Roasted Half Chicken with Pear & Thyme
plus Mashed Potatoes & Green Beans
- Milk
A roasted half chicken—the ultimate comfort food! Here, you'll rub the chicken with garlic and thyme and set it atop sliced pear and onion for a sweet-savory oven unity. Once the chicken is crispy and juicy, you'll let it rest while using the roasted pear and onion for a glossy pan sauce with mustard and butter (plus those priceless chicken resting juices). Serve the chicken with sautéed green beans and sour cream mashed potatoes for your new dinner table favorite.
Ingredients
1 unit
Onion
1 unit
Pear
1 teaspoon
Garlic Powder
6 ounce
Green Beans
12 ounce
Potatoes
1.5 tablespoon
Sour Cream
(Contains: Milk)
1 unit
Half Chicken
2 teaspoon
Dijon Mustard
1 unit
Chicken Stock Concentrate
1 teaspoon
Dried Thyme
Not included in your delivery
Salt
Pepper
Cooking Oil
Sugar
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Adjust rack to top position (top and middle positions for 4 servings) and preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash and dry produce. • Halve, peel, and dice onion into 1-inch pieces. Halve, core, and dice pear into 1-inch pieces. • In a small bowl, combine garlic powder, half the thyme (you'll use the rest in the next step), 2 tsp salt (4 tsp for 4), and pepper.
• Toss onion and pear on a baking sheet with a drizzle of oil, remaining thyme, ¼ tsp sugar (½ tsp for 4 servings), and a pinch of salt. Arrange in middle of sheet in a single layer. (For 4, arrange across entire sheet.) • Pat chicken* dry with paper towels; rub all over with a drizzle of oil. (See a feather? Grip the end using a paper towel and pull!) Season all over with thyme mixture. Place chicken, skin side up, on top of onion and pear. (For 4, add chicken to a second baking sheet.)
• Roast chicken, onion, and pear on top rack until chicken is browned and cooked through and onion and pear are tender, 35-45 minutes. (For 4 servings, roast chicken on top rack and onion and pear on middle rack.) TIP: If chicken skin begins to brown too quickly, loosely cover with foil. • Once chicken is done, transfer to a plate to rest. TIP: To ensure chicken is cooked through, insert a thermometer into the innermost part of the thigh and breast (avoiding any bones). Once chicken is cooked, the bones may still appear pink—this is OK!
• While chicken, onion, and pear roast, dice potatoes into ½-inch pieces (peel if desired). Trim green beans if necessary. • Place potatoes in a medium pot with enough salted water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, 12-15 minutes. • Reserve ½ cup potato cooking liquid, then drain and return potatoes to pot. Mash with sour cream and 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4 servings) until smooth and creamy, adding splashes of reserved potato cooking liquid as needed. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Keep covered off heat until ready to serve.
• While potatoes cook, heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add green beans and a pinch of salt; cook, stirring constantly, until coated in oil, 30 seconds. • Carefully add ¼ cup plain water (½ cup for 4 servings) and cover with a lid. Cook, shaking pan occasionally, until green beans begin to soften and turn bright green in color and liquid has evaporated, 1-2 minutes. • Turn off heat. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Transfer green beans to a medium bowl.
• Once onion and pear are cooked, carefully transfer to pan used for green beans. • To pan with onion and pear, add ⅓ cup plain water, stock concentrate, half the mustard, and 1 TBSP butter (½ cup plain water, all the mustard, and 2 TBSP butter for 4 servings). Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until sauce is glossy and thick, 1-3 minutes (if any resting juices from chicken have accumulated on plate, add to sauce for extra flavor!)
• Transfer mashed potatoes, chicken, and green beans to a large serving plate or platter. Top chicken with sauce and serve.
Poultry is fully cooked when internal temperature reaches 165°.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Mar 2026- Flavor: Many loved the thyme-garlic seasoning and pear-onion sauce, though some found it too salty or bland.
- Ease of prep: Several noted it was time-consuming with multiple steps, but worth the effort for a special meal.
- Suggestions: Consider reducing salt, cooking pears/onions separately, and using an immersion blender for smoother sauce.
- Portions: Some felt the half chicken wasn't enough for two people, especially those who prefer white meat.
- Cooking time: Several mentioned the chicken needed longer to cook than the recipe stated.
Reviews from our home cooks
We loved this! The chicken took about 50 minutes to cook. Everything had delicious flavor & it was a filling meal. Please check the directions & that the pictures match as right now, they don't. It says to put the chicken on top of the onion & pear bed but in the picture it's around the chicken. It says for 4 to put the onion & pear separately on a different baking sheet so either way, the picture with the directions is incorrect. I also think it should say a large drizzle of oil on the onion & pear before seasoning as with a drizzle as it says, the outer pieces burned up. More oil would've avoided this. Can't wait to get this again though! Perfect fall meal!
I love the roasted half chicken, however, it took much longer to roast than the directions indicated (and my oven is relatively new). Why the extra step for the green beans? Put them on the baking sheet with the chicken, onion and pear. The mustard in the sauce was nice; would have liked the sauce to be more saucy instead of chunky.
This was delicious & I would definitely get it again. I was worried about making it because it takes an hour, & I'm usually in more of a rush when making dinner. It was worth the wait. I wish there was more meat on the chicken, it needs less salt, & my pears/sauce didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped.
The chicken, pears, and onion all needed different cook times. The chicken needed substantially more than suggested. Also, instructions should say how long to let it rest. After all of that though, it was delicious.
Loved the pear, onion & mustard sauce on the thyme roasted chicken. And PLEASE offer brown rice as an option more often. It really makes the meal better.
Very easy to fix. Not near as much chicken as I'd hoped though. I mean actual meat. I've not seen such small birds since, well a very long time. It was tasty though with nice sides and the pear onion was very good.
We enjoyed this. The photo on the recipe page was confusing as it showed sauce in a cup, which we didn't have after it reduced with the onions and pears. I would have liked just a little more sauce. Perhaps we reduced it too much. Overall a good choice!
So good. We opted to roast potatoes instead of mash. Everything was delicious. Beans were a little bland. Would probably roast them in the oven too next time!
Wasn't certain about the pear and onion mixture but turned out easy to cook and finish and added a great layer of taste.
This is one of the BEST meals I've ever had with your program!!! Please offer it again and soon! It was fantastic - especially the sauce with the pears and onions!! GOOD JOB!
