Braised Chicken Thighs

Braised chicken thighs are very high on my list of family friendly dishes. The whole thing comes together in about an hour and it's very easy to prepare, even when you're just starting to learn cooking. The chicken is literally fall apart tender and the vegetables compliment it's rich taste very well.

I prefer rice as a side dish in this case, but some pasta or mashed potatoes would be great choices too. When it comes to the vegetables, you can use the same as I did or modify this to your likings. Now let me show you how cook this dish.

These amounts will make 4-5 solid servings.

8 chicken thighs – use as many as you can fit into the pan in one layer

10 cherry tomatoes

1 small zucchini

1 medium red onion

4-5 garlic cloves

1 bell pepper (yellow or red)

2 spring onions

2-3 tablespoons of butter

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon of red paprika 

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 teaspoon of onion powder

1.5 cups chicken broth or stock

1-2 sprigs of rosemary

As with all my Instructables, let's start with a video for the visual learners among us. I've embeded it from my YouTube channel and I'd love you to check it out, to see more of my recipes!

There's no cooking without seasoning, so let's start with that.

First a touch of olive oil, so the other spices stick to the meat nicely.

Go on with salt and black pepper to taste.

Ad finally, drop in red paprika, garlic powder and onion powder... 1 teaspoon of each.

Mix everything with your hands to make sure all part of the chicken are nicely covered.

Heat up some olive oil in a large OVEN SAFE pan or skillet and brown the chicken thighs from both sides. Give it about 2-3 minutes per side, then take the chicken of the pan and set aside.

NOTE: We need to use an oven safe skillet/pan, because the final part of the cooking process happens in the oven, to make sure the skin turns out nice and crisp.

Drop a cube of butter into the pan and melt it.

NOTE: Do not remove the drippings that are left in the pan from the browning, they will improve the flavor a lot!

Now add all the vegetables that you have cut into chunks. The size depends on what you prefer, I always go for a "bite" size.

Add 1-1.5 cups of chicken broth or stock and 1 or 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary. Mix it all up an keep simmering for a few minutes.

Depending on how salty the stock/broth is, you might need to add some salt too.

Return all the chicken thighs into the pan now..

Place them atop of the vegetables and make sure the skin is not fully submerged in the liquids.

Cover the pan with a lid and keep on braising on low heat for about 30 minutes. It can take a bit longer, depending on the size of thighs used.

30-40 minutes later, the thighs should be "fork tender" which means a fork should slide in and out easily. Once we are there it's time for the final step.

Place the pan into a preheated oven, the temperature should be around 250C or 475F.

This final step takes 10-15 minutes, or until the skin become golden brown and crispy. If you want to speed it up a bit, turn the broiling mode on.

And we are done!

The thighs look great and we are ready to serve.

As mentioned at the beginning, rice is likely the best side dish here, as the rice absorbs the juices nicely.

But again, feel free to use mashed potatoes, pasta or whatever side you prefer.

NOTE: I have a more detailed version of this braised chicken thighs recipe on my blog, along with some optional tips. Go check it out :)

TIP: Looking for more thighs recipes? Try my grilled chicken gyros.

See you next time!

Questions or comments? Post them please :)