As you’ve probably heard by now, cinnamon is an excellent source of antioxidants. In my house, we literally cook with it morning, noon and night. As a Middle Eastern gal, my family has been preparing savory dishes with cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and other woody spices my entire life so it is no surprise that it is my go-to spice when roasting chicken.
If you typically think of oatmeal when someone mentions cinnamon, I urge you to experiment at dinnertime. Here are a few recipes to get you started:
Baked Stuffed Eggplant with Beef and Pine Nuts
Roast Chicken with Apples, Onions and Sweet Potatoes
Beef Shawarma with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
Slow Cooked Lebanese Green Beans with Beef
Your fork is waiting.
Apple Cider Roasted Chicken with Butternut Squash
Author: Liz DellaCroce | The Lemon Bowl
Nutrition Information
- Serves: 4
- Serving size: 1 breast + 1 c squash
- Calories: 250
- Fat: 5.5 g
- Saturated fat: .5 g
- Unsaturated fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 24.7 g
- Sugar: 6.9 g
- Sodium: 885 mg
- Fiber: 3.8 g
- Protein: 30.2 g
- Cholesterol: 75 mg
Recipe type: Entree
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Apple cider and olive oil is used to keep the lean chicken breasts moist while roasting. By keeping the garlic cloves whole, they roast in their skin and become caramelized, sweet and creamy.
Ingredients
- 4 c butternut squash – peeled and cut in cubes
- 12 cloves garlic – whole, skin-on
- ½ c apple cider
- 4 chicken breasts – boneless, skinless (about 6 oz each)
- 1 tbs cinnamon
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- chopped parsley – optional garnish
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 and line a roasting pan with foil.
- Scatter butternut squash cubes and whole garlic cloves on bottom of the roasting pan then pour apple cider on top.
- Place chicken breasts on top of the squash/garlic and drizzle with olive oil.
- Season chicken and squash with cinnamon, salt and pepper. (Don’t be afraid to use your hands – these breasts need to be evenly coated and well seasoned!)
- Cover pan loosely with foil and bake for 45 minutes or until chicken reaches internal cooking temperature of 165.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I saw another chicken recipe that called for cinnamon the other day, and have to admit to being intrigued. It’s not a flavor combo I would normally put together at all, but this looks really good!
It does seem like an odd combo but once you try it you will love he warm, cozy feeling it gives you! I promise.
This looks fantastic, Liz! Perfect for fall.
Thanks friend!! I heart Fall.
Oh, this sounds wonderful! I need to do more cooking with cinnamon!
It’s so yummy and I love it because you almost always have cinnamon laying around.
Yum! I just finished off the last of the cinnamon in my kids oatmeal this morning-LOL! This dish looks delicious. I especially love sweet & savory dishes. Pinning now!
Yea!! Let me know what you think!!! We are cinnamon addicts too.
Made it….delish!
So glad to hear!!
Oh my–this looks fabulous. I only put cinnamon in a greek chicken dish I make. I’ll have to give this one a try!
Let me know what you think!! Would love to hear about your Greek dish!
So. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but I roasted this for an hour and 20 minutes and a)the chicken STILL wasn’t cooked through and b)the butternut squash had not softened. I didn’t really taste the apple cider vinegar on the chicken either, even though i made sure I mixed it good (with my hands!) with the cider vinegar and olive oil. Should I have marinated it a bit? Should I have cooked it at a bit higher temp? Should I covered it better with foil? So disappointing…
WOW!! An hour and 20 minutes? Hmm..I wonder if your chicken breasts were extremely thick? Perhaps next time try cutting them in half before placing them in the oven? Still bizarre. As for the apple cider vinegar, the recipe does not call for that ingredient. It calls for apple cider, the drink.
BIG difference!! I hope you can try this again with delicious, sweet apple cider!
Omg, I can’t believe I made that mistake- it didn’t even occur to me it WASN’T apple cider vinegar! Well, that explains that. The breasts were a bit plump, but the squash didn’t look soft like yours in the picture at all, in fact, I turned up the heat to 400 and roasted it for another 20 minutes. I wonder if the vinegar made a difference some how. I will try this again with the cider this time! Thanks.
Too funny!!! Glad we figured it out!! Keep me posted.
Do you think apple juice would work instead of apple cider? I always have juice around, but never cider. Maybe compensate by adding extra spices since that’s the only difference I notice?
Apple juice would be perfect substitution for the cider!
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