#100 - Change Your Life Chicken
00:00Hi, everyone. I'm Kendra and you're listening to The Lazy Genius Podcast. I am here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. You guys, today is episode 100. Oh my gosh. It's the 100 episode. That feels like a really fun thing. So we are going to celebrate in the best way that I know how. We're going to deep dive change your life chicken. I know. You're so excited. This chicken recipe is legit going to be my legacy. Like I'm, I, I,I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure is what I'm known for the most. And I do kind of want to give it a littlespotlight today so that you can have the best change your life chicken every time you make it. I feellike that's a good way to celebrate 100 episodes. And if you've never made it before,this episode is going to make it like a regular in your rotation. I am sure of this. Okay. Before we getgoing, I want to make sure you are following me on Instagram at the lazy genius. I am there very often.especially on Mondays, which is the day this episode is coming out as they all do.Every Monday, I share my meal plan on what I creatively call meal plan Monday.
01:10And you guys are starting to share your meal plans too, which is so fun to read and sharewith everyone.We are helping each other feel a little less crazy around dinner time, which is always a plus.There are also a lot of great resources in the posts themselves on my Instagram account,since you guys are like super smart and you leave such great comments for each other.The point is that it's really the only social network I hang out on.So if you want more lazy genius than just these episodes, head to Instagram, where I hang out almost daily.And my handle there, again, is super easy, the lazy genius.
01:46And as we talk about Change Your Life Chicken today, you might have questions that you want answered.The best way to do that is to join me live every week on Instagram.I hang out for about half an hour every Thursday, around 12, 15 Eastern.a lot of times my two-year-old daughter, Annie, makes an appearance. And I love answering your questions. Sofollow me on Instagram. Yay, amen. Okay, let's talk about chicken. If you have not heard of mychange your life chicken, you might think I'm really full of myself to claim a recipe can changeyour life, but it can. And it probably will, based on the feedback I get pretty much every dayon this recipe. So let's start by explaining what it is. And then we will for sure have a link in the
02:27show notes to the recipe itself with like photos and all that. Okay, so change your life chicken is basicallychicken and vegetables roasted on a sheet pan in a super hot oven. So hot, you'll think it is a mistake,but we'll get to that. In fact, we'll get to a lot of the intricacies of this super simplerecipe, which seems counterintuitive, but we're going to make it the best it can be. But first,let's talk about why it's such a life-changing recipe. First, it's stupid easy. You put somevegetables on a pan, you put some chicken on top of that and you stick it in the oven. Like seriously,that's pretty much it. Second, it is incredibly versatile. You can use a couple of cuts of chicken,like different ones, which we'll get to in a second. But you can also use a variety of vegetables to
03:13switch it up. You can also add herbs and spices or whatever else to change up the flavor. So the methodis the same, but the flavors are super versatile. Third thing, it is a complete meal. Like every,everything exists on the sheet pan. And unless you want to bake some rolls or like,toss together a quick salad or something, you really don't need anything else. We never eatanything else except for what's on the pan. Four, there's zero cleanup. Seriously, if, if you arecomfortable using foil or parchment paper to line your pan, I use both actually, which I'llexplain in a second. You, like, you throw it away once the food is gone. Like, you literally have nodirty dishes. It's amazing. Five, it is easy to scale up or down for the number of people you have.
04:00We'll talk about the particulars of how to decide what pan to use, like what size, but you can make thisfor one person or 12 without a lot of extra effort beyond just cutting more vegetables.Sixth thing, in case you're not convinced, there's still more reasons. Kids love it. I'm serious.Or at the very least, kids tolerated. I've never heard of a kid who didn't at least tolerate it.Maybe yours doesn't like it, and you just haven't told me, but most kids really like it.My favorite thing is the number of moms who tell me that their kids like it, but say,but it didn't change my life, though.My darling children, it is not meant to change your lives.
04:38It is meant to change your mom and dad's lives.But most kids really find it, like, decent.And a lot of kids even love it.That crispy chicken skin is a big selling point in our house, and probably will be yourstwo. Okay, seventh reason that this is life-changing. I know. There's more reasons. It is Whole 30,paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free, all the other frees you can think of because it's just chicken,vegetables, oil, and salt. Truly. So if you are in a need of a meal that hits like a lot ofdietary restrictions, this is it for sure. Eight. It is make-a-head, if you can believe it. Then you
05:19You can't freeze it.It's not a freezer meal.But you can make it that morning or even the night before, maybe, but I would not risk thattoo much.But you can make it in the morning, set it all up on the sheet pan, put some plastic on it,and then put it in the oven at dinner.Like you put it in the refrigerator all day and then put it in the oven at dinner.I really don't think, I'm going to recant what I said.
