Ranch Chicken and Veggies

I am all for easy meals. This recipe is beyond yummy and has all your side dishes cooked along with the meat on one pan. You can't get much easier then that. Lately I have been loving the "one pan" and "one pot" meals. Less dishes to wash after, and you get your sides and main dish knocked out at once. With little kids it can be hard to spend 30-60 minutes in the kitchen working on everything so the faster I can get everything done, the happier we all are.
*One addition that I have changed about this recipe since I first published it is that I do like to sear my chicken first in another pan because I don't like to rely on the broiler at the end. I have noticed that the skin gets far more crispy and cooked doing this, but it does add an additional pan to clean 😱*gasp*😱

8 teaspoons brown sugar, divided
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
16 ounces baby red or yellow potatoes, halved
16 ounces  peeled carrots
2 TBSP olive oil
1 (1-ounce) package Ranch Dressing Mix (roughly 2 TBSP)
3 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Preheat your oven to 400°F.
2. Spray your baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
3. *IF YOU WANT CRISPIER SKIN DO THIS PART* Heat a nonstick skillet to medium-high heat and sear both sides of the chicken. This will make it so that you don't have to broil the chicken at the end which can help prevent the overcooking of the other ingredients.
4. When you are done searing the chicken rub roughly 1 tsp of brown sugar into each thigh making sure to coat all over. If you don't sear the chicken, go to this step before adding to the pan to bake.
5. Place the chicken, potatoes and carrots on the greased baking sheet in a single layer and drizzle with olive oil and minced garlic.
6. Sprinkle entire baking sheet with the Ranch seasoning, salt and pepper (to taste).
7. When oven has come to temperature, place baking sheet in and roast until the chicken is cooked through and has an internal temperature of 165°F. This will take roughly 25-30 minutes.
8. If the chicken skin is not as crunch as you would like at this point, turn your oven to broil and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes.


**Randi's Side Notes**
~ For the potatoes, you can use whatever kind you like as long as you make sure they are cut into smaller chunks that are roughly an inch in diameter. I have used many different kinds of potatoes and liked them all equally.
~ I generally use whole large organic carrots in all of my recipes. So for this recipe, I peel them and cut them into 3 inch pieces. But using baby carrots works great as well (and a lot less work as you would just throw those on there as is)

This recipe was adapted from Damn Delicious.