Roasted chicken with creamy walnut sauce

Name: Roasted chicken with creamy walnut sauce
Prep time: 14 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 39 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: 8 Chicken Thighs; 1 tsp Cumin; 1/2 tsp Paprika; 2 tablespoons Olive Oil; 6 Pita Bread; 150ml Chicken Stock; 175g Walnuts; 1 chopped Onion; 2 cloves chopped Garlic; 50 ml Single Cream; Juice of 1 Lemon; Handful Coriander

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Chicken recipe with Turkish flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 41 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 39 min total

8 Chicken Thighs
1 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Paprika
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
6 Pita Bread
150ml Chicken Stock
175g Walnuts
1 chopped Onion
2 cloves chopped Garlic
50 ml Single Cream
Juice of 1 Lemon
Handful Coriander

Step-by-step instructions

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. In a roasting tin, toss together the chicken, cumin, paprika, 1 tbsp olive oil and seasoning. Cook for 40 mins until the chicken is crisp and cooked through.
Meanwhile, tear up 1 pitta bread and place in a small bowl. Pour over a couple of tbsp chicken stock and leave to soak. Dry-fry the walnuts in a frying pan for about 3 mins until golden and toasted. Set aside. Heat the remaining oil in the pan and cook the onion and garlic until softened. Place the softened pitta bread, onion mixture and most of the nuts into a blender. Pour over the rest of the chicken stock and whizz together until a rough paste forms. Return the mixture to the pan. Add the cream and lemon juice, season and keep warm.
When the chicken is cooked, arrange on a platter. Stir the coriander through the sauce and spoon into a bowl. Roughly chop the remaining walnuts and scatter over the chicken. Toast the pittas, cut into wedges and serve alongside.

Why this works on a weeknight

Roasted chicken with creamy walnut sauce lands at about 39 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Sheet-Pan Dinners collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Roasted chicken with creamy walnut sauce actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🍳 Sheet-Pan Dinners Chicken Turkish