Cast Iron Chicken
This cast iron chicken is full of rosemary and lemon flavor and perfect for dinner…
Chicken is one of my go to meals. It almost always pleases the hubby-to-be and can be made in no time. I found this recipe via Pinterest and I’m so very glad I gave it a try! I’m telling you, Pinterest is almost better than cookbook in my kitchen. So many tasty pictures, so little time.
The crispy skin is probably my favorite part about this meal. Who doesn’t love crispy skin? If you are one of those weird people who refuse to eat skin you are missing out. It’s full of flavor and so crispy….it will knock your socks off!
Also, I made this dish earlier in the day and re-heated it for dinner and it still turned out perfect. No dry chicken in my house! Well, that’s not true. Sometimes there is dry chicken but not this chicken. I promise.
The bottom layer is full of soft potatoes and meaty mushrooms. You could use whole baby red potatoes for a nicer look but all I had were regular sized potatoes and it worked out fine. It’s totally up to you.
Cast Iron Chicken
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 55 min
Ingredients:
- 2 cups cubed yellow potatoes
- 2 tablespoons rosemary leaves (plus 2 whole rosemary sprigs)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Juice of 2 lemons (save those squeezed halves!)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
- 10 ounces baby bella mushrooms
Slightly adapted from:Minimally Invasive
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
Fill a large pot with cold water and cut potatoes. Cook on high until potatoes are fork tender but not falling apart. When ready drain the potatoes and set aside.
On a cutting board finely mince rosemary leaves, garlic cloves, kosher salt and red pepper flakes. Mince together until a paste forms.
Add herb paste to a medium sized bowl and mix with juice of 1 lemon and olive oil. Add chicken and coat thoroughly.
Heat a large cast-iron skillet (mine is 12 inches) over medium-high heat. Add the chicken thighs, skin-side down and cook until the skin is brown and crispy. Remove from the pan, add the mushrooms and potatoes and drizzle with any remaining chicken marinade and juice from the remaining lemon. Top with chicken, skin side up.
Add rosemary sprigs and squeezed lemon halves to skillet and roast, uncovered, until skin is crisp and chicken is cooked all the way through, about 25 minutes.
YUM. Growing up, my mom always removed the skin before cooking chicken, and never let us eat it… but when I started cooking for myself, I finalllly got to enjoy the delicious, crispy, tastiness. Oh, and these pictures are beautiful! Great job 🙂
Brandy replied: — September 12th, 2012 @ 12:08 pm
Oh man. That would have made me so sad. Skin is the best part!
YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM!!!
Brandy replied: — September 12th, 2012 @ 12:08 pm
Thanks!
This is right up my alley. Love chicken and the pictures are outstanding. I think I’ll make this dish this weekend – this week is all simple fast things because so much work going on around our house!
Brandy replied: — September 12th, 2012 @ 12:08 pm
I hope you give it a try and love it! It was perfect for this cool late summer weather 🙂
This is gorgeous!
Brandy replied: — September 12th, 2012 @ 12:08 pm
Thank you friend!
yum! This looks so wonderful for a fall supper- I’ll definitely be making it soon
Brandy replied: — September 12th, 2012 @ 12:04 pm
Thank! I hope you give it a try!
LOVE love love pinterest!!!!!
Are those potatoes AND mushrooms?!?! Sweet baby jesus in a manger I want some now!!
Brandy replied: — September 12th, 2012 @ 12:04 pm
We need a dinner date!
Way to remind me I don’t have a cast-iron skillet, Brandy. SIGH.
Brandy replied: — September 12th, 2012 @ 12:04 pm
Sorry friend! Add it to your Christmas wish list 🙂
When I ate meat I had SUCH a hard time making chicken look good, but girl this is GORGEOUS!
Brandy replied: — September 12th, 2012 @ 12:03 pm
Thank you! I have to admit, I was very happy the way these pictures turned out!
My kids totally refuse to eat the skin. I love how crispy it can get.
Brandy replied: — September 12th, 2012 @ 12:02 pm
Why are kids so crazy? That stuff is gold…hahaha 🙂
Mmm, I’m so excited for Fall food and to break out my cast iron and Dutch oven! Also I have a few Meyer lemons on hand which will be fabulous with this dish!
Oh.Em.Gee. I need to make this. I love anything with chicken thighs! This is a beautiful dish! I will be tring this!!
Oh baby! Look at that skin!!! Lemin, rosemary, and chicken, how could you go wrong!?!? I’m adding this to my must try list… The ever growing list!
The only nice my mother-in-law (cough-Marie Barone-cough) ever did for me was give me her cast iron pans.
