Spiced chicken traybake with spinach and lentils
Serves: 6
Prep time: 20 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Ant Duncan
Spiced chicken traybake with spinach and lentils
Recipe by Annie Bell
Leafy greens, lentils and chicken are great for brain health
Serves: 6
Prep time: 20 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
573Kcal
Fat
29gr
Saturates
5gr
Carbs
8gr
Sugars
3gr
Fibre
4gr
Protein
61gr
Salt
0.6gr
Annie Bell
Annie started her career as a chef, and is now an award-winning food writer who has written more than a dozen cookbooks. Her recipes are always as beautiful as they are delicious.
Annie Bell
Annie started her career as a chef, and is now an award-winning food writer who has written more than a dozen cookbooks. Her recipes are always as beautiful as they are delicious.
Ingredients
- 2 lemons
- 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
- 3 bay leaves, torn in half
- 1.8-2kg chicken thighs and drumsticks
- 50g pine nuts
For the garlicky spinach and lentils
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 x 260g packs baby spinach
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 x 400g tin green lentils, drained and rinsed
- 1 x 30g pack coriander, leaves coarsely chopped
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tbsp pomegranate seeds
Step by step
- To marinate the chicken, slice one of the lemons, discarding the ends (and any pips), and juice the other. Combine the lemon juice and olive oil, garlic, onion, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and sliced lemon in a large bowl. Add the chicken pieces to the bowl and coat with the marinade. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight.
- To cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 220°C, fan 200°C, gas 7. Season the chicken and arrange skin-side up in a single layer in 2 roasting tins, drizzling over the marinade and tucking the lemon slices in between them. Roast for 45 minutes until golden, scattering over the pine nuts for the final 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, skimming off the excess fat, and leave to rest for 10 minutes while you cook the spinach.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick frying pan over a medium-high heat and stir-fry half the spinach until it wilts, then transfer this to a bowl and cook the remainder in the same way, adding the garlic. Add the first batch of spinach back to the pan and stir in the lentils.
- Heat the lentils through, then remove from the heat and mix in half the coriander, the lemon zest and juice. Serve alongside the chicken, scattering the pomegranate seeds and the rest of the coriander over the spinach.
