You know how you get home from work and don't feel like cooking? Like. Ever. You know you have to, but you dread it. Thoughts run through your head, like, "Should we just order a pizza... again?" Well, I think I've got a pretty easy weeknight dinner for you with this chicken thighs, butternut squash and leeks. And bonus: you'll probably have leftovers you can take for lunch.
15-Minute PreP: Easy Weeknight Dinner
There are only three main ingredients to this dish: chicken thighs, butternut squash, and leeks. That's it. For real. And yes, of course there are other incidental ingredients: salt, pepper, olive oil, dried herbs, and fresh sage (which is optional).
Here's the breakdown of THE PREP TIME:
- Trim the fat from the chicken thighs first. This will take up to 5 minutes if you've not had a lot of practice doing this.
- Season the chicken: salt, pepper, herbs de provence (or whatever dried herbs you have: rosemary, thyme, sage. It might take 30 seconds.
- Cut butternut squash into cubes and put directly into a 9x13 baking dish. Buy the kind that is already peeled - time saver! This is less than five minutes.
- Chop fresh sage (fresh sage is optional, but I do love it). It takes less than a minute to chop. You can use dried thyme, rosemary, sage in its place.
- Slice the leeks and soak in water to get rid of dirt. Also less than five minutes for this step. Throw on top of butternut squash in baking dish.
- Add olive oil and toss to coat, spread out evenly across bottom of baking dish. Add chicken thighs to the top then bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 1 hour.
Butternut Squash and Leeks: Food Soulmates
You know how two foods were absolutely destined to be together? When you eat that particular combination the whole world suddenly makes sense? This is butternut squash and leeks. I love this combination and the smell of leeks cooking drives me completely insane. If you love this combo too, you will be hooked on this recipe, and you should probably also check out my butternut squash and leek risotto.
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In case you didn't know, something really special happens when you cook leeks. They release this little bit of liquid (basically sweating) and that's when the smell starts happening that drives me crazy. 🙂 But as it cooks off, there is also moisture from the butternut squash, the olive oil, and a little bit of fat from the chicken. This creates an incredible broth at the bottom of the baking dish. Don't throw that away. Spoon that onto your plate and enjoy!!
Chicken ThigHS: Don'T forget to Trim the fat
Hey there, so the reason chicken thighs taste way better than white meat chicken is because darker meat has more flavor. Unfortunately, it also has a lot of fat, but we're going to take care of that. There is a lot of guilt with eating chicken thighs because of all that fat, but we're going to cut it all off so you can eat in peace. I've got a great tutorial to walk you through it if you have a few minutes. Once you make cutting all that fat off part of your routine, you'll feel better about eating chicken thighs. See video below.
WEeknight Dinners, Who's Got The Time?
Anyone else eaten breakfast for dinner 2-3 times one week because the thought of cooking makes you want to crawl under a rock and cry? Some nights it's really hard to come home from work and do more "work." Because let's face it, cooking feels like work sometimes. So with an easy weeknight dinner, I wanted to make sure the prep was not more than 15 minutes. And with chicken thighs, butternut squash and leeks it will take even less if two people do the prep!!
These are fairly simple ingredients that produce a rich and delicious flavor just by cooking for one hour in the oven.
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Easy Weeknight Dinner: Chicken Thighs, Butternut Squash and Leeks
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 portions 1x
Description
Got an easy weeknight dinner for you with this awesome combo of chicken thighs, butternut squash and leeks. Totally low maintenance and delish!
Ingredients
- 6 large chicken thighs
- 1 teaspoon salt (for chicken)
- ½ teaspoon pepper (for chicken)
- ½ teaspoon herbs de Provence (or dried thyme, rosemary, sage)
- 1.4 pounds butternut squash half, cut in cubes (I bought it already peeled, you’ll get about 4 cups cubed)
- 2 medium-to-large leeks (cut into rounds)
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped sage
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt & pepper to season the squash & leeks
NOTE: you will need a 9x13 baking dish for this recipe.
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Instructions
- Trim fat from chicken thighs. Start with the obvious flaps around the edges, but make sure you get all the fat underneath too. I have a great tutorial if you want to watch the process of how I trim the fat from chicken thighs.
- Season the underside of the chicken with salt and pepper. Then turn pieces so skin side is up. Season with salt, pepper and herbs de provence. Set aside.
- Cube the butternut squash into same-size pieces so they cook evenly.
- Cut the dark green ends off the leeks and the fuzzy fraggle-tips of the other end. We’re using the light green and white parts of the leeks. Slice the leeks into ¼” rounds and place in a bowl filled with water. Once all the sliced leeks are in the water bowl, push them down to make sure all the dirt is removed. Push your thumbs and fingers through some (or all) of the rings to separate. Then drain the water and check to make sure all the dirt is gone.
- Chop the sage. I stacked about 6 large sage leaves on top of each other, rolled them up and slice them into thin strips, then into smaller bits from there. You’ll need a tablespoon or so. Half for cooking and more for garnish later.
- Place the butternut squash cubes in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Add the leeks, fresh sage, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Toss to coat everything and spread out evenly on bottom of baking dish.
- Transfer the chicken thighs on top of the butternut squash mixture. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for one hour.
- After you take out of the oven let it rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- You can plate individually, or having everyone serve themselves right from the baking dish. Make sure to save the delicious broth at the bottom of the baking dish which you can spoon over you food like an au jus. Enjoy!
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