Turn kinda-boring chicken Marylands into an easy bake the whole family will want to dive into. The addition of vegies, bacon and risoni pasta to these chicken-with-thigh drumsticks – all cooked in the one baking tray – makes dinner done and dusted in the easiest and tastiest way possible.
How to make tray-baked chicken Marylands with risoni: key tips
The only prep required for this recipe is chopping up some bacon rashers, a few vegies and garlic. They’re placed in a baking dish with the chicken and then baked for 20 minutes. When you scatter in the risoni, make sure you scatter around the chicken pieces – any risoni that lands on top of the chicken won’t be able to absorb the liquid and cook through.
It should only take another 20 minutes in the oven for the chicken and vegies to cook and the risoni to become tender. Cook for a little longer, if you need to.
Key ingredients in this tray-baked chicken Marylands with risoni recipe
A chicken Maryland is a cut of chicken: the drumstick and thigh as one piece with the skin still attached. It’s a cut that is ideal for tray baking because it stays juicy and the skin becomes invitingly crispy. You can use other chicken pieces, such as a mixture of skin-on chicken thigh fillets and drumsticks, if you like. Or you could join a 1.4kg whole chicken. The cooking time may change slightly.
This recipe only uses mushrooms and leeks for the vegie component, but you can bulk it up, if you like (see notes, below).
Chicken Marylands offer a good-sized portion of meat for each person at your dining table. Here are 5 more dishes that use this generous cut of chicken.
- Dijon chicken Marylands
- Easy Greek chicken
- Chicken tagine
- Hearty chicken cacciatore
- Easy chicken fricassee
This recipe was originally submitted by Greer Worsley, a member of the Australia’s Best Recipe community. Introduction and additional recipe notes by Natasha Shaw.
Ingredients
- 1 leek, washed and sliced
- 4 rashers bacon, chopped
- 250g cup mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 4 chicken Marylands
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups risoni
- 1 1/2 cups (375ml) Massel* Liquid Stock Chicken Style
- 1/2 cup (125ml) cream
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
*Massel is recommended by Australia's Best Recipes
Method
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Step 1Preheat oven to 200C. In a large baking dish, place leek, bacon, mushrooms and garlic, and toss to combine. Place chicken pieces skin-side up on top. Drizzle with oil and season well with salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes.
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Step 2Remove from oven then sprinkle risoni in and around the chicken. Drizzle over stock and cream, and tuck in thyme sprigs. Return to the oven for a further 20 minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed and risoni is cooked.
Recipe Notes
Why is this cut of chicken called a Maryland?
In the US, chicken Maryland is a retro fried chicken dish. As for why we Australians call the thigh and drumstick chicken combo a Maryland, it’s simply because the outline of the small US state of Maryland looks (kinda) like a chicken leg!
Can I add other vegies to this tray-baked chicken marylands with risoni?
You can easily add vegies that you have in the crisper to this tray bake. Try chopped broccoli florets or broccolini, or chopped pumpkin or carrot. You could also swap the leek for chopped onion. One reviewer even tossed in some frozen mixed vegies!
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