05:39I don't think you should go more than like 10 hours or so, so like morning to evening,because the salt, it's fine for the chicken.It's actually great for the chicken.but it starts to like extract too much liquid from the vegetables.And depending on what vegetables you use, it could be a little unruly.So I would just, I would say morning tonight, if you want to risk it and try the night before,I mean, it's not going to like kill anyone.It'll just affect texture.
06:03That's all it'll do.And you might find that the way, that it's not, that the tradeoff, the textural tradeoffis totally fine for you to be able to make it the night before and not think about it untildinner time.Okay.So that's eight reasons.It's life changing.I've got nine, actually 10, but here's the ninth.
06:21And I'm surprised at how many reasons there are too.When I started to write them out, like, this is a really life-changing recipe.There's so many compelling reasons.So nine, once it's in the oven, it is hands off for almost an hour.The prep time, it varies a bit based on the vegetables you use, which we'll talk aboutin a second.But ultimately, you have like pretty much a stress-free hour before dinner hits the tablebecause you literally do nothing.
06:46Like when it's in the oven, you're done until it's done.And then 10, because we might as well round it out with 10, it's delicious.I haven't mentioned that yet.It's so tasty.And isn't that what we want the most anyway in a recipe?When you learn how to use salt and fat and heat to your advantage, you can take the simplestingredients and turn them into like a delicious masterpiece, which this recipe,is. I am a firm believer in there not being a perfect recipe for everyone except maybe this.
07:21Like, it truly will change your life. This recipe is just so stellar and dependable and tasty.Okay. I'm going to assume you're convinced now. So we're going to start talking about the particularsof how to make it. And again, this is in the blog post that had the recipe from, you know,months ago when I posted it. But there have been some questions.about different nuances of the recipe and we'll troubleshoot some things. So we're just going to walkthrough the best way to do it. Okay. So we're going to start with the method. A pan of vegetables andchicken are cooked at. Okay, now hold on. 500 degrees. Yes, I said 500 degrees. No, you are not going toburn your house down. We are going to troubleshoot the temperature in this episode. So you don't
08:08feel like you're going to burn your house down or actually burn the food. But the temperature doesmatter. The reason we cook it at 500 degrees is to get crispy skin, which is as close to friedchicken as you're going to get without actually frying it. It is so good. We're doing it that highto make sure the chicken is cooked through, which freaks everybody out. And to get the vegetablescooked with like a combination of a little bit of char, but also be nice and soft. Now, if you haveheard my episode on roasting stuff, you heard me talk about spreading the food out in the pan.in order to get crispy texture on the vegetables. And this is very true. But not for change your livechicken. It's different. If you spread out your vegetables too much in a 500 degree oven, everything will burn.
08:53I have seen photos. Some of you have sent me of your change your life chicken and I have seen the burn.And I know how frustrating it is to make dinner that doesn't turn out the way you hoped.But change your leaf chicken is different in that you want your vegetables to be super cozy and mostlycovered by pieces of chicken. Since the vegetables are so close together, they protect each otherin that very hot oven. And then the chicken itself kind of insulates the vegetables and keeps themfrom burning. But because everything is so cozy, you need a hot oven to make sure everythingcooks. Now, if you were to turn the oven down to say 425 and keep everything the same,the vegetables and the chicken, they wouldn't be done at the same time. Some vegetables might be a little
09:38soggy because there's not enough heat to get some char on the exposed edges, and you definitely wouldnot get crispy skin. So essentially, the 500 degree oven, it gets everything cooked and crispy,and then the coziness of the stuff in the pan is kind of the other side of the scale, right? It keepseverything from burning to a crisp. Does that make sense? So that is why we cook it at 500.It's a balancing act. Now we're going to talk about the chicken and why it's risky to make thisrecipe with anything but chicken with skin and bone, particularly my preferred cut, which is the chickenthigh. Okay, chicken on a bone is more forgiving than chicken off the bone. The bone acts as kind of aprotector for dry chicken, as does the skin. It's like you get protection from the inside and the
10:27outside of the chicken. Now, if you were to put a boneless, skinless chicken breast on a bed ofvegetables and roasted at 500 degrees, you would end up with something resembling like rubber orjerky, burned jerky. The chicken would cook, it would be done like long before the vegetablesare done. And it just wouldn't, it doesn't turn out the same. Now, if you want to cook,if you want to cook boneless, skinless chicken on a sheet pan with vegetables, everything needs to bespread out. The vegetables need to be cut smaller and it needs to be cooked at a lower temperature.And I've made that recipe, but it doesn't change your life.The magic that happens with that chicken skin especially makes change your life chicken one of a
11:11kind.Now, that doesn't mean that you can't roast vegetables and boneless, skinless chicken on a sheet pan.You absolutely can.It just doesn't have quite the same delicious results as change of life chicken does.But it's still totally worth doing.Okay.Now, my personal favorite cut of chicken and the one that is in this recipe is the thigh.I love a chicken thigh.
