Hairy Bikers' Spanish chicken bake recipe

When the Hairy Bikers went healthy and became the Hairy Dieters, they discovered that healthy food doesn't need to be boring. This became one of their key principles, because if your diet is boring, you won't stick to it. Their Spanish chicken bake is the perfect example of great food that just happens to be healthy. Only 492 calories per portion, but packed out with gorgeous Iberian flavours. It's high in protein and low in carbs. You will need an hour to cook this dish (plus 15 minutes to prep it) but it's easy to do. There is also something very therapeutic about the step-by-step process. Each time you take the bake out of the oven to adjust or add to it, it changes, gets more fragrant and gets a stage closer to the fabulous finished dish. If you like this, check out our other great healthy chicken recipes (opens in new tab).

Watch our step-by-step video for making Hairy Bikers' Spanish chicken

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, cut into 8 wedges
• 1 medium red onion, cut into 8 wedges
• 500g new potatoes, quartered lengthways
• 8 whole garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 8 medium tomatoes, quartered
• 75g chorizo
• 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• ½ tsp sweet smoked paprika
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• 1 green pepper, deseeded and cut into strips
• Flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6. Put the onions, potatoes, garlic and tomatoes in a large roasting tin and season with sea salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Toss everything together lightly and roast for 20 minutes.
2. While the vegetables are roasting, skin the chorizo and cut the meat into thin slices – 5mm is about right. Put the chicken thighs on a board and carefully slash each one 2 or 3 times with a knife. Season all over with black pepper. Mix the paprika and oregano together and set aside.
3. Take the roasting tin out of the oven, scatter the chorizo over the veg and turn everything a couple of times. Place the chicken on top of the vegetables and chorizo and sprinkle with the paprika and oregano. Season with a little salt and return to the oven for 20 minutes.
4. Take the tin out of the oven. Holding one corner carefully with an oven cloth, lift the tin a little so all the juices run to the opposite end, then spoon and drizzle the juices back over the chicken. Tuck the pepper strips loosely around the chicken and vegetables.
5. Turn the oven up to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7. Put the tin back in the oven for another 20 minutes or until the peppers are just softened and the chicken is golden and crisp Recipe taken from The Hairy Dieters: How to Love Food and Lose Weight by Si King and Dave Myers View at Amazon | £14.99 (opens in new tab)

Top tips for making Hairy Bikers' Spanish chicken bake

Si and Dave use chicken thighs in this recipe to keep down the cost, but you can use your favourite cut of chicken instead – breast or drumsticks will work. You can even buy a whole chicken and joint it if you prefer.

The Hairy Bikers cut the fat on this dish by using chorizo, which has natural fats, so you don't need to add any extra.

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