Roasted Jerk Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes

Roasted Jerk Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes

Switch up your regular chicken dinner routine with this Jamaican-inspired paleo Roasted Jerk Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes! The trick is to cook a pan of vegetables under the chicken thighs, so the chicken juices drip down onto the vegetables as they cook. Serve it up with an easy creamy honey-jalapeno sauce to bump up the flavor even more!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Jamaican

Keyword Jerk Chicken Thighs

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1 10

Time for the Chicken to Marinade 12

Servings servings

Calories 564kcal

Author Faith Gorsky

Ingredients

Homemade Jerk Spice Mix (you will use all of this for this recipe):

1 tablespoon coconut sugar or light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper more or less to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Jerk Chicken Thighs:

Homemade Jerk Spice Mix minus 2 teaspoons for the sweet potato portion of this recipe
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon coconut aminos or soy sauce or tamari sauce
1 tablespoon avocado oil
1 tablespoon coconut sugar or light brown sugar
4 pounds bone-in skin-on chicken thighs this was 8 large-ish thighs

Jerk Sweet Potatoes:

1 pound sweet potatoes or yams, cubed into 1/2-inch pieces (1 large sweet potato, which is about 3 1/2 cups cubed)
1 large onion chopped
2 teaspoons Homemade Jerk Spice Mix
1 tablespoon avocado oil

Creamy Honey Jalapeno Sauce:

1/2 cup canned full-fat unsweetened coconut milk or 1/2 cup cashew “cream” (see Note)
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno more or less to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
1/2 tablespoon honey
1/16 teaspoon salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For the Homemade Jerk Spice Mix:

Combine all ingredients for the spice blend in a bowl. Measure out 2 teaspoons for the sweet potato.

To Marinade the Jerk Chicken Thighs:

Whisk together the jerk spice mix, vinegar, coconut aminos, oil, and sugar in a large bowl.
Stir in the chicken, cover, and refrigerate 12 to 24 hours.
Let the chicken sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking.

To Cook the Jerk Chicken Thighs and Jerk Sweet Potatoes:

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Prep the sweet potato. To do so, put the sweet potato in a medium-sized saucepan and cover with water by 2 inches. Cover the saucepan, bring up to a boil, and then cock the lid, turn down the heat so it doesn’t boil over, and boil 4 minutes. Drain and stir together the par-cooked sweet potato with the onion, and jerk spice mix.
Brush the bottom of a large roasting pan with the oil and spread the potato/onion mixture out in an even layer. Securely fit a wire rack over the top of the roasting pan and arrange the chicken on top, skin side up.
Roast until the chicken is fully cooked (there should be no pink when you cut into it), about 1 hour.

To Make the Creamy Honey Jalapeno Sauce:

Meanwhile, stir together all ingredients for the sauce and keep refrigerated until serving.

To Serve:

Serve the chicken and sweet potato hot along with the cool sauce to drizzle on top.

Notes

Cashew “Cream”: My recipe for Cashew Cream is on Healthy Sweet Eats; just skip the vanilla and use water or non-dairy “milk” instead of maple syrup. Alternatively, if keeping this paleo isn’t a concern, instead of coconut milk or cashew cream, you can use plain unsweetened yogurt or sour cream thinned out with a splash of water.

Nutrition