11:29Oh my goodness.It has more fat in the meat itself, which keeps it from getting dry.And it takes a little longer to cook than chicken breasts, which leaves more time for thevegetables to develop flavor and get a better texture because they're in the oven a little bitlonger.Now, this recipe, it does work with chicken legs and chicken breasts, too.They both, even like with skin and bone, they both just take a little less time thanthe chicken thigh, which means you'll probably want to cut your vegetables a hair smaller.
11:58than you would if you were using thighs.Again, it's that balancing act.It's like balancing the scale.So if your chicken takes a few minutes less,then you want to kind of give your vegetables a heads upand cut them a hair smaller.Okay, now let's talk about the vegetables.You can use just about anything,
12:14but you have to think about the end result.Potatoes, they take way longer to get crispy and cookedthan say green means do, right?And we want everything to kind of be crispy and cooked.We don't want, like, really sad vegetables.Now, big chunks of carrot, they take longer than big chunks of mushrooms, right? Because that mushroom,it'll cook real fast compared to that very fibrous big chunk of carrot. So because vegetablescook at different rates, pay attention to their size so that everything on the pan is done
12:46at roughly the same time. Okay? My personal favorite combination that we pretty much useexclusively for change your light chicken is potatoes, carrots, onion, and green beans.Aw isn't something we need to travel for.It's something waiting for us in everyday life, whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art.I'm Dr. Keltner, host of the Science of Happiness podcast.Join me for Cities of Aw, a special series on how our public spaces can spark awe, wonder, and enhance the quality of public life.You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts.I'll leave off the green beans sometimes.
13:30and I will talk through that combination specifically, just so you can see how the sizes of yourvegetables kind of need to play together. Okay. Now, if I were to cut all four of those vegetablesto be the same size as each other, okay, by the time the potatoes were done, the onions and thegreen beans would be a black mess, and the carrots wouldn't be far behind. So whatever vegetabletakes the longest to cook should be cut the smallest. Size up as you add othervegetables to the pan. Okay? So potatoes will be cut into like one inch cubes, maybe a tiny bit smallersince I'm always surprised by what an inch actually is when I pull out a ruler. The carrot would becut into like thick coins, maybe a bit bigger than the thickness of the potatoes, right? Because
14:16potatoes cook longer, but not by much. And then the onions are cut even bigger than the carrots,kind of even in bigger chunks where you keep the layers of the onion together, even in aLike you can break up a few of them, but you can keep some of those chunks together.And then the green peans, they're not cut at all, right?They're just kind of dumped in there and definitely tucked up under the chicken and not left out on the edges because they're so small and thin.And we don't want them to be exposed too much.You see how that works?So the vegetable that takes the longest to cook should be the smallest size on the pan.
14:51And that is how you avoid black vegetables.Okay, now let's talk about the benefits of lining your pan and how you do it for the best.results. I line a big sheet pan, like massive. It's the biggest one that fits in my oven,and I use it for, I'm a baker. And so I use it all the time for like cookies and all that kind ofstuff. But we have a big family and we make a lot and we always make leftovers. So I makethis in my biggest pan. I line a big sheet pan with heavy duty foil first. And you can useregular foil. It just tears easier. That's all. So I tend to use the heavy duty. And then I put a layer ofparchment paper on top of that of the foil. I have made this with both individually, like with
15:35just foil and with just parchment. And I prefer using both, although individually is fine. And so isusing nothing at all. You'll just have to wash the pan, obviously, but that's fine. Now, here's why.I like using the foil because it's sturdy. It can curl up over the edges of the pan,which keeps any like leakage from getting on the pan.And then plus the foil, it helps conduct the heat,which is always really helpful.But the problem I have with only using foilis that sometimes vegetables get stuck.
