Maple Glazed Chicken with Harvest Vegetables

This Sheet Pan Maple Glazed Chicken with Harvest Vegetables is a comforting dish that's perfect for cooler weather! It's the perfect meal for fall and winter, with a medley of Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, red onions, and apples roasted alongside crispy chicken thighs with a savory, sticky, and sweet maple glaze.

Just like our chicken and pumpkin risotto, this chicken pesto pasta salad, this cowboy cornbread casserole, and our honey sriracha shrimp, this recipe is a paid partnership with our friends at Roland Foods, a leading global importer of premium ingredients. Thanks for supporting brands that allow us to bring fresh new content to A Full Living!

This is the ultimate fall dinner - tied together with Roland® Avocado Oil, available on Amazon. Avocado oil is the perfect neutral-flavored oil for sautéing, roasting, high heat searing, making salad dressings, and more! It has over 5 different uses in this dish!

Looking for more fall dinner recipes to try? Check out this creamy butternut squash gnocchi with sausage, these sausage stuffed apples, or these chicken thighs and butternut squash in a parmesan cream sauce!

❤️Why We Love This Recipe

• Made with simple ingredients. This recipe is made with simple, seasonal ingredients and pantry staples to create an incredibly satisfying meal!
• Complex flavors. Although this dish appears humble, it is truly perfectly balanced. The vegetables and sweet apples create a base of sweet, nutty, savory, tangy, and deeply caramelized flavors and textures. The veggies are seasoned with a blend of warm spices, earthy herbs, a hint of spice, and smokiness. The sticky maple glaze is loaded with aromatic garlic, tangy mustard, balsamic glaze, and more red pepper flakes to coat the juicy chicken thighs for an irresistible dish.
• Easy to make. Despite all of the flavor in this dish that makes it feel like a restaurant-quality meal, this recipe is approachable for anyone to make, and comes together in an hour!

🧄Ingredients

Here are the ingredients we used for this recipe. You can find more information for substitutions below.

• Chicken thighs. We chose chicken thighs because they stay juicier in the oven. We got some with the skin on and then removed the bones ourselves to make them a bit easier to eat. You could also keep the bones in to keep them extra moist. The choice is yours.
• Butternut squash. We will use about half of a medium squash, or roughly 1.5 pounds of squash, cubed. You can also buy it pre-cut from the store. Be sure to save the seeds and roast them for a crunchy topper for the meal. They're just as good as these air fryer pumpkin seeds!
• Roland Foods Avocado Oil. We chose this mild-flavored oil because it has a high-smoke point, perfect for roasting the veggies at a high temperature, and for getting the chicken skin nice and crispy. We also use it to make the maple glaze for the chicken.
• Apple. We'd recommend using something nice and sweet that will hold up well to roasting, like honey crisp, brae burn, or gala. We always choose honey crisp, because they're our favorite!
• Onion. We like the color and sweetness that red onion adds, but yellow sweet onion will also work well!

Visit the recipe card for the full quantities and nutritional information.

✨Substitutions & Variations

Here are a few suggestions on additional flavors to try, or simple variations to this recipe.

• Use chicken breasts. You can use breasts instead of thighs, but they won't need as long to cook. Be careful not to overcook them and dry them out!
• Swap the maple syrup. Feel free to use honey instead, that would also taste great.
• No balsamic glaze. The balsamic glaze has a more intense flavor than balsamic vinegar, and really rounds out the maple glaze (try it on this salmon bruschetta recipe!) but you can just use balsamic viengar instead.
• Dial back the spice. As usual, in most of our dishes, we'd like to mention that we like a kick of heat in our food, so feel free to scale back on the amount of red pepper flakes added if you're less enthusiastic about spice.
• Use different veggies. Feel free to swap in your favorite fall veggies. These roasted pumpkin wedges would be a hit! Broccoli and cauliflower would also be great.
• Add bacon. Just like our balsamic bacon brussels sprouts, this dish would taste absolutely amazing with some bacon mixed in. Feel free to mix them in with the vegetables to roast.

This recipe hasn't been tested with any other substitutions or variations, so we can't guarantee any results. If you make a change, let us know how it goes in the comments below!

