Why It Works
- Baking on the upper-middle rack gives the chicken better exposure to rising heat, which promotes better browning.
- Giving the potatoes a 10-minute head start in the oven ensures they turn tender once the chicken and onions are added and everything finishes cooking.
- Arranging the chicken pieces along the edges of the pan places them in the hottest spot, helping the skin render and become crispy.
No dish defines Palestinian identity more than musakhan. Roasted chicken is served over taboon bread—a traditional flatbread that was once baked in clay ovens—that’s topped with onions softened in olive oil and generously dusted with sumac. The dish is a reflection of the land’s most vital harvest, olives, and their oil is poured into every layer of the dish. For Palestinians, olives are more than a crop—they are a lifeline, sustaining families for generations and anchoring both the cuisine and the culture. They appear in art, poetry, and folk songs, and will forever stand as an emblem of endurance and belonging.
In my Palestinian household, like in many Palestinian households, making musakhan (pronounced msakhan in my Palestinian dialect) was never a quiet affair. The moment it was decided, phone calls went out to aunts and cousins, and if they weren’t around, then to good friends and neighbors—any loved ones who could come eat. Musakhan is a project that requires time, effort, and plenty of onion chopping, so you want to share the meal (and sometimes the preparation) with as many people as possible.
My mom stood at the center of it all, layering taboon with heaps of onions, which she’d softened slowly in olive oil, from a huge pot on the stove. The assembly took over every inch of the kitchen counters—platters of bread, a large tray of chicken, sumac spilling across the surface after being sprinkled with abandon. The musakhan was built up in layers—bread, onions, sumac—repeated and stacked until all the bread was used up, then topped with golden, roasted chicken. Shortly after, the dining table was crammed with family—my aunts and cousins squeezed shoulder to shoulder. It’s a dish reserved for those closest to you, an intimate meal eaten by hand as you tear into olive oil–soaked bread, scoop up any onions that have fallen onto the plate, and dip each bite into cool, tangy yogurt. It’s a dish I always request every time I go back home to Jordan.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Musakhan Reimagined on a Sheet Pan
So what do I do when I want the flavors of musakhan in my current New York home, with a small kitchen and nearly none of the family nearby who would usually help me eat the stacks of onion-laced bread? I turn to my sheet-pan version, which captures the essence of the dish while making it realistic for a weeknight dinner.
Here, potatoes replace the traditional taboon bread, which isn’t always easy to find in the US. And unlike musakhan, where the main components are cooked separately and then assembled, the potatoes roast alongside the chicken, onions, and spices on a single pan for a more streamlined dinner.
Smart sequencing makes this dish come together on one sheet pan. To start, the oven rack is set in the upper-middle position, where rising heat ensures better browning and crisping of the chicken skin. In traditional musakhan, the chicken is often braised in a bharat-seasoned broth—sometimes with whole spices, sometimes ground—before being roasted. The result is meat that’s deeply flavored, tender from the braise, and crisp from the oven. In this version, I rub the spices directly onto sliced potatoes and chicken thighs and drumsticks. Then the chicken is set aside while the potatoes get a 10-minute head start in the oven. Instead of spreading the potato slices out as I would if I wanted maximum crispiness, the potatoes are crowded on the pan so they steam. This is intentional: The goal is soft, buttery potatoes that drink up the juices released by the onions and chicken.
While I don’t simmer pounds of finely chopped onions in a pot of olive oil the way musakhan is traditionally made, I still use plenty of sliced onions, enough to echo the flavor and feel of the original, but scaled down for a sheet-pan dinner. This preparation is quicker, easier, and comes with fewer onion-induced tears.
After those first 10 minutes when the potatoes cook alone, the onions are gently stirred in, and the chicken is arranged around the edges of the pan, where the heat is most intense, which helps the skin become crispy.