16:11And then when you use a spatula or somethingto like pry them off the foil, the foil tears.And then you have a dirty pan.It's so annoying.So I use foil for pan protectionand heat conduction, and then a layer of parchment to keep the food from sticking.And it still gets brown.Like it still kind of gets seared from where it's touching the heat of the pan directly,
16:35but it doesn't stick to the parchment, which is so great.Okay, so we have talked about the temperature, the chicken, the vegetables.Now let's talk about oil and seasoning.Once your vegetables are cut and you put them on the lined pan,drizzle on just like the tiniest bit of oil. I tend to use avocado oil or just some clear oil,and that's the clear oil that we tend to use. And I don't use extra virgin olive oil.Just because, for two main reasons, I want the oil to have a pretty high smoke point,which means it's not going to smoke up my kitchen, which olive oil will do, because olive oil smokes
17:18little lower temperature than say avocado oil does. And then I don't necessarily need the flavor ofolive oil since the fat from the chicken skin itself, that's got the flavor. That's the flavor I want.So I drizzle on just enough oil to make the salt stick to the vegetables. That's kind of all.Some of you have sent me messages saying that your vegetables were really oily and greasy at the end,which was tasty, it was tasty, but it wasn't crispy, and it was just, it was greasy. It just wasn'tquite what you were hoping for. Your solution to that is you use less oil on the vegetables themselvesbecause the fat from that chicken skin, it does so much of the work for you. So if your changeearly of chicken is greasy, cut back on the oil you drizzle on the vegetables themselves and
18:09definitely don't oil your chicken. There's just no need. I know it seems,I know it seems counterintuitive to have so much to say about such a simple recipe.But the more you see why it's put together, the way it is, the more you can adjust it andtroubleshoot it based on what you're using.Okay.Let's talk about salt.You need more than you think you need.And I know I say that a lot.
18:36A friend recently told me that I should name my future bakery salt.Because I'm such a proponent of salt and foods, even in dessert, which is, I just,definitely am. Salt makes everything sing. It doesn't make food taste salty. I mean,unless you use like a ton. It just makes food taste like itself. There is such a thing as usingtoo much salt, of course. But I think most of you are definitely skewing on the end of like under-seasoningway more than you are on over-seasoning. You want to see the salt. Every piece of vegetableshould have several grains of salt on it. So like a little pinch for an entire sheet pan,it's just not going to cut it.
19:16My rule of thumb for the average cook, because I used to teach cooking classes and I watchedpeople salt food.So here's what I say for the average person.Salt the food, the amount that you would normally salt it, and then do that two moretimes.I swear you're not using enough.And guess what?If you make it and it is too salty, you'll have a better understanding of your own
19:38salting tendencies for next time.Okay?Maybe you're not as far off center as I'm telling you as the average person.But almost certainly you need to use more than you think you do.Okay, now let's talk about actually salting the chicken.You need to add more than you think here too.The beauty of salting chicken is that the longer it's salted, the better it tastes and thejuicier it is.
20:01I am talking you can salt it up to 48 hours before you cook it.And it is a delight.Now, it would change your like chicken and you want to get that crispy chicken skin, right?You don't actually want to salt the skin.you want to salt the meat underneath the skin for two reasons.One, you want the salt to penetrate the meat itself, which it can't really do if it's sort of fightingthrough the skin.And then two, when the skin is salted, it doesn't get as crispy, which is such a bummer
20:30because that chicken skin, it's one of the treats of this recipe.So salt the chicken more than you think you should, just like the vegetables.You need to see it.But don't salt the skin itself.Okay, so now that you've gotten a breakdown of all the components, let's walk through the actualprocess. And we're going to assume that you're not salting your chicken way ahead of time, even thoughyou totally can and will get a huge payoff if you do, but you don't have to. Also remember thatthe recipe is on the website, so you don't need to take notes unless you just want to. But here's
21:02the rundown. Okay, so first you preheat your oven to 500 degrees. I know, but do it anyway. And make itso that you're putting the pan in the lower third of your oven. That ensures that most of the browninghappens on the protected bottoms of the vegetables, and they get super delicious. And then the top of yourpan isn't so close to the top of your oven. Okay. So do it in the, set your rack in the lower third.Next, you're going to line your pan with foil and then parchment, so it's ready. I want you to makesure, too, that the foil is curled up over the edges of the pan. Okay. And when I say a sheet pan,I mean like a cookie sheet.You could make this in a, like a casserole dish or a ceramic baking dish or something,
21:47but the higher the sides on your pan, the less crispy the food gets.The shallower, the better.You want lots and lots of air circulation around that food.So preheat your oven, line your pan, now season your chicken, pull it all out of the package,and you can go ahead and put it on the prepared sheet pan to save a dirty dish if you want.since you're going to be touching raw chickenand you're going to be using salt over and over againbecause you're pulling the skin back and all that
