🍂🌻 Chili Champions & Backyard Cooks 🌻🍂🤠 Chuckwagon Fall Recipe of the Day — Tuesday, October 6, 2026

🍗🍁 Maple-Dijon Harvest Chicken with Bacon, Apples & Sweet Potatoes 🥓🍎

Good morning, folks! 🤠🍂

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Today we're making a colorful one-pan fall supper that's a little different from yesterday's beef and noodles but still packed with country comfort.

We're roasting juicy chicken thighs with sweet potatoes, apples, bacon, onions, and Brussels sprouts, then finishing everything with a homemade maple-Dijon glaze.

Sweet, savory, smoky, and tangy—all in one pan! And besides tasting wonderful, there's less cleanup afterward. That's always a win around my kitchen! 😄❤️

🍗 Maple-Dijon Harvest Chicken

Ingredients

• 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

• 6 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

• 1 lb Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

• 1 large sweet onion, cut into wedges

• 2 Honeycrisp apples, cut into thick wedges

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• ½ teaspoon onion powder

• ½ teaspoon dried thyme

• ½ teaspoon dried rosemary

• Salt and black pepper to taste

🍁 Maple-Dijon Glaze

• ¼ cup pure maple syrup

• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tablespoon melted butter

• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika

🔥 Let's Get Cooking!

1️⃣ Heat that oven!Preheat your oven to 425°F.

Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil or parchment for easier cleanup.

2️⃣ Start those vegetables. 🍠Toss the sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and onion with olive oil, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper.

Spread everything over the baking sheet.

Roast for 15 minutes to give the vegetables a head start.

3️⃣ Make that maple-Dijon glaze. 🍁Whisk together the maple syrup, Dijon, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, melted butter, and smoked paprika.

Taste it!

You should get sweetness first, followed by a little tang and smoke.

4️⃣ Season that chicken!Pat the chicken thighs dry and season them with salt and black pepper.

Place them skin-side up among the vegetables.

Brush generously with the maple-Dijon glaze.

5️⃣ Bring on the bacon! 🥓Sprinkle the chopped bacon around the vegetables.

Return the pan to the oven and roast for about 25 minutes.

6️⃣ Add those apples! 🍎Add the apple wedges to the pan and gently toss them with the vegetables and pan juices.

Brush the chicken with another layer of glaze.

Continue roasting for approximately 10–15 minutes, until the chicken reaches at least 165°F in the thickest part and the vegetables are tender.

For especially juicy dark meat, many cooks prefer thighs cooked a little beyond 165°F.

7️⃣ Give it that beautiful finish! 🔥For crispy golden skin, place the pan briefly under the broiler.

Watch it closely because that maple glaze can caramelize quickly!

Drizzle any remaining glaze over the vegetables only if it has not touched raw chicken.

Then bring that beautiful harvest pan straight to the table!

Now THAT looks like October supper! 🍂❤️

⭐ MawMaw's Chuckwagon Secret

🍗 Want crispy chicken skin? Start with DRY chicken!

Moisture is the enemy of crispy skin, so pat those thighs really well with paper towels before seasoning.

And don't crowd your baking sheet.

When vegetables are packed too closely together, they steam instead of roast. Give them some room and you'll get those wonderful caramelized edges.

One more little secret: add the apples near the end. They'll become warm and tender while still holding their shape. 🍎

🍽️ Make It a Harvest Supper

This one-pan meal is pretty complete on its own, but if you've got a hungry crowd, add:

🌽 Skillet cornbread with honey butter🫘 Southern green beans🥗 Cranberry-pecan harvest salad🥖 Warm yeast rolls🍎 Apple butter🧋 Sweet tea or cold apple cider

🍂 And for dessert?

🎃🍁 Pumpkin Praline Cobbler

A warm pumpkin-spice cake with a gooey brown-sugar sauce underneath and a crunchy pecan-praline topping.

Spoon it into a bowl while it's still warm and add vanilla ice cream.

Oh my goodness—somebody put the coffee on! ☕😋

💜 Tuesday Chuckwagon Encouragement

Today's supper is all about bringing a lot of different ingredients together.

Some are sweet.

Some are savory.

Some are a little tangy.

And by themselves, they're all different—but together they make something wonderful.

Life can be a lot like that.

We have joyful days and difficult days. We have prayers that are answered quickly and others we wait on for a long time. We meet people who stay for a lifetime and others who are only part of our journey for a season.

We don't always understand how all the pieces fit together while we're living through them.

But God sees the whole picture when we can only see today's piece.

So if something doesn't make sense today, don't give up.

Keep praying.

Keep trusting.

Keep doing what's right.

God may be putting together something you can't see yet.

And one day you may look back and realize that even during the difficult seasons, He never stopped working. ❤️

📖 Scripture for Today

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."

— Proverbs 3:5 (KJV)

🍁 Tuesday Table Question

Which ingredient makes a fall supper taste like FALL to you?

🍎 Apples🍠 Sweet potatoes🍁 Maple🥓 Bacon🎃 Pumpkin🌿 Sage & rosemary🌽 Cornbread🤠 All of them—just fill my plate!

👇 Tell us in the comments!

And we'd love to see what YOU'RE cooking! Share your favorite fall recipes, treasured family dishes, chili and BBQ creations, cast-iron meals, cooking pictures, and upcoming cook-offs with our Chili Champions & Backyard Cooks family.

🍂🤠 Happy Tuesday, Friends!

May your table be filled with good food, your home with people you love, and your heart with the confidence that even when you can't see the whole picture, God can.

Faith ⭐ Family ⭐ Friends ⭐ Food ⭐ Memories ❤️🍂🌻