Fresh oregano is added in the last 10 minutes of cooking, keeping it from burning and giving the dish a peppery, almost-minty finish. What comes out is a tray of tender, creamy potatoes, crispy, rich chicken, scarlet-stained onions that collapse into the chicken fat and oil, and flecks of oregano with edges that are just slightly crisp. As everything roasts, the fragrance of the spices fills the kitchen. With the ineluctable pull of the aroma, the distance between here and home feels smaller.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
What’s in the Spice Mix?
Even when I simplify the method, I never compromise on the flavors that define musakhan. What makes musakhan unforgettable isn’t just the bread or the chicken, it’s the seasonings, and they’re still at the heart of this sheet-pan version.
If lemon were a spice, it would be sumac. In musakhan, sumac always seasons the onions, staining them red and giving them their lemony bite. Citrusy, punchy, and a vivid purple-red, it is the defining flavor of musakhan. It comes from the dried and ground berries of the sumac bush, which grows across the Middle East and in parts of the United States. Don’t confuse the spice with poison sumac: While both belong to the same plant family, the edible kind comes from a shrub with clusters of deep red berries, while poison sumac grows in wetlands and bears white berries that should never be eaten.
In Jordan, where I grew up, the northern highlands of Ajloun—famous for their forests, rolling hills, and ancient ruins—are also known for their sumac groves, and I always bring some back whenever I visit. But sumac is easy to find in the US. Well-stocked supermarkets carry it, with brands like Morton and Basset including it in their lineup. It’s also widely available in Middle Eastern grocery stores and online.
But musakhan isn’t just about sumac. The dish is also seasoned with bharat, the all-purpose warm spice mix that shifts slightly from kitchen to kitchen but often includes allspice, coriander, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and black pepper. Woodsy allspice sets the base, citrusy coriander adds lift, cinnamon brings warmth, ginger contributes a gentle heat, cardamom offers a cool, almost menthol-like edge, and black pepper sharpens it all.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
How to Serve Msakhan Chicken and Potatoes
Like traditional versions of musakhan, this sheet-pan musakhan is finished simply. To serve, scatter on more sumac for a little extra pop, add lemon wedges for brightness, and set out cool yogurt for people to drizzle over the chicken or eat alongside it. This version may be easier to prepare, but the flavors that define musakhan remain.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
This Easy Palestinian Chicken Dinner Transports Me Back Home
Cook Mode
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4 chicken legs, split into drumsticks and thighs (about 3 pounds; 1.3 kg total)
2 pounds (907 g) small yellow medium-starch potatoes such as Yukon Gold, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices
6 tablespoons (90 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sumac, plus more for serving (see notes)
2 1/4 teaspoons ground allspice
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 teaspoons (12 g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt, for table salt, use half as much by volume or the same. weight
2 medium yellow onions (about 16 ounces total), cut into 1/2-inch slices
1/4 cup (6 g) finely chopped fresh oregano leaves, plus more for serving
Lemon wedges, for serving
Plain whole-milk yogurt, for serving
Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position. Heat oven to 425°F (220°C). On a rimmed baking sheet, combine chicken and potatoes. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle evenly with sumac, allspice, coriander, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, pepper, and salt. Rub all over and toss to ensure chicken and potatoes are evenly coated. Transfer chicken to a bowl or plate and spread potatoes in an even layer on baking sheet. For better salt penetration, let chicken sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or uncovered in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours, if desired.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Bake potatoes for 10 minutes. Remove rimmed baking sheet from oven, add onions, and toss gently with potatoes to combine. Return chicken to rimmed baking sheet, placing pieces along the edges of the pan, on top of potato and onion mixture for better browning. Return baking sheet to oven and cook until potatoes are almost tender and chicken is beginning to crisp. Remove pan from oven, scatter oregano on top of chicken and potatoes, return to oven, and continue to cook until potatoes are tender and chicken is golden brown and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle with additional sumac and serve with lemon wedges and yogurt.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Special Equipment
Rimmed baking sheet
Notes
Sumac is a tangy, deep red-purple spice made from the dried and ground berries of the sumac plant. It is widely used in Middle Eastern cuisine and can be found in Middle Eastern or Mediterranean grocery stores, some well-stocked supermarkets, or ordered online.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
