🍂🌻 Chili Champions & Backyard Cooks 🌻🍂🍁 Chuckwagon Fall Recipe of the Day — Tuesday, September 8, 2026

🍗🍎 Brown Sugar Apple Butter Chicken with Bacon & Harvest Potatoes 🥔🥓

Good morning, folks! 🤠🍂

After our Labor Day cookout, let's settle back into the week with an easy one-pan fall supper!

Today's Brown Sugar Apple Butter Chicken has juicy chicken thighs coated in a sticky, savory-sweet apple butter glaze, surrounded by crispy potatoes, apples, onions, and smoky bacon. It's simple enough for a Tuesday night but pretty enough to serve when company comes over. ❤️

🍗 Apple Butter Chicken

Ingredients

• 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

• 1½ lbs baby potatoes, halved

• 6 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped

• 2 crisp apples, cut into wedges

• 1 medium sweet onion, cut into wedges

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• ½ teaspoon dried thyme

• ½ teaspoon black pepper

• Salt to taste

🍎 Brown Sugar Apple Butter Glaze

• ½ cup apple butter

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup

• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika

• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

🔥 Let's Get Cooking!

1️⃣ Heat things up.Preheat your oven to 400°F.

2️⃣ Start the bacon.In a large oven-safe cast-iron skillet, cook the chopped bacon until just crisp. Remove the bacon and set it aside, leaving about 2 tablespoons of drippings in the skillet.

3️⃣ Season that chicken.Pat the chicken dry. Season with smoked paprika, garlic powder, thyme, salt, and pepper.

Place the chicken skin-side down in the hot skillet and sear for about 5 minutes. Flip and cook another 2–3 minutes, then remove.

4️⃣ Give the potatoes a head start. 🥔Add the potatoes and onion to the skillet and toss them in the drippings. Cook for about 5 minutes.

5️⃣ Make that glaze! 🍎Whisk together the apple butter, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire, maple syrup, smoked paprika, and garlic powder.

6️⃣ Bring it all together.Nestle the chicken back into the skillet among the potatoes and onions. Brush the chicken generously with about half of the glaze.

Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast for 20 minutes.

7️⃣ Add the apples.Scatter the apple wedges around the chicken and brush the chicken with more glaze.

Continue roasting for approximately 15–20 minutes, until the chicken reaches at least 165°F internally and the potatoes are tender.

8️⃣ Finish it off!Sprinkle the crispy bacon over the skillet and spoon some of those wonderful pan juices over everything.

Let the chicken rest for a few minutes before serving.

⭐ MawMaw's Fall Kitchen Secret

🍎 Add the apples later than the potatoes!

Potatoes need time to become tender, but apples cook quickly. Adding them during the final part of roasting gives you beautiful caramelized apple wedges instead of mushy apples.

And if you want that chicken skin extra crispy, give it a couple of minutes under the broiler at the end—watching it closely so the sugary glaze doesn't burn.

🍽️ Serve It Up With

🫘 Southern green beans🌽 Buttered corn🥗 Cranberry-pecan harvest salad🥖 Warm yeast rolls with honey butter🍎 Apple cider or sweet tea

🍂 And for dessert?

🍎 Warm Apple Butter Cinnamon Roll Cobbler

Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel. Oh my! 😋

💜 Chuckwagon Encouragement

The day after a holiday can feel like it's time to jump right back into everything that needs to be done.

But remember—being busy and being fruitful aren't always the same thing.

You don't have to accomplish everything today.

Do what God has placed before you. Love the people around you. Be faithful in the little things. And leave tomorrow's worries with the Lord.

Sometimes a simple meal around the table and a grateful heart are more valuable than checking another ten things off the list. ❤️

📖 Scripture for Today

"Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established."

— Proverbs 16:3 (KJV)

🍁 Tuesday Table Question

Which fall flavor combination sounds best to you?

🍎 Apple & cinnamon🍁 Maple & bacon🎃 Pumpkin & sage🍠 Sweet potato & brown sugar🍐 Pear & pecan🍯 Honey & apple butter

👇 Tell us your favorite! And don't forget—you can share your own recipes, cook-off creations, and pictures of what's cooking in your kitchen with our Chili Champions & Backyard Cooks family!

🤠🍂 Happy Tuesday, Friends!

May your skillet be full, your home smell wonderful, and your table be surrounded by people you love.

Faith ⭐ Family ⭐ Friends ⭐ Food ⭐ Memories ❤️🍁