One Pan Baked Chicken with Butternut Squash and Parmesan Asparagus
An easy fool-proof sheet pan dinner! And the chicken comes out so moist and tender!
Guys. Um, can we talk about how I’m completely and utterly obsessed with sheet pan dinners now?
I mean, I love a good one pot meal BUT a sheet pan dinner is off. the. hook.
Wait, I’ve never used that phrase before.
Weird.
But my point is, this one single sheet pan dinner needed to be made yesterday.
Crisp-tender chicken breasts coupled with thyme-roasted butternut squash and cheesy asparagus spears.
You have your greens, your side and your main – basically a full-course meal for those nights when you can’t be bothered to do anything else.
One Pan Baked Chicken with Butternut Squash and Parmesan Asparagus
An easy fool-proof sheet pan dinner! And the chicken comes out so moist and tender!
Ingredients
- 1 cup Italian bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 large butternut squash, about 3 pounds, peeled, seeded and cut in 1-inch chunks
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 pound asparagus, trimmed
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or coat with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, combine bread crumbs and lemon zest; set aside.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Working one at a time, dredge chicken in flour, dip into eggs, then dredge in bread crumbs mixture, pressing to coat.
- Place butternut squash in a single layer onto one side of the prepared baking sheet. Stir in 2 tablespoons olive oil and thyme; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Place chicken in a single layer in the middle of the prepared baking sheet and coat with nonstick spray. Place into oven and bake until golden brown and crisp, about 18-20 minutes.
- Add asparagus onto the opposite side of the prepared baking sheet in a single layer during the last 10-12 minutes of cooking time. Drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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My husband and I loved this dinner! My butternut squash must have been extra big. It took a whole tray. I also didn’t have dried thyme but had fresh so used that. Really enjoyed!
Love that you can throw it all on a pan and into the oven. The chicken breast needed more time to cook. The chicken needed more flavour for my liking, so I added additional seasoning to my preference in the bread crumb. Overall, nice fall warm hearted recipe.
Great recipe! The chicken breasts i bought were quite large & I prefer my veggies a bit over cooked. Doubled the cook time & perfect!!
Will definitely make again!! Thank you!
Love this site, definitely a new GO TO when i need inspiration.
My husband and I absolutely LOVE this meal! Nothing better than a sheet pan dinner. The lemon add such a refreshing taste of the chicken, and the butternut squash in time feels just like fall. I find the recipe can usually make five pieces of chicken for me, even large ones. But it takes extra time to cook.
Just found this site and I’m so glad to have this kind of help with cooking. Two questions, could I use red new potatoes in place of the squash? Would the potatoes need to pre cook a bit in the microwave to be sure they are cooked thoroughly?
Yes and yes! 🙂
Are you pounding your chicken breasts to make them thinner?
No, but you certainly can!
Excellent recipe. Used the leftovers the next day in a salad…another great meal. Cooked all for another 5 minutes and it was perfect. Used large chicken breasts.
I made this last evening and feel the timing is off. The chicken was done way before the squash was tender so I had to take the chicken off the pan and try to broil the squash.
What size baking pan do you use? We managed to squeeze everything on ours, but it was a very very tight fit!! 🙂
I prefer to use an XL sheet pan, about 20.25 x 14.25 x 1 inches.
This was wonderful!! And healthy, too!
Thanks for posting such a great recipe 🙂
Only change is I had to increase the cooking time and put the chicken and squash under the broiler for a bit, but every oven is different!
Did you feel like the butternut squash took a while longer than the cook time to soften? I always have the hardest time with butternut squash. It seems like it takes forever to cook!
It really depends on the size of the squash – the smaller it is, the faster it will cook through!
Could I make this with out breading the chicken and not dry it out? I am working on phasing to clean eating and I have not tackled the breading portion. Any suggestions, this looks amazing!!!
Yes, absolutely!
I made this tonight and loved it!!!! The flavors of all three main ingredients were “damn delicious!” The chicken was slightly over cooked, so next time I will cut off 5 minutes before adding the asparagus.
I may also use chicken thighs next time.
Thank you for sharing!!!
This looks great! I am obsessed with sheet pan dinners too. I am making your lemon chicken with squash right now for dinner!
Could you sub in sweet potato cubes instead of squash?
Yes, absolutely.
Do you think this would work with chicken thighs instead of breasts or would they dry out too much?
Yes, chicken thighs can be substituted.
Me encantó esta receta y la entendí perfectamente
Chungah, I am going to make this for guests tomorrow, if it’s as fabulous as the rest of your recipes it’s a slam dunk. One thing – I don’t understand about the timing. Do you add the asparagus after the chicken breast have baked 18-20 minutes, or 8-10 minutes?
You can add the asparagus during the last 10-12 minutes of cooking time, so once the chicken has cooked initially for about 10 minutes.
That was my question as well. Thanks for the clarification! I’m so excited to try this recipe out, so far everything I taste from your site is darn delicious! 😛
Holy cow this is just a recipe not an English grammar class. If you know how to cook a little I think you could figure it out. Either enjoy the recipe or delete it. Don’t be so critical, life’s too short.
Just reading through the comments and I must say, I love yours, Lane! It made me smile. Anyway this recipe looks perfect for my family. Thank you for bringing a quick and healthy dinner idea to our table, Chungah.
You are so welcome, Erica! 🙂