This Harissa Chicken Traybake is a super easy recipe with moist roast chicken with spicy, earthy, fruity, sweet and sour flavours. It hits all the right spots, and is perfect with rice, couscous, potatoes or bread. Any kind of bread.
This is so perfect for midweek meals, but it is just as at home served during the weekends. In fact, it makes a splendid meal for entertaining friends too.
I’ve been running a series of classes focusing on easy midweek meals, and traybakes seem to have formed about half of those recipes! The challenge, after about a dozen of them, was to ensure that they didn’t all start to resemble each other!
And because many of my students end up being my blog readers, the inevitable question popped up halfway through the course:
Why are these recipes not on your blog?
So here goes, the first of many traybake recipes! Or sheet pan recipes, in American speak!
What are Traybake Recipes?
Traybakes started life as sweet recipes. Let’s break it down:
Tray + bake = Traybake
Something that is meant to be baked in a tray, cut up and served. Like traybake cakes shallow, rectangular cakes and brownies. Rather confusingly, not all traybake recipes are baked, like fudge!
Savoury Traybake Recipes
Using the same theme, savoury traybakes are recipes where all the ingredients are placed in the tray and baked, like our Harissa Chicken Traybake recipe today. Naturally, you can use all manner of meat and vegetables for your traybakes.
And it goes without saying that vegan and vegetarian traybakes are pretty common and easy to make too. Just look out for them in the coming months.
Harissa Chicken Traybake Recipe
As mentioned, it’s super easy to do. Besides the oil and seasoning, we have:
- chicken
- capsicum (bell peppers)
- carrots
- onions
- harissa (click for homemade recipe)
- parsley
All we do is place them all in a tray, season and bake (roast) for 45 minutes. I have more recipes coming where we’ll add starch in the form of potatoes and sweet potatoes to turn the traybake into a complete meal. But not today!
If you do want to add potatoes to this recipe, just cut your potatoes into wedges, parboil for 5-7 minutes until a knife goes through easily, but before the potatoes show signs of breaking up around the edges. Drain and toss into the tray with everything else.
What is Harissa?
Click here for homemade recipe. Harissa is a North African chilli paste, earthy and smoky in flavour. At its very basic, it has chillies, garlic, salt, olive oil and lemon juice and very frequently, also cumin, coriander and caraway seeds.
It has become quite a common paste here in the UK, and you can find it easily in our supermarkets like Waitrose and Tesco. But, I urge you to make your own if you have the time. Make it and keep it the fridge to use during the week.
Having tasted the real thing in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, I can tell you that those shop bought harissa pastes are insipid imitations, at best.
However, if you really, really, really don’t want to make your own harissa, a good shop bought one will still give you a delicious recipe.
What Chicken portion to use?
To me, chicken thighs or chicken legs will give you the best flavour, and skin on is always the business. We are using chicken thighs here.
However, if you are watching your weight or just don’t do chicken thighs and skin for health reasons, use skinless chicken breasts, by all means. Just cut down on the cooking time to 30 minutes.
Right then, shall we get cooking?
More Chicken Recipes on LinsFood
Kou Shui Ji, Sichuan Chicken in Chilli Oil, aka Saliva Chicken! 
Yemeni Chicken Mandi 
Green Chilli Chicken with Tomatillo 
Ayam Assam Serani (Eurasian Chicken Curry) 
Roast Chicken with Sichuan Peppercorns 
Doro Wot (Ethiopian Chicken Stew)
♥ Do you like this recipe? Please give it a 5-star rating below! And when you make it, share it on Instagram or any other social medium and tag me @azlinbloor. Thank you … Lin ♥
Harissa Chicken Traybake (Sheet Pan Harissa Chicken)
Ingredients
- 4 boneless chicken thighs
- 1 large brown onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 capsicums bell pepper of 2 colours
- 1 large carrot or 2 handfuls baby carrots
- 1 handful flat leaf parsley curly will do too
Flavourings
- 2 Tbsp EV olive oil
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 3 Tbsp harissa
- 1 tsp salt
- lots of freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat the oven up to 190˚C (375˚F).
Prep the veg
- Quarter the onion and separate the layers.
- Cut the capsicum into thick slices.
- If using a large carrot, cut it into thick fingers.
- Chop the parsley up finely.
Let’s Cook
- Tip all the vegetables into the tray, followed by the chicken.
- Drizzle the olive oil and lemon juice all over.
- Spoon the harissa over.
- Season with the salt and pepper.
- Scatter the parsley all over.
- Mix everything up well, rubbing the marinade under the chicken skin too.
- Roast in the oven for 45 minutes.
- When done, leave to rest for 5 minutes, then serve immediately.
Exceptional recipe Azlin. Perfect for weekdays, as you dump-and-bake and in 45 mins you’re good to go. We love all the ingredients of Harissa and being huge fans of spices we know we’re gonna love your beautiful recipe! xoxo
Thank you, guys! xx
I’ve never made harissa from scratch, but I’m tempted!
I like baking as the juice becomes a costar. I even once added water while baking chicken to see if I can cook pasta at the same time and miserably failed!
Yes, I agree, I love roasts and recipes that come wth their own sauce or gravy! Thank you, Kenta.
This looks really amazing. I saw your video of it on youtube, and it really did look so easy. Is the harissa hot? I’m planning next week’s menu and would love to include this but am worried the paste is hot. Thanks Azlin.
Hi Helen, in my experience, shop bought harissa outside of North Africa, especially the ones that come out of a jar, are not spicy at all. Try it first and also check the ingredients list to see how much chillies there are. As you probably know, the lower down the ingredient the less you have of it.
Otherwise, take a look at the harissa recipe on this site. I suggest using red capsicum (bell pepper) instead of chillies if you really don’t want the heat. Let me know how it goes.
Just writing to tell you that we had this for lunch yesterday. It was so easy and everybody loved it, including the kids. We used a jar of harissa, but I’m planning to make it again with your harissa recipe. Thank you, Azlin.
Awesome, thanks for letting me know! Always a pleasure to hear from satisfied readers! x
omg this looks so tasty, Azlin. i’m going to try cooking this today. thanks for an amazingly well put together recipe
Thank you, Sheila. How did it go?
Lol, we loved it so much, I made it again the very next day! We have friends coming for dinner tomorrow and guess what the main is? Yup your traybake!
I just love this recipe. If I use chicken breasts, should I have the skin on or off? I’m going to make this for lunch tomorrow, have some friends coming over.
Hi Lynn, I always think with the skin on, as it keeps the meat moist and chicken skin is one of the joys of life! If you don’t like chicken skin, be sure to baste the meat halfway through. You might also want to give the vegetables a 10-minute cooking start.
Wow, this is so fab! It looks amazing, yet the recipe sounds really easy. I am definitely making this soon. I think I’ll add potatoes and make a meal of it. Thanks Lin.
A pleasure, Pam. Let me know how it goes.