One-Pan Caribbean Jerk Chicken With Vegetables

Easy and savory Caribbean Jerk Chicken with Vegetables all in ONE pan. Marinate chicken for 1 hour or even overnight will enrich the flavor. This recipe can be made ahead. Prepare vegetables and marinate chicken. When ready to cook, assemble everything in the pan according to the instruction, then bake.

Growing up, I didn’t really have many one-dish meals. The family-style dining concept in China taught me that the number of dishes basically should be equal to the headcount. My mother helped reinforce the concept by always cooking at least two or three dishes for each meal for just the two of us. Usually, there would be a meat dish, a vegetable dish and sometimes a seafood dish or a soup on the table, plus rice. And the next day, I would pack the same dishes in a lunch box, then bring it to work. Therefore, the concept of one-dish meal didn’t occur to me until I started taking charge of the kitchen.

Six months ago, we temporarily moved in with my brother-in-law. Being upgraded from cooking for two to cooking for four adults (my husband Han, his brother Felix, Felix’s girlfriend Stephanie, and myself), I am more appreciative of the idea of throwing everything together in one pan or one pot. It’s quick and easy. More importantly, it’s less overwhelming for me. I am pretty sure that I’d go crazy if I cook four or five dishes for every meal.

Occasionally, I cook for only myself, and that’s the best time to clear out the leftovers. Noodle soup is by far my favorite one-dish meal but not everyone in the house enjoys it. Well, that means I get to do whatever I want with it.

Throwing leftovers altogether might not seem to be an elegant way to eat. However, one-dish meals can be done in a nice way and still keep all the benefits such as –

• It’s simple to prepare and it doesn’t take a lot of time.
• It’s a good economical way to cook delicious and healthy meals.
• It’s fun to do as you can experiment with many types of meals, especially if you have a crock pot.
• It can be made to feed a single person or a crowd.
• Because only one dish or pot is used in the preparation, after meal cleanup is efficient.

With that said, I have been actively trying to turn good recipes into one-dish meals which are not only delicious but nutritious and healthy! I wanted to share more of these recipes with you. Whether you cook for a crowd, for two, or for one, I hope you find these one-dish meals useful. 🙂

Let’s kick things off with this Caribbean Jerk Chicken With Vegetables.

I’ve tried to grill the jerk chicken once. It was so amazing that this recipe is on the back of my head all the time. Since the weather is cold, I moved the chicken into the oven and added lots of vegetables at the bottom to test, and today’s recipe is the result of my experiment. Both the chicken and the vegetables are super tender and flavorful after baking. Although all the ingredients are cooked together, everything still keeps its own distinctive taste, creating a fantastic sauce at the bottom of the pan at the same time.

The best part about this recipe is that you can prepare ahead. Make the marinade and nestle the chicken in. Chop up the vegetables and put them in a Ziploc bag. It only takes 10 minutes to finish the preparation. Refrigerate the ingredients until you are ready to cook. The chicken gets to marinate this way, which is even better. Your oven will do the work once you put everything in a baking pan. I would be surprised if you told me that you drank the leftover sauce because I totally did, seriously!

Hope you enjoy this recipe and if you get a chance to make it, leave a comment below and let me know how you like it. I’d love to hear from you. Happy cooking!

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