Braised Chicken Thighs

You read it right.  It said thighs.  😎

Whenever I’m feeling tired or lazy (or both), or I just need to clean out the fridge, my go to is always a one pan meal.  

Some require more effort than others, but for the most part, I find them to be less work and so so delicious.  My version of comfort food.  🥰  And for some reason, I always end up using chicken.  🤷🏽‍♀️

This is my most recent one pan meal, made with items still in the fridge after the Easter holiday.

It was spicy and sweet (which is a fave of mine), but instead of adding a sweetener, I used chopped dates and sweet potato and lots of onion.  I braised it in a dry white wine (Sancerre) leftover from dinner, but chicken/vegetable stock or even water would work here.

Ingredients 

6 Skin on bone in thighs (or drumsticks)

The Hot Mexican

1 or 2 large onions

2 or 3 stalks of celery

4 chopped dates

3 sweet potatoes 

2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)

The Herbed Turkey

1 C stock or broth (or wine)

Coconut oil for sautéing

You can chop everything in advance, or chop veggies while meat is browning.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Cut onions in half and then slice. Cut celery in half lengthwise, and then chop crosswise into ¼” pieces. Cut sweet potatoes into chunks.  

Sprinkle chicken with The Hot Mexican all over to evenly coat and rub in. Set a frying pan (that can also go into the oven) over medium heat and add about 1-2 TBSP of coconut oil. Add chicken to pan skin side down until it is golden brown (about 10 mins.). Flip chicken and repeat. Transfer chicken to a plate and pour out excess fat, leaving enough in the pan to sauté veggies, about 2 TBSP.

Add the onion, celery, dates and sweet potato to the pan, lowering heat if necessary. Sprinkle with The Herbed Turkey.   Sauté until the onions start to soften (3 – 5 mins.). Then add the liquid and bring to a boil. Boil until it reduces slightly and the vegetables are soft.

Return chicken (and any accumulated juices) to pan, nestling into veggies. Pop into oven and cook until chicken is done, about 30 minutes.

 Enjoy!

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