Thank you Verna
I love my cast iron skillet and your chicken looks perfect! I always have rosemary on hand because I have several plants in my yard…that and sage! Yum!
Pinterest has been a source of great recipes for me as well. They ar eso visually appealing that I will need to live forever to make them all in my own kitchen.
I’m drooling! And it’s all in one pan, which I love… This is such a beautiful change from boring, plain-jane chicken… I’m featuring this post in today’s Food Fetish Friday (with a link-back and attribution as always). Thanks for always inspiring me with your creations…
Brandy, this dish looks heavenly, what a comforting dish to make especially for the cozy Fall weather ahead! BTW your blog looks wonderful!!
This looks delicious, I love using chicken thighs in their own dish like this…they are so full of flavor! I love your photos in this post too — gorgeous!
I made this last night and it was just as pretty as the picture! And delicious! My husband loved it. One tweak – I didn’t have regular potatoes, so I used sweet potatoes. It was perfect! Thank you!!!
Wow, this really did come out nicely. However, I actually used thyme instead of rosemary. I’m not exactly an experienced cook, so it was purely a mistake on my part, but it came out great regardless. If anything, I think I would lighten up on the lemon juice, as it seemed to be a bit strong. But that’s the only change I would make. And yes, it did look that good when it was done. I highly recommend this. Great recipe!
nutmegnanny replied: — October 14th, 2013 @ 10:07 pm
Hi Mary! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe. Using thyme instead of rosemary does sound lovely!
I had some problems with this dish. I put chicken in skin down like you said. I took them out when the skin was crisp and brown. I then put potatoes, mushrooms, etc back in skillet, but there was no way to continue cooking the chicken by putting it on top of the potatoes. The potatoes were hard to turn and keep from burning, and the skin on the chicken wasn’t as crisp because of steam from cooking potatoes. The flavors were good, and it looked delicious…..just needs some tweaking!
OMG this was so good! I’m a relative cast iron newbie and found your recipe via Pinterest. Thank you thank you. Crispy chicken, tender potatoes, just the right amount of pucker. Seriously, I could double, no triple the mushrooms! Delish!!!
Could I use a Dutch oven in place of a cast iron skillet or would that totally ruin the recipe?
nutmegnanny replied: — January 4th, 2014 @ 9:30 pm
Not at all! The chicken might not get as crispy around the edges but I think it would still work if you cooked them uncovered 🙂
Great! Thanks. I will put this on my list for next week 🙂
I plan on making this dish over the weekend. However the directions are a little confusing but it never actually specifies that you put the removed chicken back in the skillet. It’s almost as if a small paragraph is missing. I can only assume when you put the chicken back in you put it in cooked side up.
Regardless this sounds heavenly and I can’t wait to make it!
nutmegnanny replied: — January 16th, 2014 @ 10:37 pm
Hi Nicole! I went into the system and worded the directions so they are a bit more clear. I hope you love the dish!
If cut up the potatoes small enough wouldn’t they just roast that last 25 minutes instead of pre-boiling first?
nutmegnanny replied: — May 11th, 2014 @ 9:21 am
Hi Kerry! You could definitely try it that way but I think the pre-boiling just insures they will all be soft and fully cooked. If you try it your way let me know 🙂
I made this tonight in the cast iron skillet I got for Christmas. Everyone loved it!!! I just wanted to say thank you because I’ve never been able to get the skin as crispy as I want, but it was crispy AND flavorful! Thanks again!
My family and I LOVED this. There are so many layers of different flavors from the crispiness of the chicken skin, to the meaty mushrooms, the rosemary infused potatoes. Everything had a wonderful citrus, rosemary, and garlic flavor! I cook ALOT, I try new recipes each week and this is by far one of my favorites in the last 6 months! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
nutmegnanny replied: — January 30th, 2015 @ 10:00 am
Hi Melissa! Thank you so much for letting me know your family enjoyed the dish. I’m so happy 🙂 This is definitely a favorite in our house as well!
This is one of my favorite recipes. I found it years ago and have made it many many times. I plan to make it for brunch but I wanted to omit the potatoes and mushrooms and just do the chicken (we have other side dishes). Do you think it will be okay to bake the chicken directly on the cast iron pan or should i just cook a few potatoes for the sake of propping the chicken up? Any advice is welcomed!!
nutmegnanny replied: — April 16th, 2018 @ 11:32 pm
Hi Melissa! I’m so sorry it took me so long to reply! Yes, you can totally just cook it right in the pan. The bottom will get a little browned as well but that is ok.
I made this on Sunday. I used one lemon, just for my taste preference. And even though my rosemary dicing skills are sorely lacking, the dish turned out AMAZING!!! My skeptical hubby and fast-food-junkie teen both loved it! This is definitely a keeper.