One Skillet Chicken Thighs With Roasted Grapes & Blue Cheese is an easy meal prep recipe that combines the best of both sweet and savory. Serve with fresh greens for added brightness. Gluten-Free.
We can never get enough of chicken meal preps, but this one might have you a little puzzled.
You might be wondering why you'd put red grapes in a savory dish, but wait until you taste what happens when you cook with this popular after-school snack and lunch box staple. It'll change your mind.
This meal prep recipe is a simple combination of chicken thighs, crisp red grapes, blue cheese and warm fall spices that is best served with greens or a big chunk of crusty bread. It can work as a hearty meal prep lunch, a fast weeknight dinner or even a meal to be served to family and friends at a weekend gathering.
One Skillet Chicken Thighs with Roasted Grapes and Blue Cheese Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skin-on chicken thighs (3-4 small thighs)
- 1 pound red grapes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ground star anise, or 1 whole star
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- 6 tablespoon mild, creamy blue cheese, such as gorgonzola
- Several sprigs fresh thyme
- Fresh lemon, sliced
- 2 cups arugula
How to Make One Skillet Chicken Thighs
It's important to use a skillet that you can put in the oven because this dish starts on the stovetop and transfers to the oven to cook. Start off by seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper, along with cinnamon and star anise. Cook the chicken in a hot skillet with a little olive oil until the skin is nice and seared and crispy. Add the grapes to the pan and transfer to the oven to bake completely. When it's ready, remove the pan from the oven and add the thyme and blue cheese.
How to Store and Serve One Skillet Chicken Thighs
Prep this ahead of time and store it in airtight containers. You might consider leaving off the blue cheese and adding that before serving, unless you're ok with the fact that the blue cheese will melt a bit when you reheat this dish. We're ok with that! Serve with lemon slices and over baby arugula, if desired. We'd also like rice (cauliflower rice or otherwise) or quinoa with this dish or roasted potatoes. Buttered noodles would go great, too.
You can freeze this entire dish (with the exception of the arugula) ahead of time and defrost in the fridge or the microwave, or cook from frozen in the oven at 350 F, covered, for 20 to 30 minutes.
Substitutions and Customizations
If you are looking to lower the fat a bit on the recipe for this One Skillet Chicken Thighs With Roasted Grapes and Blue Cheese recipe, you can use skinless chicken thighs in place of skin on or even boneless, skinless chicken breast. Just be sure to adjust your cooking time accordingly.
As mentioned above, we like to pair it with fresh greens (we used arugula here) or crusty bread, but this would also be amazing served with quinoa, brown rice, or any other of your favorite grains; or grain substitutes like quinoa or cauliflower rice. For those who aren't fans of blue cheese, give feta or goat cheese a try! They will work just as well!
You could also make this dish with something like a Chinese 5-spice powder, and that would work well with the combination of flavors, too, if you didn't have star anise or wanted to use a spice blend you already have on hand. The flavors will be similar and complementary.
Meal Prep Recipe Video:
More One-Skillet and One-Pan Dishes!
- One Pan Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Grapes and Sausage Meal Prep
- Savory Almond Butter Chicken Thigh Skillet
- 20 Minute Chicken Lemon Broccoli Pasta Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skin-on chicken thighs 3-4 small
- 1 pound red grapes
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ground star anise or 1 whole star NOT anise (make sure it says star anise)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- salt & pepper
- 6 tbs mild and creamy blue cheese such as gorgonzola
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- fresh lemon sliced
- 2 cups arugula
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Season the chicken with ground cinnamon, star anise, salt & pepper.
- In a wide, deep, oven-safe skillet, heat oil over medium high. Add each piece of seasoned chicken, skin-side down and fry for a few minutes or until golden. Flip and cook for a few more minutes. You're not cooking the chicken all the way through, just developing good color on the skin.
- Add your grapes to the skillet and transfer to the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
- Remove from the oven and top with fresh thyme and blue cheese. Serve over arugula with lemon slices and zest, if desired.
