Dinner Tonight: Garlic-Roasted Chicken with Carrots and Parsnips Recipe

I feel bad about the chicken breast sometimes. We used to be friends back in college when the boneless, skinless frozen option was the protein of choice for easy dinner—the beginner cook's convenience food. To me, buying a chicken breast was a big step beyond what everyone else was eating (pre-made breaded chicken tenders). But then I learned about thighs, and things like roasting a whole chicken, and I started to look down on the inevitably dry, virtually fat-less chicken breast.

What I forgot is that if you buy split chicken breasts with the bone in and skin still on, they can be wonderfully flavorful, especially in recipes like this one from Jennifer Rubell's Real Life Entertaining where they're roasted with carrots, parsnips, and two entire heads of garlic. The chicken-y juices and fat from the skin give the vegetables incredible flavor, while the garlic aroma permeates the entire dish. With very little active time involved, it's much of the rusticity of a roast chicken with a little less work.