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Chicken and chickpea traybake

A one-tray dinner that scales to whatever protein target you set.

Chicken thighs roasted over chickpeas and onion wedges, seasoned with cumin and good olive oil. Everything cooks on one tray, so the chickpeas crisp in the chicken fat while the onion softens underneath. The chicken is the ingredient that flexes: set a protein target and the tray adjusts around it.

Chicken and chickpea traybake, plated
Placeholder image — photography for this recipe has not been taken yet.

About chicken and chickpea traybake

PLACEHOLDER. This tray started as a way of using up a tin of chickpeas and turned into the thing we cook when nobody has decided what dinner is. It asks for one tray, one oven and about ten minutes of attention.

Placeholder image standing in for a photograph of the raw ingredients on a tray.
Placeholder image — photography for this recipe has not been taken yet.

PLACEHOLDER. The chickpeas go underneath rather than alongside. They sit in the fat that renders off the thighs and come out somewhere between roasted and fried, which is the entire reason the dish is worth making.

Placeholder image standing in for a photograph of chickpeas spread under the chicken.
Placeholder image — photography for this recipe has not been taken yet.

PLACEHOLDER. Onion wedges rather than slices, cut through the root so they hold together. Sliced onion disappears into the tray; wedges keep enough body to be worth eating on their own.

Placeholder image standing in for a photograph of onion wedges cut through the root.
Placeholder image — photography for this recipe has not been taken yet.

PLACEHOLDER. Cumin goes on before the oil, not after. Dry spice on wet skin sits where you put it; spice scattered over oil slides off into the tray and burns.

Placeholder image standing in for a photograph of the finished tray.
Placeholder image — photography for this recipe has not been taken yet.

PLACEHOLDER. It reheats better than it has any right to, and the chickpeas stay crisp for a day if you leave the tray uncovered. Scale it to whatever protein target you need using the controls below.

How to make chicken and chickpea traybake

  1. The ingredients for the traybake laid out together: chicken thighs, a tin of chickpeas, two brown onions, olive oil, ground cumin and salt.

    Step 1

    Everything you need, ready to go. Get the chickpeas drained and the onion cut before the oven comes up to temperature — once the chicken is coated you want to be able to fill the tray straight away.

  2. Chicken thighs coated in olive oil and lemon juice in a glass bowl.

    Step 2

    Start with the tray. Spread 2 cups (280g) brown onion across the base in thick wedges, so everything above roasts rather than sitting in its own liquid.

  3. No photo yet

    Step 3

    Season in a bowl. Coat 600g chicken thigh in 2 Tbsp 2 tsp (40 mL) olive oil, 2 tsp (5.3g) ground cumin and 1 tsp (6g) salt before it touches the tray — seasoning it in the tray gets it everywhere except the chicken.

  4. No photo yet

    Step 4

    Watch the edges. The tray comes out when the 1½ cups (258.75g) chickpeas at the edges have gone properly brown, which is a better signal than the clock because trays and ovens differ.

Recipe card

Prep
15 min
Cook
35 min
Total
50 min
Serves
4

Adjust this recipe

Make

the recipe as written

Changes the nutrition figures below only — the ingredient amounts stay as they are. Choosing a batch size resets this to suit it.

Ingredients

  • Chicken thigh600g
  • Chickpeas1½ cups (258.75g)
  • Brown onion2 cups (280g)
  • Olive oil2 Tbsp 2 tsp (40 mL)
  • Ground cumin2 tsp (5.3g)
  • SaltNote1 tsp (6g)

    Salt does not scale linearly. At a large tray, add about three quarters of this and taste before adding the rest.

Tbsp = tablespoon, tsp = teaspoon.

Method

  1. 1

    Heat the oven. Set it to 220C fan-forced while you cut 2 cups (280g) brown onion into thick wedges, root end left intact so they hold together.

  2. 2
    Build the base. Spread the onion over a large roasting tray, then drain and rinse 1½ cups (258.75g) chickpeas and scatter them between the wedges.Note

    Pat the chickpeas dry first if you want them properly crisp — wet chickpeas steam.

  3. 3
    Season the chicken. Toss 600g chicken thigh with 2 Tbsp 2 tsp (40 mL) olive oil, 2 tsp (5.3g) ground cumin and 1 tsp (6g) salt until evenly coated, using your hands rather than a spoon.Note

    Hold back a little of the oil to drizzle over the chickpeas before the tray goes in.

  4. 4

    Lay it out. Arrange the chicken over the tray in a single layer, leaving space between the pieces — crowded chicken steams instead of roasting.

  5. 5

    Roast and rest. Give it 35 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the chickpeas have caught colour at the edges, then rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition

Nutrition

Per serve

NutrientAmount per servePercentage of daily intake
Energy1,419 kJ16%
Protein33.9 g68%
Protein from animal sourcesFoods and food products where more than half of the protein is from an animal source are included here. This protein figure is an approximate value.28.7 g
Fat, total15.3 g22%
— saturated2.9 g12%
Carbohydrate13.1 g4%
— sugars4.5 g5%
Dietary fibre5.4 g18%
Sodium838 mg36%

About these %DI figures

Percentage daily intake is based on an average adult diet of 8,700 kJ. It is a single fixed reference and is not adjusted for your age, sex, body size or activity level.

These figures are calculated from composition data for the raw ingredients on this page. This is not a nutrition information panel.

Vitamins and minerals— example figures, not yet calculated
Niacin equivalents24.1 mg151%
Phosphorus612 mg61%
Zinc5.8 mg41%
Iron4.4 mg37%
Folate142 µg36%
Magnesium98 mg23%

Nutrients are listed by %DI, highest first, with no cap on how many appear. The threshold that decides which surface is still to be chosen. Figures above are placeholders — nothing computes them yet.

Data & sources

Source and attribution

Nutrient figures on this page are derived from the Australian Food Composition Database (AFCD) — Release 3 and AUSNUT 2023.

© Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Copyright and licensing information: foodstandards.gov.au/legal-policies/copyright.

Changes made to the source data

The figures shown here are not reproduced from the source databases as published. They are calculated from FSANZ values for the specific ingredient amounts on this page, and the figure for protein from animal sources groups foods by an animal-or-plant classification that is this site’s own and is not part of any FSANZ dataset. Thyme to Plate is not connected with or endorsed by Food Standards Australia New Zealand, which has not reviewed these calculations.

Limitation of Data Statement

There are limitations associated with food composition databases. Food composition data used in the database or databases may represent an average of the nutrient content of a particular sample of foods and ingredients, determined at a particular time. The nutrient composition of foods and ingredients can vary substantially between batches and brands because of a number of factors, including changes in season, processing practices and ingredient source, and methods of calculation.

Australian data

This work is based on Australian data, and Australian data may not be appropriate for use in other countries.

Licence

The source data is used under the FSANZ Data User Licence Agreement: foodstandards.gov.au/science-data/monitoringnutrients/afcd/datauserlicenceagreement

Cooking losses

Micronutrient retention factors are not yet applied, so vitamins and minerals are overstated for anything boiled and drained. Energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, sugars and dietary fibre are unaffected — they are mass-conserved.

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