22:14I like to put a little pile of salt on the sheet panor like in a tiny bowl or somethingso that I can double dip in the salt with dirty chicken handsand I'll just toss what salt is left overthat way I don't have to wash my hands a million timesbetween all the chicken salting. It's so annoying.So pull out your salt, make yourself a little pile of saltand then first salt the bottoms of the chicken
22:35flip them all over, pull back all the skin, and then salt underneath all the skin, and then put theskin back. And then just leave the chicken piled to one side of the sheet pan while you cut the vegetables.And obviously, I mean, now you have to wash your hands, but you only have to do it one time. Isn't that nice?Now cut up your vegetables, remembering to make the vegetables that cook the longest be the smallestsize, right? Pile all of those onto your sheet pan. Now barely oil the vegetables and salt themgenerously. Toss them all together so everything is evenly distributed. Hands are the best tool for thisif you're comfortable with that. Now spread out the vegetables and start putting the chicken on top ofthe layers of vegetables. I realize like in your pan, half has chicken, half has vegetables, but you know,
23:22you just kind of put the chicken on the vegetables, move them over as you make more room. And I say this,not because you're dumb and you don't know how to put things together, but this is what saves youhaving to have a lot of extra dirty dishes. Like I've been known, like Change Life chicken,well, it doesn't make any dirty dishes. Like if you do it this way, there are literally no dirtydishes, except your knife that you use to cut your vegetables with. It's such a delight. Okay.Okay, so now you want to, before you put the pan in the oven, I want you to grab a couple of paper towelsand you're going to blot the chicken skin dry. And that ensures that you get that change your lifechicken crispiness, okay? Okay. Now, one more thing, before you put the paint,
24:05in the oven. And this is important. I want you to check the edges of the pan. If the vegetables on theedges, if they're not super clumped together, like if you can see the bottom of the pan between thepieces on the edge, or even the pieces on your pan altogether, you need to push the vegetablescloser together. Ideally, the only part of the pan you should see is the actual edge, like the rimof the pan. Make sure those vegetables, they're not like super piled on top of each other,but they need to be even in one layer, but they're all touching. They're all cozy. There's no space.Make sure you can't see the bottom of your pan. Cannot. If you just can't get the vegetables close enough,like you just have too much pan. Okay. Nestle the chicken closer to the pan,
24:55like move the chicken closer to the pan and move like to the bottom. And that pushes out some of thevegetables from underneath the chicken. Okay?It is less important for the vegetables under the chicken to be super far apart since they'retotally protected by the chicken itself.But the vegetables that are completely exposed, they need to be super cozy.Okay.Now, put it in the oven in the lower third at 500 degrees for 50 minutes, 5-0.I love that it's easy to remember since both numbers have the 5 and the 0 in them.
25:29Everybody seems to remember the 500 degrees because it seems so insane.And then it helps you more easily remember that the cooking time is 50, 50 minutes.And I promise you, I promise you that your chicken will be cooked.I pinky swear.No one has ever had problems with underdone chicken.The only problems have been greasy vegetables, which we already talked about,and then super burnt ones, which we also talked about.The more you make it, the more you'll understand how everything works together
25:55to be perfectly cooked even in that super, super, super hot oven.and that is it. Fifty minutes, and you have a pan with a complete meal. My kids love the potatoes andcarrots the most. I could eat those onions until I am sick. And if you have never had roasted green beans,you are in for a treat. Okay, so if you head to my Instagram account, there is a highlight you canalways look through. It's the picture of a chicken, and it says CYLC for Change Your Life Chicken. And you cansee what other people have used and how it's all worked to get ideas. I have like just a bunch ofphotos that people have posted of Change Your Life Chicken. And if you have more questions about thismagical life-changing recipe, I will be live this Thursday on Instagram around 1215 to answer
26:42your questions. I'm at the lazy genius. I love that we just spent that long talking abouta single chicken recipe. But when you have something this close to perfect, you take the time toget it right. It's like the perfect 100th episode. It's so fun. Okay. So we'redone for today. I'm so glad that you listen. Thank you for being here. I'm just really grateful for allof you, whether this is your first episode or you've heard all 100. And if you have heard all 100,that kind of makes me want to cry. Like, that's amazing. So thank you guys for being lazy geniuses.I just, I heart you big time. And that is it for today. I am Kendra. Until next time,be a genius about the things that matter. I'm lazy about the things that don't. I'll see you next week.
27:42like you are living just a B or B plus life, it's so dangerous to live that.More dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life, because when you're living a B or B plus life,you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast calledBecoming You. People think, okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way.We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming You wherever you get yourpodcasts.
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