Garlic Rosemary Chicken Stuffed Potatoes
Roasted potato halves filled with garlicky chicken, lemon and rosemary, then baked until the tops turn golden and crisp. A high-protein one-tray dinner.
- Total
- 90 min
- Prep 25 · Cook 55 · Rest 10
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Medium
You'll practice: Roasting · Zesting
- Savory
- Oven
Instructions
-
Heat the oven to 200°C. Scrub the 4 potatoes and prick them all over with a fork. Put them on a baking tray and rub with 1 tbsp olive oil and 0.5 tsp salt.
~5 min
Pricking the potatoes lets steam escape so they bake fluffy inside instead of bursting or turning gluey.
-
Bake the potatoes until a knife slides in with no resistance, 45 to 50 minutes. Leave them on the tray until cool enough to handle.
~50 min
Baking whole potatoes first cooks the flesh through so it can be scooped and mashed without raw lumps.
Roasting Roast at a steady 200°C and give potatoes space so they brown rather than steam. Watch for golden edges and a knife sliding in easily.
-
While step 2 cooks
While the potatoes bake, finely chop the 4 garlic cloves and strip and finely chop the rosemary. In a small bowl, mix the chopped garlic, chopped rosemary, 2 tbsp olive oil, 0.5 tsp salt and 0.5 tsp black pepper. Zest the lemon into the bowl, then cut the lemon in half.
~8 min
Zesting Zest only the colored outer peel, stopping before the bitter white pith. Use light pressure and turn the lemon as you go.
-
While step 2 cooks
Cut the 500 g chicken thighs into 2 cm pieces. Put them on a second piece of parchment on the tray beside the potatoes for the last 18 to 20 minutes of baking, until no pink remains and the thickest piece reaches 74°C.
~20 min
Cooking chicken to 74°C ensures it is safe while staying juicy, since thigh meat toughens past that point.
Roasting Roast at a steady 200°C and give potatoes space so they brown rather than steam. Watch for golden edges and a knife sliding in easily.
-
Shred the cooked chicken with two forks and toss it in the bowl with the garlic rosemary oil and the juice of half the lemon.
~5 min
Shredding and dressing the chicken while hot lets it absorb the garlic rosemary oil and lemon juice.
-
Lower the oven to 200°C. Cut the baked potatoes in half lengthways and scoop the flesh into the chicken bowl, leaving a 1 cm shell. Mash and mix, then spoon the filling back into the shells. Bake until the tops are golden and crisp, 12 to 15 minutes.
~15 min
Returning the filled shells to a hot oven dries and browns the exposed filling for a crisp top.
Salting the potato shells before filling draws out surface moisture, which is what lets the tops crisp instead of steaming.
Roasting Roast at a steady 200°C and give potatoes space so they brown rather than steam. Watch for golden edges and a knife sliding in easily.
-
Squeeze the remaining lemon half over the potatoes and rest them 10 minutes before serving.
~10 min
Resting 10 minutes lets the filling set and the juices redistribute so it does not run out when cut.