Baked Chicken Recipes - Healthy Recipes for Baked Chicken Casserole and more

Oven-cooked to crisp and tender perfection, these healthy baked chicken recipes are great for easy dinners.

You can often vary the ingredients according to what's in season, making great use of fresh produce when it's at its best.

Baked chicken recipes are foolproof, very straightforward, and always appetising and satisfying.

Spicy baked chicken casserole with peppers, chick peas and rice

This is a brilliant dish to make for friends because you can leave it to cook for an hour, and end up with the complete meal in one dish.

Choose a light accompaniment, like a green salad, because it?s quite filling. I tend to use canned chickpeas, but if you want to use dried you?ll need to get organised the day before, to soak them in cold water overnight then, next day, simmer for 20 minutes until tender.

Serves 4: Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/gas 6.

Place a large casserole to heat in the oven. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan, and brown 8 chicken pieces (thighs and drumsticks) all over.

Remove from pan, increase heat and cook 2 sliced yellow peppers and 2 sliced onions until well-browned at the edges.

Add 1 bunch fresh coriander (cilantro), washed and chopped, 3 cloves crushed garlic, 1-2 green chillies, halved, seeded and finely chopped, 3 tsp ground coriander seeds, 100g (1/2 cup) chick peas, 175g (1 cup) basmati rice. Stir well.

.Pour in the juice of 1 large lemon, and 275ml (1 ? cups) chicken stock and bring to the boil. Carefully pour this mixture into the pre-heated casserole.

Stir in 100g (3/4 cup) pitted green olives.

Place the chicken pieces on top, cover and bake for 50-60 minutes until the rice is cooked.

Every cook needs to know how to make baked chicken for those days when you just want to make something that you can put in the oven and forget about until it?s time to eat.

Slow-baked Aromatic Chicken

This is a speedier version of an Italian recipe from Orvieto.

The beauty of this dish is that you can stick it in the oven and forget about it for 90 minutes. Don't panic at the amount of garlic, it turns sweet and mild as it bakes, and the meat ends up meltingly tender.

If there's any left over, you can take the meat off the bone and use it in a pasta sauce the next day.

Serves 6: 6 chicken legs, each cut into 2 pieces, 220g (1 cup) cherry tomatoes, halved, 24 cloves of garlic (no need to skin them),100g (1 cup) black olives, stoned, large handful fresh basil, olive oil.

Heat the oven to 350F/180C/gas 4. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper, and pack tightly, in a single layer, into a roasting tin.

Scatter over the halved tomatoes, black olives, garlic and chopped basil. Pour over a fine line of olive oil.

Bake the dish for around 90 minutes, until the chicken is very tender and falling off the bone.

Serve with new potatoes or pasta. Leave the garlic cloves whole, and let people squish out the juicy innards with their forks as they eat.

Oven-baked Chicken with Vegetables

This is one of those dead simple baked chicken recipes that couldn?t be easier for a satisfying one-dish mid-week meal.

You can use any vegetables that are suitable for baking, such as onions, potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, bell peppers, aubergine (eggplant) or courgette (zucchini).

Some of the more tender veg cook quite quickly, and you might need to add them part-way through the cooking time. If you use potatoes, you won?t need an accompaniment, but if not try serving the dish with rice.

Serves 4: Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/gas 6. Trim any excess fat off 8 chicken thighs and put into a roasting tin with vegetables cut into chunks.

Sprinkle over 1 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary (or 2 tsp dried) and brush with oil.

Bake for approx 1 hr until meat is tender.

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