These Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes and Kale Bake make for a perfect weeknight dinner but fancy enough for a Sunday night supper. It’s incredibly simple to make and requires only a handful of ingredients.
Chicken Thighs And Veggies
In my family, we’re used to big extravagant Sunday night dinners packed with appetizers, soups, some kind of roasted meat and potatoes and of course desserts. Today’s recipe, chicken thighs with sweet potatoes, corn and kale, is one that would shine on your Sunday night dinner table, but is also simple enough to make on any weeknight.
After all, simplicity is what I strive for.
Ingredients
Keep scrolling down to the recipe card for full ingredient amounts and instructions, or click the Jump To Recipe button at the top.
- Chicken – Thighs skin on bones in for tons of flavor and moisture.
- Veggies – Sweet corn either canned or frozen, cubed sweet potatoes, and chopped kale.
- Oil – Olive oil to saute our chicken thighs in.
- Butter – Unsalted so as to control the sodium content of our dish.
- Wine – We want a nice dry white wine, something like sauvignon blanc. Be sure to choose a wine you yourself would drink!
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper.
Not A Chicken Thigh Fan?
I chose these chicken thighs with bone in and their skin on because I wanted some nice crispy chicken and this just worked for me. Of course you can use chicken breasts, no skin and no bones, up to you.
How To Make Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes and Kale Bake
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.
- Cook the chicken thighs: Season chicken thighs on both sides with salt and pepper. In a medium size skillet heat the olive oil and melt the butter together. Add chicken thighs to skillet and cook on both sides until gold and crispy. The chicken won’t be cooked all the way through, but that’s OK, since we’ll finish cooking it in the oven. Remove the chicken from skillet and set aside.
- Saute the sauteables: Drain fat from skillet, leaving about a tbsp of the fat still in the skillet. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add sweet potatoes and cook for a couple minutes. You just want them to get a little brown. Add corn and cook for 2 more minutes. Add chopped kale, toss everything together and cook for another minute. Add the wine and season with salt and pepper.
- Finish the dish: Transfer the cooked vegetables to the prepared baking dish. Place the chicken thighs over the vegetables and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until chicken cooks through and sweet potatoes are fork tender.
How To Ensure Your Chicken Is Cooked Through
If you’re used to only really cooking with chicken breast just keep in mind that the color of the cooked meat will be different. Chicken breast cooks from pink to white whereas chicken thigh will cook darker, even a little pinkish even when done. So fear not if your thigh still has some color to it, as long as the internal temp is 180 F degrees you’re good to go!
Other Ingredients You Can Use
- Cauliflower
- Carrots
- Mushrooms
- Peas
- Potatoes
- Broccoli
- Broccolini
Storing Leftovers
Store leftovers in the fridge up to 3-4 days. Reheat simply in the microwave, or you can reheat leftovers in the oven at 350 F degrees for about 15 minutes or until heated through.
Want to freeze your leftovers? This is a very freezer friendly meal! You can store leftovers either in an airtight container or a freezer bag up to 4 months. Reheat either in the microwave or in a skillet.
More Delicious Recipes To Try
- Chicken Marsala
- Chicken and Mushrooms in Creamy Dill Sauce
- Lemon Chicken Piccata
- Lemon Pepper Chicken
- Chicken Francese
- Coq Au Vin
- Chicken in White Wine Sauce with Mushrooms
- Honey Garlic Chicken
- Spicy Brazilian Coconut Chicken
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Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes and Kale Bake
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs skin on, bones in
- 1 sweet potatoes peeled and cut in cubes
- 1 cup corn frozen
- 2 cups kale chopped
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 tbsp butter unsalted
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.
- Season chicken thighs on both sides with salt and pepper. In a medium size skillet heat the olive oil and melt the butter together. Add chicken thighs to skillet and cook on both sides until gold and crispy. The chicken won't be cooked all the way through, but that's OK, since we'll finish cooking it in the oven. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
- Drain fat from skillet, leaving about a tbsp of the fat still in the skillet. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add sweet potatoes and cook for a couple minutes. You just want them to get a little brown. Add corn and cook for 2 more minutes. Add chopped kale, toss everything together and cook for another minute. Add the wine and season with salt and pepper.
- Transfer the cooked vegetables to the prepared baking dish. Place the chicken thighs over the vegetables and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until chicken cooks through and sweet potatoes are fork tender.
Recipe Notes
- Store leftovers in the fridge up to 3-4 days. Reheat simply in the microwave, or you can reheat leftovers in the oven at 350 F degrees for about 15 minutes or until heated through.
- Want to freeze your leftovers? This is a very freezer friendly meal! You can store leftovers either in an airtight container or a freezer bag up to 4 months. Reheat either in the microwave or in a skillet.
This turned out so much better than I hoped! I did not drain any of the fat where it says to, I used 2 sweet potatoes, frozen kale and more than 2 cups and maybe more like half a cup of wine. I will definitely make it again. I’m even going to share it with some friends and I never think my food is good enough to share.
This was superb! It will become a dinner staple. I left out the corn this time, but may try it in the future. I also think this would taste great with roasted beets.
This was very easy and tasty. I would make it again. I had to increase the oven to 400 at the end and bake for an extra 10 or so minutes to make sure the sweet potatoes were soft. Next time, I’ll probably bake at 400 from start to finish or cut the potatoes even smaller. I’m not sure how I feel about the corn. Usually, I like corn to add a pop of sweetness, but they may be too sweet with the other vegetables. Next time, I might try to replace the corn with farro.
I’m gonna be really honest. At first glance I was like uh oh I’m not sure this is gonna fly over well with my family. I DID put a bit more wine and only had Riesling but it was soo good. It’s my first time cooking with Kale too. Wow! I’m glad I trusted the recipe and I’d make it again!
That’s so great to hear! We’re glad the whole family loved it 🙂
I’ve made this recipe so many times and it’s ALWAYS delicious! And it always smells divine!
I made this last night and everything about this dish was delicious!
I have made this dish several times since finding this recipe. It is so good! The flavors are great together. Browning the bone-in chicken in butter then baking with the veggies just really brings these flavors together. Thank you for sharing this one! A note to those who don’t like wine, I don’t add it and it still tastes amazing.
My pleasure, so glad you like it!
Sounds like a scrumptious recipe, I’m trying to find recipes that I could substitute maybe pork chops for the chicken, do you think that might work and if so would you cook for the same amount of time? I have a family of 5 so I have to always make a bit more than the recipe calls for anyway so adjusting a bit is fine.
Oh absolutely, the cooking time could vary based on how thick your pork chops are.