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Roasted fennel augments cozy winter dish

Recipe: Pears and apples with chicken for sheet-pan roasting

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED FEB 22, 2026

Chicken spiced with ground fennel seeds is cooked with fennel bulb slices and apples and/or pears. Kathy Morrison

Another month of winter is ahead of us, and even if the weather improves we still have winter and autumn produce aplenty.

This recipe is an easy, warming main dish, with everything roasted on a sheet pan once some prep is accomplished.

The fennel used here was harvested by master gardeners, so it was the entire plant, including the feathery fronds, which I used for garnish. If you can't find a complete plant, just go for the bulb and garnish with some parsley.

I used boneless chicken breasts, cut into thigh-size pieces, but boneless or in-bone thighs also work well here. Just be sure to adjust the cooking time. And I love baked apples, but even tart firm ones got a bit too soft in this recipe, while the pear pieces were perfect. Next time: All pears.

Don't skip the step of toasting the fennel seeds, which are then ground and used to spice the chicken.

Sheet-pan chicken with fennel, apples and/or pears

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

1-1/2 to 2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, boneless thighs or bone-in thighs

3 tablespoons olive or grapeseed oil, divided

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 medium fennel bulb, outer leaves removed, then cored and thinly sliced; fronds reserved for garnish

2 tart apples, or 2 Bosc pears, or 1 of each, cored and quartered

4 sprigs rosemary, torn into smaller pieces

Instructions:

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the fennel seeds in a small, dry skillet, and toast them for 2 to 3 minutes over medium-low heat, shaking the pan as necessary.

Sheet pan with chicken, veggies and fruit — Add the fruit pieces to the pan after the chicken
has cooked for 15 minutes.

Let the seeds cool briefly, then chop roughly, or pound them into a powder or grind in a spice grinder.

Toss the chicken pieces in a large bowl with the fennel seed powder, 1 tablespoon oil, and salt and pepper.

On the sheet pan, toss the slices of fennel and onion with the remaining oil. Spread them into an even layer. Scatter the rosemary sprigs over the vegetables, then put the chicken pieces on top of the rosemary. Add more salt and pepper if desired. Roast for 15 minutes, then add the apple and/or pear pieces to the sheet pan.

Roast for 10 to 15 minutes more until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. If you want the chicken to have some crispy brownness, turn on the broiler and broil it for about 2 minutes.

Serve the chicken and vegetables on a platter and garnish with reserved fennel fronds.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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