2-Ingredient Spicy Chicken Thighs

In my opinion, there’s no better deal than bone-in, skin-on, grocery store chicken thighs. Their utility is unmatched, and the flavor-for-price ratio is just legendary. When cooked right, dark meat and rendered poultry skin is a decadent experience that rivals a restaurant-quality meal. To experience such flavorful cookery for so cheap is an incredible gift, and this dish celebrates all that is great about grocery store chicken thighs. This recipe only requires two ingredients (plus salt and pepper), because when chicken thighs and hot cherry peppers are prepared together, they provide a robust amount of salt, fat, acid, and heat — and all for under $10.

This recipe is actually my take on a dish that my Greek and Italian family made a lot when I was growing up, simply called “chiff choff.” The phrase chiff choff is rather esoteric (you won’t find much about it online). Although the words do appear in a Hawaiian cookbook, chiff choff does seem to have a significance in the older Italian American community. For instance, this restaurant menu is one of the only documents that lists chiff choff anywhere online. They state that it’s an “Italian tradition” made simply by sautéing chicken gizzards with chili pepper, tomatoes, and mushrooms. My theory is that with the rise of supermarkets and readily available affordable cuts of meat, chicken gizzards were eventually replaced by chicken thighs. Hence, the version of chiff choff that I grew up eating.

As mentioned, this unbelievably cheap dish is fatty, tangy, slightly sweet, and spicy. It has everything — and it comes together using only two ingredients. There’s not even a need to coat the pan with oil, as the rendered chicken fat lubricates the pan just fine. That fat, when combined with the sweet and vinegary pickling liquid from the jarred hot peppers, creates a delightfully sticky sauce.

The two pounds of thighs cost $6.10 at my grocery store, and the jar of Cento peppers was $3.39. All things considered, a dish this flavorful and satisfying for under 10 dollars is a miracle. It is my go-to weeknight dinner at home, and one that can easily fit in a regular rotation for even the most novice of home cooks.

• Use a cast iron skillet. I made this recipe in two pans: one carbon steel, and another cast iron. The skin crisps up much nicer in the cast iron skillet. (It’s all about the crispy skin.)
• You can add up to a tablespoon of grapeseed oil to the cold pan. Having a little more oil means that you can also add a bit more of the hot cherry pepper pickling juice. This will create a smooth, tangy and delicious sauce. The oil, however, isn’t completely necessary.
• Monitor your chicken, but seriously, don’t touch it. It’s nearly impossible to screw up chicken thighs, but you want to let the fat render off as much as possible. Also, you probably won’t overcook the skin. Just take the full 40 minutes that the cold pan method requires to do anything else. Fold laundry, watch a TV show — whatever!
• Double the recipe and refrigerate leftovers. Letting this dish marinate in the fridge overnight only deepens the flavors more. You lose out on the crispy chicken skin, yes, but the spicy acid seems to penetrate the meat even further when it’s saved and reheated.