This maple ginger chicken tray bake with fennel is a flavourful fall recipe and perfect for a busy weeknight dinner. It is full of healthy vegetables, and with a pop of sweetness from the blueberries. I think this makes it the perfect family meal! A gluten-free and low histamine dinner recipe.
Chicken recipes can be so versatile, with so many different seasonings. If your family loves an easy chicken dinner, then you may like to also see my brown butter and sage chicken and pesto chicken skewers. Both flavourful and easy to make!
For another ginger recipe, my honey ginger grilled chicken is perfect for summer!
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Why this recipe is so good
- Family dinner - perfect for all the family, and a busy weeknight as the oven does the work for you!
- Fall flavours - the squash and fennel make it especially nice during the fall season, but it can be enjoyed year-round of course!
- Easy to make - this really does have very little 'hands on' time.
Ingredients
This fall chicken tray bake only requires a few ingredients, plus those for the dressing. You will need:
- Chicken breasts: this recipe serves two people (generously), so purchase chicken breasts to your appetite! If they are larger in size, then you may wish to cut into smaller fillets as I have done here.
- Squash: the quintessential fall vegetable (well, fruit technically). Slice into wedges.
- Fennel: an often overlooked vegetable I feel, but has a lovely aniseed flavour.
- Blueberries: used as a swap for grapes, they burst and go jammy when cooked in the oven.
- Maple syrup: the sweetness in the dressing.
- Ginger: use fresh if you can, and adapt the quantity to your taste preference.
- Olive oil: the base of the dressing.
- Garlic: use fresh if you can, or garlic powder in a pinch if you are out.
Variations on the recipe
Grapes are a somewhat debated food in terms of histamine. The SIGHI list rates them as low histamine (0 on their list), but other lists rate them higher.
If you tolerate grapes well then you can use them in place of the blueberries in this recipe.
Make sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients and their quantities!
Step by step instructions
The beauty of tray bake or sheet pan recipes (never sure which term to use!) is their simplicity, which makes them perfect for an easy weeknight dinner. It really is a case of adding ingredients to your tray and letting the oven do the work for you.
Step 1
After making the maple ginger dressing, add the vegetables and fruit to the tray and drizzle half the dressing over them. Toss to combine so they are evenly coated.
Step 2
Place the chicken breasts (I cut mine into two as they were on the larger side) on the squash and fennel and then spoon the rest of the dressing over them. You can use a brush if you like to ensure the chicken is coated.
Then bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until the chicken has thoroughly cooked through, with an internal temperature of 165F at its thickest part.
If you like, then scatter some fresh thyme (or herb of choice) over the traybake to serve. Then enjoy!
Which type of squash to use?
I use dumpling squash for this recipe, but there are so many other varieties of squash that are delicious when baked. Butternut squash, acorn squash and buttercup squash are all great options.
Which fresh herbs to use?
I am quite a fan of thyme for its flavour, but also because it is a reputed antihistamine. If thyme isn't your choice though, then parsley would be nice on this traybake.
More chicken recipes to enjoy
Find lots of tasty ideas, including my pesto chicken tray bake for another simple dinner idea, as well as my very popular rosemary chicken fillets. Some recent recipes:
I’m always in the kitchen, so come join me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to be the first to hear of new recipes. And please do leave a star rating if you tried the recipe!
Recipe
Maple ginger chicken tray bake
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts divide into smaller pieces if required
- 1 small squash
- 1 fennel fronds removed, de-cored and sliced
- 1 cup blueberries
- small handful thyme leaves
For the maple ginger dressing
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 cm ginger grated
- 1 garlic clove finely diced or minced
- pinch salt
- pinch black pepper optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C.
- Make the maple ginger dressing by combining all the ingredients and stirring well.
- Arrange the squash, fennel and blueberries on a baking tray and drizzle over half the dressing. Toss to combine. Add the chicken breasts to the tray and spoon over the remaining dressing. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked through (internal temperature of 165F).
- Garnish with fresh thyme leaves, and then serve.
Notes
- If your chicken breasts are on the larger side, then cut into smaller pieces.
- Try to spoon the dressing over the chicken so that it acts as a marinade.
- To ensure the chicken is thoroughly cooked, use a meat thermometer and check for an internal temperature of 165F.
- ginger, which scores 1.
- garlic, which scores 1.
- black pepper, which scores 2.
Jayne says
Thank you for sharing this - so easy and delicious -we really enjoyed it! I used chicken legs (both the drumstick and skin-on thigh) that I had frozen and wanted to use up. We needed a low histamine - SIBO friendly meal and this was great! The chicken was lovely and tender (baked for 20mins first to defrost), the carnival squash was delish with the maple dressing and juice from the blueberries! YUM! Add to the that the fact that it's so easy to make, and it's a winner! Look forward to making it again!
Claire says
Hi Jayne, so glad you liked the recipe and it worked both for low histamine and SIBO! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review! 🙂