The Best Chicken Recipes for Fall

As the popular saying goes: “Happy Fall, Ya’ll!”

We really love the change in seasons. As much as we enjoy Summer and all of the fun activities it brings, there’s something about saying goodbye to the hot season in favor of crisper and cooler temperatures that is really invigorating (our chickens agree!) And we have to admit, running a farm always gets a bit easier when the weather is cooler!

Fall has its own share of fun outdoor activities, that’s for sure. Apple picking, corn mazes, fall festivals, a beautiful change in weather, and it ushers in the holiday season - what’s not to love? One of our favorite ways to mark the beginning of a new season is with yummy seasonal recipes that focus on pasture raised chicken and seasonal produce. In Fall, we love to incorporate savory herbs and really comforting foods. Comfort food is really a staple in our house during the cooler months. Since our family mainly enjoys a paleo lifestyle, we especially enjoy coming up with paleo twists on our favorite comfort foods.  And Fall gives us ample opportunity to do just that.

Whether you’re planning out your Thanksgiving meal or are like us and just enjoy celebrating the seasons with food, this post will give you some delicious pasture raised chicken recipes inspired by one of our favorite seasons.  See some of the best chicken recipes for Fall below.  

Sheet Pan Roasted Chicken, Sweet Potatoes, and Greens

Fall is an awesome season for fresh grown greens. Some of our favorites are kale, swiss chard, and collard greens. Whether you grow your own or focus on seasonal produce at the grocery store or farmers market, you’ll be able to find some beautiful seasonal greens for this recipe. We were inspired by this Food & Wine recipe, but suggest a few tweaks to make it more versatile and paleo friendly. 

The recipe calls for chicken legs, but we think our Pasturebird half spatchcocks or bone in chicken thighs would work great as well. And we like to substitute sweet potatoes as a paleo (and more nutrient dense) alternative to the white potatoes called for in the recipe. As far as the roasted vegetable, we are huge fans of kale and think that part of the recipe is perfect as-is, but you can substitute whatever fall green you have on hand.

While this recipe takes awhile to bake once you stick it in the oven, the prep is super simple - you can put it together quickly and then enjoy the beautiful Fall weather and delicious aromas while you wait for your dinner to cook. 

Paleo Tuscan Chicken Soup

If there were ever a “soup season”, Fall would definitely be it! There are few things more comforting after spending time in crisp Fall air than warming up with a cozy bowl of soup. 

One of the most popular recipes in our house is our pasture raised chicken spin on zuppa toscana! It’s such a fun and delicious paleo version of an Italian favorite. While traditional zuppa toscana is made with sausage rather than chicken, we think that shredded chicken works perfectly in this recipe in place of ground sausage. We use the term “recipe” loosely because we generally wing it with whatever we have on hand, but this recipe from Paleo Running Momma is a really good base for the list of ingredients you’ll need and gives you a good description of the steps to use until you get the hang of making it on your own. Since we use shredded chicken instead of ground sausage, we like to make our chicken ahead of time in a pressure cooker and shred it, and then add to the soup towards the end of cooking. 

Again, we substitute sweet potatoes for the regular white potatoes. There is some differing opinion in the paleo world on whether white potatoes are acceptable on a paleo diet, so if you follow strict paleo you can omit them in favor of a different vegetable. Perhaps you could also substitute them for sweet potatoes, which are considered more paleo friendly. Depending on your dietary preferences, the soup is delicious with or without bacon. If you’re worried about the coconut milk giving this soup a funky flavor, don’t be - it lends a delicious savory flavor, especially when simmered with the herbs. This soup is filling enough that you don’t even need to serve it with a side - it’s a meal all on its own!

Whole Roasted Chicken with Paleo Sides

Let’s call it Thanksgiving practice! It’s not quite as involved as a turkey, but a whole roasted chicken with trimmings can still give you that comfortable and cozy feeling that you get after a delicious Thanksgiving meal.  And with a little advance planning you can make your favorite Thanksgiving side dishes with a paleo spin. 

We’ll give you some side dish inspiration in a minute, but first let’s talk about the main attraction: the whole roasted chicken. We love using butter to coat the chicken skin (ghee is a good substitute, depending on how strictly you follow your paleo diet), but since we’ve already spotlighted our favorite garlic herb butter chicken in another post, we’re going to switch things up with a fall-inspired maple herb butter roasted chicken. This recipe is super simple and requires just a few ingredients - fresh rosemary, sea salt, butter or ghee, and maple syrup. You can find the whole recipe here. 

As a paleo substitute for carb-laden mashed potatoes, try a simple cauliflower mash instead! This recipe calls for fresh cauliflower (we know it’s tempting to use cauliflower rice, but it will make your dish too watery), butter or ghee, garlic, and non-dairy milk. As this article suggests you’ll want to use just a tiny bit of water when steaming the cauliflower, to avoid a final product that is runny. 

We recommend a simple Tuscan kale salad to serve with your roast chicken and cauliflower mash. There are lots of recipes online and most are very simple, involving kale, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper!

Whether you’re in the mood for a comforting soup, a rich and savory roast chicken, or a quick and simple sheet pan dinner with roast chicken thighs, sweet potatoes and kale, we hope we’ve given you some ideas for some delicious fall inspired pasture raised chicken recipes.