Smoky chicken leg quarters with fresh corn makes a flavorful all-in-one dinner, but this recipe is also great for meal prep when you’re planning the week’s lunches ahead of time!
This week’s trip to my local produce store netted me a pack of cheap chicken leg quarters and some fresh corn on the cob to use up. Normally we’d simply cook both of these up on the grill, but it has been raining up a storm here in the Chicago area lately — so, it really felt more like a good day to find an indoor way to enjoy them.
No rain, no gain: These Smoky Chicken Leg Quarters With Fresh Corn proved to be a beautifully flavorful (not to mention: affordable!) all-in-one chicken dinner.
Cooking the chicken and corn together in one roasting pan results in beautifully juicy corn, while the fresh corn and bell pepper provide a pop of sweetness in a nice contrast to the smoky seasonings in this dish. (I do recommend using homemade seasoned salt here — well, as I do in general, but it pairs especially nicely with the other seasonings in the corn today.)
Smoky Chicken Leg Quarters with Fresh Corn
Ingredients
– for the chicken
1 Tbsp olive oil
3.5 lbs chicken leg quarters (around six, depending on size), trimmed
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
– for the corn
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 ears fresh corn kernels, cut off the cob
1/4 of a medium yellow onion, diced
1 sweet red bell pepper, diced
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp minced garlic (about two cloves)
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Trim the leg quarters and season them on both sides with smoked paprika, garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper. Brown the chicken over medium heat for 5 minutes on each side.
While the chicken is browning, get the corn ready to go. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil to the bottom of a roasting pan, then brush the oil around to make sure it’s coating the bottom of the pan evenly.
Cut the corn kernels off of the cobs, dice the bell pepper and onion, and add all of these veggies to your prepared pan. Season the corn, bell pepper, and onion with smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, seasoned salt, and minced garlic, then stir to coat.
Spread the corn mixture out evenly across the bottom of the roasting pan. Arrange the browned chicken skin-side up on top of the corn.
Roast the chicken and corn at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes, removing the pan from the oven and stirring the veggies halfway through — or until the chicken is cooked through to at least 165 degrees internal temperature.
Remove the finished chicken + corn from the oven, stir the corn mixture, and serve it with the roasted chicken for an easy all-in-one meal.
Note: You can substitute frozen corn, in a pinch or when fresh is out of season!
A juicy & flavorful one pan chicken dinner
This easy one pan chicken dinner really hits the spot! Give it a try the next time you spot leg quarters on sale: Juicy chicken meets juicy corn & peppers — what’s not to like? This smoky chicken leg quarters with fresh corn recipe is also naturally gluten free.
Meal Prep Your Smoky Chicken Leg Quarters with Fresh Corn
Since it was just Mr. 11 and me for dinner, I ended up saving the bulk of our chicken leg quarters and corn in lunch sized portions in separate containers. This was such an easy lunch meal prep for the rest of the week!
My dedicated meal prep containers actually have three compartments. However, since the chicken and corn were cooked together and didn’t require dividing, I just portioned all of the leftovers into individual Sterilite containers to grab and reheat for lunches later in the week. These chicken leg quarters and corn also make a simple and affordable recipe (especially when fresh corn is in season!) to cook up on a Sunday for your weekly meal prep purposes.
Smoky Chicken Leg Quarters with Fresh Corn, printable recipe
Smoky Chicken Leg Quarters With Fresh Corn
Ingredients
– for the chicken
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 3.5 lbs chicken leg quarters (around six, depending on size) trimmed
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- Sea salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
– for the corn
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 4 ears fresh corn kernels cut off the cob
- 1/4 of a medium yellow onion diced
- 1 sweet red bell pepper diced
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
- 1 tsp minced garlic about two cloves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Trim the leg quarters and season them on both sides with smoked paprika, garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper.
- Brown the chicken over medium heat for 5 minutes on each side.
- While the chicken is browning, get the corn ready to go. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil to the bottom of a roasting pan, then brush the oil around to make sure it’s coating the bottom of the pan evenly.
- Cut the corn kernels off of the cobs, dice the bell pepper and onion, and add all of these veggies to your prepared pan.
- Season the corn, bell pepper, and onion with smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, seasoned salt, and minced garlic, then stir to coat.
- Spread the corn mixture out evenly across the bottom of the roasting pan. Arrange the browned chicken skin-side up on top of the corn.
- Roast the chicken and corn at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes, removing the pan from the oven and stirring the veggies halfway through — or until the chicken is cooked through to at least 165 degrees internal temperature.
- Remove the finished chicken + corn from the oven, stir the corn mixture, and serve it with the roasted chicken for an easy all-in-one meal.
Notes
Recipes in the real world
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