🔪Prep Work

• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Clean and halve the Brussels sprouts.
• Peel and cube the butternut squash.
• Reserve the butternut squash seeds and wash them if desired to roast.
• Cube an apple.
• Roughly chop an onion.
• Mince garlic.
• Measure out the rest of the spices and seasonings.
• Pat the chicken thighs dry with a paper towel, and remove the bones if needed (and desired).

Roast the veggies

Place the red onion, brussels sprouts, butternut squash, and apple pieces on a sheet pan. Drizzle with avocado oil, and season with salt, pepper, dried sage, dried thyme, nutmeg, smoked paprika, and red pepper flakes. Toss to coat. (Image 1)

Roast for 30 minutes, until the vegetables have softened considerably. (Image 2)

While the vegetables are roasting, prep the chicken thighs and maple glaze.

Crisp up the chicken skin (optional)

We love a little crispy skin on the chicken, but this step isn't necessary. If you don't want to crisp up the skin, simply add the chicken thighs skin side up to the sheet pan nestled in with the veggies to roast.

While the veggies are doing the first roast, preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add avocado oil to the skillet, and season the chicken liberally with salt on both sides.

Place the chicken skin-side down, (Image 3) and cook until the chicken skin is golden brown and crispy, about 5-7 minutes. (Image 4) Set the chicken aside until the vegetables come out of the oven.

*Pro tip: The chicken will not be fully cooked at this point, we are just crisping up the skin, and it will continue to cook in the oven!

Make the maple glaze

In the same skillet or saucepan you crisped up the chicken skin, add a bit more avocado oil, and lower the heat to medium-low.

Add garlic and optional red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring often for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until the garlic is fragrant.

Add in the maple syrup, Dijon mustard, and balsamic glaze. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir until the mixture begins to thicken, (Image 5) about 3-5 minutes, then remove from the heat.

*Pro tip: Keep in mind that the glaze will continue to thicken as it cools.

Add glazed chicken to the pan

Nestle the chicken thighs in with the vegetables, and top each of the thighs with a small amount of glaze. (Image 7)

Return to the oven to roast until the chicken is fully cooked, and the vegetables are tender, about 20-30 minutes.

*Pro tip: We recommend roasting chicken thighs to an internal temperature of 195°F for maximum juiciness! Chicken is safe to eat at an internal temperature of 165°F, but dark meat has a lot of connective tissue that will become super tender if cooked a bit longer. Read more here!

Butternut squash seeds (optional)

If you'd like, you can roast the seeds on a separate sheet in the oven for the last 10-15 minutes of the chicken and vegetable roasting time.

Place the cleaned butternut squash seeds on a sheet pan, and coat with avocado oil. Season with salt and pepper. (Image 7)

Roast for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown and toasty. (Image 8)

⭑Pro tip: Keep a close on on the seeds, as they will cook quickly.

To make fried sage, simply heat avocado oil, in a deep saucepan, then add fresh sage and fry for 15-20 seconds until crispy. Sprinkle with salt!

Now, to assemble, simply glaze the chicken with the remaining glaze, more balsamic glaze, freshly grated parmesan cheese, roasted butternut squash seeds, and fried sage leaves if desired.

We also like to serve this meal on a bed of grains like farro, and lightly dressed greens like arugula for an absolutely delicious, restaurant-quality meal! Enjoy!

✨Top Tips

• Prep the ingredients. This recipe is easy to make, but it's important to prep all of the vegetables so everything comes together quickly and efficiently.
• Cut the veggies evenly. This ensures even cooking. Try to cut things as equally in size as possible.
• Don't overcrowd the sheet pan. Use a large sheet pan to ensure the veggies get crispy instead of steam.
• Pat the chicken thighs dry. Use paper towels to make sure the chicken skin is nice and dry to help them get crispy.
• Don't skip crisping up the chicken skin! Not only does this taste incredible, but it also helps the chicken stay juicy while roasting in the oven.
• Cook the glaze as needed and adjust. If you'd like the glaze to be thicker, continue simmering until it thickens to your liking. Please keep in mind that the glaze will thicken as it cools! For a thinner glaze, add some water, chicken stock, or even extra oil.