when it cooks, and helps to thicken the juices in the hot pan just a little.

Paprika, smoked would compliment the chipotle powder or simply use a sweet paprika.
Chipotle powder will offer the added heat and depth of flavor.
Salt, just to taste and to enhance the other flavors.

Butter quickly helps sear the skin on the chicken when tossed into the hot pan.
Balsamic vinegar, Olive oil, and Garlic salt are mixed to toss the cut vegetables in before they are placed into the hot pan where the chicken has been cooking.

Equipment Needed

Gallon zip baggie or closed container to shake up the chicken in the flour and spices.

Oven mitt, especially important when working with a cast iron pan.
Cast iron pan, preferably a 6-inch size pan.
Measuring tools are helpful for a novice cook, or simply eyeball the amounts.
Tongs make it easier to put ingredients into the hot pan, and turn them over while cooking.

Cutting board and Chopping knife for preparing the vegetables.

Cast Iron Chicken And Roots Dinner For One

Roasted chicken and roots with a little smoke, heat and healthy veggies.

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Course: Meat, Salads and Veggies

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Cast Iron Pans, Dinner for One

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 40

Total Time: 55

Servings: servings

Equipment

6-inch cast iron pan

Ingredients

Chicken pieces for one preferred cut, bone in, skin on
1 cup Fingerlings Potatoes peel on, cut in half
2 Carrots rough diagonally cut pieces
1 Onion, small halved or chopped
1 Baby Bok Choy bundle chopped lengthwise
1/4 cup Flour
1 tbsp Paprika smoked or sweet
1/4 tsp Chipotle powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp Garlic salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 and place the cast iron pan in the oven.

In a gallon zip bag or closable container, place the flour, paprika, chipotle, and salt.
Rinse chicken, pat dry and toss into flour baggie. Give a good shake to cover all its nooks and crannies.
Slice all the vegetables so they are ready for you. Diagonal slices expose the most of a vegetable and provide even cooking.

Carefully pull out hot iron pan from the oven with a mitt, drop the butter and in, and place the chicken in the pan, skin side down. The fat that will quickly render from the chicken skin will aid in obtaining a crisp finish.
Return it to the oven for 20 minutes.
Mix the garlic salt, oil and vinegar in a bowl, and toss in the onions, potatoes, carrots to cover.
Carefully remove the cast iron pan from the oven. There will be plenty room alongside the chicken for the vegetables.
Place it back in the in the oven for 15 minutes.
Pull out the chicken, turn it, layer the Bok Choy on top of the vegetables and put it back into the oven for another 5 minutes.

Serve the veggies and chicken on a plate with the yummy juices in the pan, or serve in the pan with a hot plate and a cloth napkin wrapped around the handle, rustic style.

Roasted Chicken and Roots Dinner for One

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Robin

I am all about the gratification of the senses, and so I have become passionate about capturing the stimuli for my senses through videography and photography. Food provides some of the most alluring subject matter to capture on film, and videography does what a still shot can not do: capture sound. When you hear something sizzling, or pouring, your taste buds and sense of smell are already engaged.

I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.