Amazing, easy, made in one pan–it’s everything I want for dinner. I’d never tried this dish before but have seen many recipes, so I figured Alton Brown’s recipe (which has a great Good Eats video in the link below) would be a good place to start.

It takes some time to cook in the oven (an hour and a half), which I always have to remember on a weeknight, when I’m all over the place. But it’s easy to prep. Brown the chicken, throw on a lot of garlic (the 40 cloves isn’t just a fun title), a lot of thyme, and a lot of olive oil. The end. I asked the butcher to cut the chicken into 8 pieces for me, but I think this would be good with some skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts, too.

Once it’s done, the garlic looks whole but basically melts as soon as you start cutting into the chicken, it’s a gorgeous paste. And serve it with toast! The original recipe from Alton Brown is here on Food Network.

1 whole chicken (broiler/fryer) cut into 8 pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
10 sprigs fresh thyme
40 peeled cloves garlic
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and then toss it with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Brown it on high heat, both sides, in a nice-sized skillet (with a lid, you’ll need it). Remove it from the heat, add the half cup of oil, thyme, and garlic cloves. Then cover it and bake for 1 1/2 hours.

That’s it! Take it out, let it rest for a few minutes, and serve it. The original says to carve it, but I didn’t do that. I just served whole pieces. Seriously, it’s that easy.