Chicken leg tray bake

by kristen · Published June 16, 2023 · Updated June 16, 2023

I love when I stumble on something on the sale rack at my local grocery that I have never used to cook with. I am a huge fan of capers, regularly going for the picatta if I am splurging on a pasta meal. However, when I saw jarred caperberries, such as these from DeLallo marked down at 50% off, I simply had to buy and try! I immediately started a search for recipes that could use this unusual ingredient and found a chicken leg tray bake that would fit the bill.

Not only did this recipe have a cut of chicken that my husband loves and is incredibly inexpensive (chicken legs), it also is a tray bake, which is one of my absolute favorite types of easy, weeknight meals. A one pan wonder, with the addition of bread, which adds a heartiness to the meal, but also the glorious crunch when the bread takes on the fat from the chicken while roasting in the oven.

I am a lover of the lemon. If you give me a recipe that roasts, toasts, warms or broils a lemon, I am all about it!! The original recipe that I found is called Chicken Roasted on Bread with Caperberries and Charred Lemons, from Food and Wine. The ingredients are simple and include my ever loved lemon, as well as these mystical caperberries! I have made this recipe a couple times now and have added my own spin and can provide some advice. I also make this for 2, which is roughly (I went heavy on the bread) half of the original recipe, but you can double to make 4 servings. My adusted ingredients and instructions below:

Ingredients

2 large whole chicken legs

2 medium red onions – slice off the top just enough to allow the onions to sit flat. Leave root end intact, but peel outer layer off and discard. Sit onions up and cut into 4 quadrants, just leaving a about a quarter to a half inch left at bottom, so it appears as an onion flower. See pic below as example of cooked red onion:

1/4 – 1/2 pound of crusty bread. Original recipe calls for sourdough, but a day old French baguette or Ciabatta could do the trick. Rip the bread into 1 inch square pieces (roughly). Do not go too small on these. You want them to crisp on the outside, but leave a little bit of moisture in.

1/2 cup of jarred caperberries, drained. If you are buying this item to simply try it, do not be tempted to add all of them to use up the jar. It will cause the chicken dish to be too briney in the end. Put aside the others and use on a charcuterie board for your next hosted gatheting. If anything, these caperberries present themselves well. Any tray is sexier with them on it!

2 lemons, cleaned and halved

3 Tbsp. cup of grapeseed oil – stick with me on this one. If you are not buying this amazing oil, go out and get it. EVOO is only made for low temp cooking. We are going to blast the fire in this recipe, so go with the tried and true grapeseed. If you do not have this on hand, vegetable or canola will do!

8 garlic cloves, in the skin, but smashed a bit to let out flavor

Salt, Pepper, and if desired, a dash or 2 of rosemary or thyme

Instruction

This is where the simplicity comes in. Everything goes into one tray! Limiting the mess is always a benefit!

As well, I learned that this can make a heck of a mess on your baking tray, so a layer of parchment will be your savior. Aluminum foil, if you do not have parchment

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss the caperberries, bread, onions, garlic and lemons in a large bowl with roughly a tsp. of salt and pepper and other spices you may want to add. Especially ensure that the bread is fully coated. If you need a bit more oil, drizzle more on and mix it all up.

Put mixture on baking tray and arrange the chicken legs on top. Brush legs with a bit more oil, season generously with salt and pepper

Roast until the chicken leg is registering 160 degrees at the thickest part of the thigh. Start checking temp at about 40 mins, but expect anywhere between 40-60 mins, depending on your oven. You will have a crispy skin on the chicken, tender, juicy meat, sweet red onions, crunchy bread nuggets, briney caperberries and lemons that, when squeezed over top, are like candy on the dish!! Enjoy!