When looking for an easy dinner to throw together quickly, chicken often comes to mind as a nutritious and convenient option.

In this case, Mary Berry combines all the goodness of a spatchcock chicken with a rich and flavourful tomato sauce.

One of the best qualities of this dish, is that it’s extra simple to make, using just one pot, which means less washing up to do at the end of the day.

This recipe from the Mary Makes It Easy BBC 2 series, serves four to six people.

Happy Foodie recommended: “Double up for eight people, if you wish, and arrange two chickens in a large roasting tin, covered in foil.”

Mary Berry’s one-pot chicken recipe

Ingredients

Two tbsp olive oil

One large onion, thinly sliced

One large fennel bulb, thinly sliced

One red pepper, deseeded and diced

Three large garlic cloves, finely grated

100ml (3½fl oz) white wine

One x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

Two tbsp sun-dried tomato paste

Two tsp Worcestershire sauce

One (about 1.25kg/2lb 12oz)

One (about 1.25kg/2lb 12oz) small whole chicken

Five bay leaves

One lemon, thinly sliced into rounds

One tsp paprika

One tbsp runny honey

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 200°C (180°C for fan ovens) or Gas Mark 6.

In a deep, lidded casserole or a large, ovenproof frying pan with a lid, heat the oil over high heat. Add the onion, fennel, and pepper, cooking them for about 3–4 minutes while stirring frequently. Toss in the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. Add the wine and let it simmer until it has reduced by half.

Mix in the chopped tomatoes, sun-dried tomato paste, and Worcestershire sauce, then season with salt and black pepper.

While this is cooking, place the chicken breast-side down on a cutting board. Use scissors to cut along each side of the backbone to remove it. Flip the chicken over and press down on the breastbone to flatten it, creating a spatchcock chicken. Arrange lemon slices and bay leaves on top of the chicken.

Place the chicken, breast-side up, on top of the vegetables in the casserole or frying pan. Season it, bring the mixture to a boil, then cover with a lid and transfer to the preheated oven. Cook for about 35 minutes.

After 35 minutes, remove the lid, sprinkle paprika over the chicken, and drizzle it with honey. Return the pan to the oven, uncovered, and cook for an additional 30 minutes to allow the chicken to brown and finish cooking.

To serve, transfer the vegetables to a hot serving platter, carve or joint the chicken, and arrange it on top of the vegetables.