Oven Barbequed Chicken and Sweet Potato Fries

Last night’s dinner started with a salad:

Salad with spinach, lettuce, mushrooms, grape tomatoes, red onions, and vidalia onion vinaigrette.

And included a barbequed chicken thigh with red onions:

Oven barbequed chicken thigh

And delicious, spicy sweet potato fries, baked in the oven:

Spicy oven-baked sweet potato fries.

I asked Aaron how he would rate this meal, and he responded that he was probably not an impartial judge, as he seems to love everything that I cook. I told him that he had better be biased towards my cooking! 😀

To make the barbeque chicken, I called my mom and asked for advice. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been a vegan for most of my cooking “career”, and am not sure about certain things when it comes to cooking meat. She suggested that if I cook the chicken in the oven, I should let it cook for about 30 minutes without barbeque sauce, then add the sauce and let the chicken finish cooking. She also suggested placing the chicken on slices of onion when adding the barbeque sauce – I’m glad I did this, the onions in barbeque sauce were sweet and delicious. So, here’s the recipe I’ve worked out.

Oven Barbequed Chicken Recipe (makes two servings):

What you need:

• Two chicken thighs, bones in and skin on
• Non-stick cooking spray
• Two thick slices of onion
• Barbeque sauce (I used Sauer’s, which is vinegar-y and good, and made by a company founded here in Richmond)
• Salt and pepper

How to do it:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a glass baking dish with foil, spray with non-stick cooking spray. Season both sides of the chicken lightly with salt and pepper – don’t use too much, since more flavor will be added from the barbeque sauce. Place chicken in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, until chicken is almost done.
2. Remove chicken from the oven. Place the onion slices in the bottom of the dish, and place the chicken thighs on top of the onion. Coat the chicken with a generous amount of barbeque sauce. Put chicken back in the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until chicken is done. The USDA says that chicken should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit – use a meat thermometer to check.
3. Remove barbeque chicken from the oven and enjoy, along with the saucy onions.

Sweet Potato Fries Recipe (makes two servings):

What you need:

• 1-2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into thin, french fry-like pieces
• Canola or vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. coriander
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• cayenne pepper, to taste (optional)
• salt and pepper

How to do it:

1. Fries can be cooked at the same time as the oven barbequed chicken, above. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the raw sweet potato fries on the sheet, drizzle with oil, and toss to coat.
2. Season the fries with cumin, chili powder, coriander, paprika, cayenne (if using), and salt and pepper. Place fries in the oven and bake until the fries are crispy, 20-30 minutes.
3. Remove fries from oven and enjoy!

This meal turned out to be a very cheap one indeed! The two chicken thighs cost about $1.75, the sweet potato was about $1, and I used maybe $1 worth of  sauce, spices, oil, and so forth. The salads were approximately $1 each. That means that this meal cost $2.88 per serving, if my math is right. 🙂 Not bad.

Sweet potato fries are both delicious and good for you! Nutritiondata says that one medium sweet potato has 105 calories, 4g of fiber, and a whopping 438% of the recommended daily value for vitamin A. Baking the “fries” rather than frying means a lot less fat and calories, and they are just as crispy and delicious when it’s all said and done. Yum.

Here’s another “just because” Pigeon picture. She’s playing tug-of-war with a string… but I like to think she’s pulling you further and further into my blog. 😉 Pull, Pigeon, Pull!

Good kitty!