This Simple 1-Pan Hen Dinner Tastes Like Summer season in Spain

August 14, 2025

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Why It Works

Blooming smoked paprika in rendered hen fats builds a smoky, savory base that carries via each the greens and the pan sauce.
Roasting the hen on prime of the greens ensures the hen juices taste the greens as they soften and caramelize.
The duo of fast sauces—a smoky shishito salsa and buttery sherry discount—provides brightness and complexity to the straightforward skillet dinner.

It is easy to present all of the summer season dinner glory to the grill. However on a weeknight within the thick of August warmth, the actual MVP is a skillet dinner, like this satisfying summer season hen and vegetable dish. This one-pan meal is filled with the flavors of summer season, with out requiring you to face over a flame within the solar.

This hen and summer season vegetable skillet, developed by Craig Ruff in our Birmingham, Alabama, check kitchen, shortly grew to become a favourite of everybody who tried it throughout recipe testing. It hits all the best notes for a satisfying warm-weather supper: smoky and juicy hen, caramelized candy peppers, charred cherry tomatoes that pop in your mouth, and a duo of sauces that dial the flavour up with out weighing the dish down. As a bonus, it comes collectively in beneath an hour, with a tidy sufficient prep-and-cook rhythm that it feels manageable for any night time of the week.

The Taste Profile That Makes This Skillet Hen Dinner Stand Out

Whereas the produce on this skillet would possibly look acquainted, its taste profile is what units it aside. Craig deliberately leans into what he calls “Spanish taste notes”—layers of smoke, light sweetness, and herby brightness. As an alternative of the summer season produce trifecta of zucchini, corn, and eggplant, this recipe facilities on bell peppers and cherry tomatoes, coaxed into complexity by excessive warmth, smoky paprika, and a splash of sherry.

Critical Eats / Jen Causey

The way to Construct Layers of Taste in One Skillet

From a method perspective, this dish is all about layering daring taste in a single skillet, with out a grill in sight. The hen sears till the pores and skin crisps and the paprika blooms within the fats, giving every thing within the pan its smoky spine. Then, the entire skillet goes right into a sizzling oven for a fast roast. This lets the greens stoop luxuriously and the hen end cooking gently, staying moist and tender. In the meantime, you have acquired simply sufficient time whereas the dinner roasts to throw collectively the sauce—or reasonably, sauces.

Add Massive Taste with Two Simple Sauces

One of many parts that makes this dinner really feel so particular is the combo of sauces you serve it with: a smoky-sharp charred shishito sauce and a silky, fortified pan sauce made out of the fond and juices left within the pan after roasting the hen and greens. This two-sauce transfer feels cheffy, however it’s extremely straightforward to drag off, as our editorial director, Daniel, explains in his article about this cooks’ cheat code for elevating any dish.

The shishito sauce is Craig’s playful riff on a traditional summer season inexperienced sauce. He chars complete shishitos and scallion greens till blistered, then chops them finely and folds in cilantro, lime juice, and olive oil. The result’s a vibrant, grassy, smoky condiment that cuts via the sweetness of the tomatoes and peppers.

The second sauce is a pan discount made with a splash of dry sherry (or perhaps a crisp white wine in a pinch) and a knob of butter. It is fast, however concentrated, and will get drizzled over the hen and greens simply earlier than serving, sealing the entire thing with a shiny, restaurant-level end. A skillet dinner this layered and energetic deserves a spot within the weeknight rotation, no grill required.

This recipe was developed by Craig Ruff; the headnote was written by Leah Colins.