This Underrated Kitchn Recipe Is My Favorite of All Time
Before we all started gushing about the wonderful ease of one-dish meals (myself included!) and regularly slotting them into our meal plans at Kitchn, this is the one-dish meal I made all the time: baked chicken with artichokes. Except, I never called it a one-dish dinner. To me, it was just that really great baked chicken thigh recipe with artichokes and lots of spices.
Over the years I’ve ebbed and flowed when it came to putting this chicken dish on the dinner table. There have been times when it held a standing spot in my weekly meal plan for months on end, and times when I might go months or even more than a year without making it — although when the latter happened, I still considered this recipe almost every week as I put my meal plan together.
All the reasons that make me love this recipe now are the same ones that made me fall in love with it all those years back. I love when that happens with a recipe. It’s how I know I’ll be cooking it for years and years to come. Let me tell you about what makes this baked chicken an all-time favorite.
It could not be easier. I’m talking about the prep, the cooking, and the cleanup. For how much flavor it packs in, this recipe requires very little from you. And of course, it comes together in a single baking dish. It always feels like such a dinner victory, and like I’m getting away with something.
It’s pretty versatile. While the recipe calls for a bag of frozen artichokes to be thawed, I almost always use canned artichokes instead (buy quartered artichoke hearts if you can; that way you don’t have to cut them). Even before I had a toddler underfoot, I wasn’t great at planning ahead (read: taking the bag of artichokes out of the freezer in time). Canned artichoke hearts make a simple swap, or you can even use marinated artichoke hearts from the antipasti bar.
These days, because I’m serving this chicken to a little eater as well, I usually skip the red pepper flakes — an easy omission. Don’t have cinnamon sticks? Try using up to a 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon instead. The same goes for the cloves. If don’t have whole cloves, a pinch of ground cloves will get the job done.
It helps me use what’s in my spice cabinet. I have a well-stocked spice cabinet, and I’ll be honest, I’m not always the best at taking advantage of it. I love that this recipe gets me to use so many of the different spices I have stashed away.
It is just plain delicious! There’s a lot to be said for any recipe that simply tastes really, really good. Despite having served this for dinner dozens of times, everyone around the table still exclaims how delicious it is every time.
From the juicy chicken thighs and the smoky cumin, to the tangy preserved lemons and the warmth of the cinnamon and cloves, every single bite is packed with so many vibrant flavors.
And it will make your kitchen smell amazing. Any meal that perfumes my kitchen with fragrance of warm spices gets bonus points in my book.