DATE NIGHT CHICKEN & SIDES
My favorite, complete date night dinner plan.
Yesterday I posted about how important it is to keep dating your significant other even though we’re on lock down. You can check out that post here! To make your night even easier, let me help you out with an easy to prepare meal plan. My go-to for a nice “fancy looking”, budget friendly, and easy dinner is always an air-fried or roasted whole chicken. You can usually get a 5-6 lb whole chicken for around $5-$9 from any local grocery store and for our family of 2 a whole chicken will usually provide us with 3-4 meals. It’s 100% worth your time to make one for date night! We like to pair our chicken with a few of our favorite sides like my roasted thyme potatoes, Jacob’s favorite green bean casserole that’s not just for Thanksgiving, a nice big fresh salad, and some fresh bread for a full date night spread.
Here are a handful of tips to keep in mind for these recipes:
My favorite way to make this chicken is using an air fryer. I have this model of air fryer that I absolutely love. Using an air fryer makes this dish relatively hands off once it gets cooking, there’s no need to baste it periodically and it gets the skin nice and crunchy while leaving the interior perfectly juicy. That being said, if you don’t have an air fryer on hand, this recipe is oven adaptable. Make sure you’re using a roasting pan with a grate to lift the chicken out of the juices below so it crisps up. Bake at 350°F for about 1 hour and 20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 180°F and baste the chicken every 20-30 minutes. There is no need to flip the chicken when baking in the oven like in the air fryer as long as you have it lifted on a rack.
You can prep almost everything ahead of time!
• Go ahead and rub down your chicken the morning of with your seasonings and olive oil and stuff it with your lemon, onion, and garlic. Refrigerate it until you’re ready to start cooking.
• If you use larger chunks of potatoes for your roasted potatoes you can have them prepped and soaking in cold water for 4-8 hours ahead of time.
• Mix up the wet ingredients for your green bean casserole up to 4 hours ahead of time.
• Make your homemade croutons for your fancy salad, wash your lettuce and veggies, and chop up all your toppings. Don’t add your croutons or any cheese until you’re ready to serve to keep them from getting soggy.
If you plan on making the green bean casserole, keep it easy. I use the recipe off of the French’s fried onion carton. It’s a classic recipe that doesn’t need to be redone.
To make a killer fresh salad, visit your local farm or farmer’s market to find out what vegetables and fruit they have in season. You can make great salad a million different ways with all kinds of seasonal fruits and vegetables. Here’s a few combination ideas:
• Classic Romaine - Pair fresh romaine lettuce with roma tomatoes, carrots, celery, fresh grated parmesan, and homemade croutons.
• Spring Seasonal Greens & Herbs - Pair a mix of fresh salad greens like red lettuce, arugula, watercress, etc. with seasonal rainbow carrots, fresh seasonal herbs like oregano and basil, some grated parmesan, asiago, or sharp white cheddar and homemade croutons.
• Summer Seasonal Greek Salad - Pair fresh salad greens or romaine with heirloom tomatoes, peeled cucumbers, fresh oregano, some lemon juice, cubed goat cheese feta (see if one of your local farms has any freshly made, it’s worth it), and some olives.
• Fall Seasonal Spinach & Seeds - Pair fresh spinach with dried cranberries, sliced pears or apples, crumbled goat cheese, and roasted pumpkin seeds.
Make your salad restaurant quality by using a chef’s cut (diagonal slice) on all your veggies and even try making your own dressing from scratch. There are so many incredibly easy vinaigrette recipes, but my go-to ratio is 1 part vinegar + 3 parts oil + salt, pepper, and seasonings. For example: 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 3/4 cup olive oil, 2 cloves fresh minced garlic, pinch crushed red pepper, some Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste. Or 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 3/4 cup avocado oil, 1-2 tablespoons dijon mustard, 2 cloves fresh minced garlic, pinch crushed red pepper, and salt and pepper to taste
How to make homemade croutons:
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Cube any kind of bread you have on hand or like. My favorites are any kind of sourdough, ciabatta rolls, or a crusty french baguette. Toss your cubed bread with a good drizzle of olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and your favorite seasoning blend like Italian or Lawry’s Seasoning Salt or Ranch Dressing Mix. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Cool before serving over your salad.
Save your leftover chicken carcass to use for making your own homemade bone broth to use in soup for another handful of meals! Check out the recipe I’ve added in the notes on the recipe card.
Print this recipe card to keep in your home recipe binder! 👇🏻
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