Smoky Paprika Chicken with Sweet Potato & Red Onion

Ingredients

• 8 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on
• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into 3cm chunks
• salt and black pepper
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp hot paprika
• 1 tsp garlic granules
• 2 red onions, cut into wedges
• 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 1 tsp honey
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 15g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• Crusty bread, to serve
• Rocket and seed salad, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C. Pat the chicken thighs dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no crisp skin.
2. In a large bowl, combine the smoked paprika, hot paprika, ground coriander and garlic granules with 2 tbsp olive oil and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Stir into a loose, rust-red paste — this is your spice bloom in oil, so when the thighs hit the heat the spices taste of themselves rather than dusty and raw.
3. Add the chicken and toss until every piece is thoroughly coated, working the paste under the skin where you can. Season the skin again on top with salt — bone-in thighs need it twice to season properly through.
4. Arrange skin-side up in a large roasting tin with a finger's gap between each thigh. Don't crowd the tin — pieces touching steam each other and the skin goes flabby instead of crisp. Use two tins if you need to.
5. Tip the sweet potato chunks and red onion wedges into the same bowl, add the remaining 1 tbsp oil, season well with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Scatter around — not under — the chicken so the skin stays exposed to the dry heat of the oven.
6. Roast for 40–45 minutes, until the skin is deep mahogany and crisp, the juices run clear when you pierce the thickest thigh at the bone, and the sweet potato edges are sticky and caramelised.
7. Stir the sherry vinegar and honey together in a small bowl with a splash of vinegar's worth of the hot tin juices to loosen it. In the last 5 minutes, pull the tin out and drizzle the glaze over everything, then return to the oven — you want glossy, not burnt. Taste a piece of sweet potato now and adjust salt if it needs it; the seasoning should land before it reaches the table, not after.
8. Scatter the chopped parsley generously over the chicken and vegetables, bring the whole tin to the table, and serve with the green salad or crusty bread alongside to mop up the glaze.