When I sat down this morning to tell you all about these chicken recipes, some of the best in our archives, I had to pause for a moment to gather inspiration. What is there to say about chicken? It's the basic of all basics in the meat-eating cook's repertoire — relatively inexpensive, easy to prepare, and just plain dull, some might say, bored to tears with an endless parade of grilled chicken breasts.
But that's my appeal for you today, dear readers: Chicken does not have to be dull. We fall into the same old ruts, the same old reliable recipes. But it's fall, and it's time for something new. We have 15 fresh (yet still reliable!) recipes for you — from a rich, soupy dish of caramelized onions and braised chicken thighs; to a stew of chicken, kale, and white beans; to the simplest, tastiest lemon garlic chicken, simmered in the slow cooker.
Chicken is too good to be dull! Find a new favorite, a fresh classic, for dinner tonight in these recipes.
FRESH CLASSICS
• 1 Braised French Onion Chicken with Gruyère
• 2 Slow-Cooker Lemon Garlic Chicken
• 3 Chicken in Coconut Milk
• 4 Roasted Chicken Thighs with Fennel and Lemon
• 5 Chipotle Chicken Fajitas (Grilled Indoors!) with Creamy Black Bean Spread
HOMESTYLE COMFORT
• 6 Chicken and Dumplings
• 7 Country Captain Chicken
• 8 Chicken Divan Casserole, from Scratch
• 9 Baked "Fried" Chicken
• 10 Hainanese Chicken With Rice from Mark Bittman
HEARTY STEWS
• 11 Mediterranean Chicken Stew with Cinnamon Couscous
• 12 Chicken Stew with Kale and Cannellini Beans
• 13 Chicken Stewed with Tomatoes, Cinnamon, and Preserved Lemon
THE BASICS
• 14 How To Roast a Chicken
• 15 How to Cook Moist and Tender Chicken Breasts Every Time
What are your favorite chicken recipes? We'd love to discover more recipes through you!
(Images: See linked recipes for full image credits)
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Chicken is only dull because most of the chicken in the grocery store tastes little better than the plastic bag it is wrapped in. If you buy organic free range chicken even plain poached chicken breast has great flavor! Great recipes are better with great ingredients! :)
@bzb amen!!
Yes bzb! I practically stopped eating chicken for years after moving to NY until I managed to source good free range chicken.
One of my favorite fall recipes is braised chicken legs with cherry tomatoes:
http://nettleandquince.com/2010/10/03/braised-chicken-legs-with-cherry-tomatoes/
Though I agree that chicken with lemon and fennel (seeds as well as fresh) is hard to beat...
http://nettleandquince.com/2011/01/06/roast-chicken-with-lemon-and-fennel-seeds/
The french onion chicken recipe is amazing. Tried it last week; perfect for fall.
I can't wait to try the chicken w/ coconut milk. Looks wonderful.
Stacey ann Dolenti
Whoever decided that separating chicken meat from the bone and peeling the skin off was crazy. Bone-in, skin-on chicken is not only cheaper, it's also much more delicious and less likely to dry out. Yes, it does take longer to cook than pounded boneless, skinless breasts, but you can make a giant batch at a time and then eat or freeze the leftovers for even faster soups, pasta dishes, stir-fries, and tacos. Yum!
Alas, I can't find a decent source of free-range chicken where I am. :( So I try to just eat less of it (and meat in general).
We tried the French onion chicken recipe too and it was a HUGE hit with everyone from ages 2-89, no joke.
Bittman's Hainanese chicken is awesome, but I grew up eating it chopped on top of rice, with the fragrant broth alongside, instead of shredded. It's also really important to get a high-quality chicken because the skin has to be perfectly smooth and silky.
One of my favorite recipes:
http://www.saltandlove.com/2011/05/hainanese-chicken-with-rice.html
My favorite chicken by FAR is Jamie Oliver's roasted chicken:
http://talesofaretromodernhousewife.blogspot.com/2011/08/easy-dinner-roasted-chicken-and.html
I also tried the chicken in coconut milk and it was good, but next time I would add a thai chili for some heat and use bok choy instead of spinach.
Thanks doll,
The Glamorous Housewife
I have a general chicken question. Many of the (wonderful-looking!) recipes I see here (and elsewhere) call for chicken thighs and legs. Unfortunately, my somewhat picky husband is not crazy about dark meat. :( Any tips/suggestions for subbing white meat in these kinds of recipes? I'm thinking that if (per some of the comments above) I go with skin-on-bone-in breasts it will certainly be better than boneless-skinless...but would love any other general tips and techniques on subbing like that...
Dammit! Why does my husband have to be a vegetarian! These recipes all look great! :)
My favorite chicken dish is Brazilian Chicken, though I use Anaheim peppers instead of jalapenos.
Made the Lemon Garlic chicken last night. It was awesome. I used leg quarters instead of whole chicken, and did it in the oven instead of slow cooker. Seared chicken pieces in a heavy Dutch oven, then deglazed with the poaching liquid. Stuck it in the oven, covered, for an hour at 250, followed by 15 minutes uncovered at 375. Delightful. And so moist and tender...
I was raised vegetarian but would like to learn how to cook meat (and pick it out at the store, etc.). These recipes might give me the push to try.
I adore chicken, and am anxious to add these recipes to my repertoire! I don't know if anyone else feels the enthusiasm I do for obtaining all of these recipes, but if there are others as well as me, for this story as well as others with multiple recipes, could you please make it possible to download all of these recipes in one file rather than one at a time? Perhaps offer both options for those want one or two? Thank you!
Ha, just realized - Kitchn goes perfectly with my folder-naming shortcuts: I named the folder for these recipes "KitchnChikn" - it goes perfectly with my other "Chikn" folders!