Baked Apple Cider Chicken and Cabbage is the perfect one-pot fall dish made with cider-marinated chicken, red cabbage and apples.
Baked Apple Cider Chicken and Cabbage
This one-pot dish is great for an easy weeknight meal. On a busy school night, I like to keep dinners simple. Since everything bakes in one dish, cleanup won’t take long. Plus, with the cooler temps, this cozy chicken and apple dish is ideal for fall. Some other one-pot chicken dinners you may like are Turmeric Roasted Chicken and Sweet Potatoes and Baked Chicken with Dijon and Lime.
The chicken marinates in apple cider, apple cider vinegar, and herbs, which give the dish a slightly sweet and sour taste. The Dijon mustard brushed on the chicken in the middle of baking adds to the flavor.
You can marinate the chicken for four hours or as long as overnight. So when it comes time to cook, all you have to do is put the chicken in a Pyrex and pour the marinade over it. Then slice the apples and cabbage, put them in the dish, and put the whole thing in the oven. Halfway through, you’ll brush the mustard on the chicken and continue to bake until fully cooked.
This dinner is pretty low in carbs since the only sugar is in the cider and apples. To finish off the meal, serve with a simple green salad or roasted broccoli.
Variations:
- You can use any chicken parts you like that are on the bone with the skin off.
- Swap the red cabbage out for white or napa cabbage.
More Baked Chicken Recipes You Will Love:
- Baked Chicken Parmesan
- Sticky Baked Chicken with Apricot, Sage and Lemon Zest
- Chicken Thighs with Shallots in Red Wine Vinegar (Poulet Au Vinaigre)
- Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon
- Sun Dried Tomato and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Rollatini
Baked Apple Cider Chicken and Cabbage
Ingredients
- 4 skinless, bone-in chicken legs (thighs and drumsticks) trimmed
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1-1/4 cups apple cider
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1-1/2 tablespoons fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves chopped
- 1/2 medium head red cabbage cored and sliced into 8 wedges
- 1 large granny smith apple peeled, cored and cut into 8 wedges
- 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Instructions
- Place chicken, olive oil, apple cider, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, and garlic in a large plastic ziplock bag. Mix well and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or as long as overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400F°.
- Place the chicken and its marinade into a 9 x 13-inch dish. Nestle the cabbage and apples around the chicken.
- Bake for 30 minutes and remove from oven. Turn the chicken and brush the mustard on top.
- Bake until the chicken is cooked through and the apples are tender, about 35 minutes. Garnish with parsley.
I made this for dinner last night – looked gorgeous (would be a nice meal to serve at a small dinner party) and tasted great. We had Brussels spouts and butternut squash on the side. 🙂
Great recipes! I made this tonight but also shredded the cabbage (admittedly because i read the recipe wrong). I also subbed in dried herbs because that was what i had on hand and it worked out great! So much flavor! There was a lot of marinade so i might add another chicken piece or two next time. Thanks!
How long should it be cooked if using boneless chicken thighs?
I made this for dinner last night and it was delicious. The chicken was so moist and tender. Once you assemble the marinade, there’s little to no work left. I did make mashed potatoes for my husband and they balanced the meal out for him. I also added some carrots with the red cabbage.
Do you think you could make this in the crockpot?
I have not tested!
Made this tonight and turned out DELICIOUS! My picky husband and 16 year old both loved it as well. Love your recipes 😁
This was seriously delicious. it was flavorful and unexpected. The Chicken was moist. I loved how easy it was to make. We will be making this again. Its been one of our favorites so far.
Great!
Are you supposed to remove the skin from the chicken? Just wondering cause that’s what you usually do…
Yes, skinless. 🙂
Oh my goodness is the delicious! Fall in a pan! As soon as I saw this in the email I knew I wanted to have it this weekend. I only had 3 hours to marinate it and it was still perfect. I can’t decide what part of it I like best! Thank you for another winner!
Can you use apple juice instead of cider if you don’t have coder on hand?
I plan on using apple juice next time as real cider is very hard to find in small quantities.
hi just checking – do you pour the marinade juices that its been sitting in in the fridge over the marinated chicken and then bake? thanks
Yes, the recipe says “place the chicken and its marinade into a 9 x 13 inch dish”. That’s what I did and it turned out perfect. Don’t worry about bacteria, the chicken cooks long enough at a high enough heat to be safe.
I made this last night and it was fabulous. I marinated the chicken from early in the morning and by the time I was ready to prepare dinner it had been soaking up all those great flavors all day. I made the recipe exactly as stated with one small change, I cut the cabbage into slaw and grated the apple and mixed it in. I did season the “slaw” with salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder. I prepared this ahead and as it sat in the fridge it softened. I used it as a bed for the chicken and it really absorbed of the wonderful chicken and marinade flavors. It was a bit more work but cutting /shredding the cabbage really allowed it to pick up all of the flavors. My husband loved it.
So easy to prepare. Very mild flavor. Next time, I would wait to add the apples. They disappeared after cooking the full time but added a nice flavor. I may also add a little honey to sweeten it up a bit next time.
Apple cider definitely gives very special flavours to the best parts of chicken, at least for our taste ! Thank you !
If I used boneless chicken breast could I just cook for less time? My husband likes to pretend that chicken comes out of a package at the grocery store. 😊
Could you convert this to an instant pot recipe?
Could you freeze this?
Would this recipe work using chicken breasts?
Yes I would use bone-in.
After 30 minutes and turning the chicken do you put back in oven for additional 35 minutes for a total cook time of 1 hour 5 minutes or do you put back in over for 5 additional minutes for a total of 35 minutes cook time?
Total cook time of at least 1 hour.
Can another vegetable be swapped in for cabbage? Maybe Brussel Sprouts?
Sure
This is the kind of one pot dinner I adore this time of year. Apples cider, mustard, and rosemary are fabulous fall flavors. After marinating, the chicken has got to be so delicious!