Bon Appétit
By Nate Appleman
4.1
(31)
Photo by Peden + Munk
Remember that thing about not putting acid on raw meat? This charred chicken recipe doesn’t abide by that rule, and now that we’ve tried it, we don’t, either.
Recipe information
Yield
4 servings
Ingredients
4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
Kosher salt
4 garlic cloves, finely grated
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed
3 large sprigs rosemary
1 blood orange, thinly sliced, plus wedges for squeezing
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed
1/2 cup Castelvetrano olives, pitted
3 ounces feta, crumbled (about 1/2 cup)
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat oven to 450°F. Place chicken in a large bowl and season with salt. Add garlic, 2 Tbsp. lemon juice, and 2 Tbsp. oil and toss to combine. Let sit at room temperature at least 30 minutes or cover and chill up to 12 hours. Remove chicken from marinade, draining off any excess; discard marinade. Set chicken aside.
Step 2
Prick sweet potato all over with a fork and roast on a small foil-lined rimmed baking sheet until tender, about 1 hour. Let sit until cool enough to handle.
Step 3
Once potato comes out of the oven, start cooking the chicken. Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet, preferably cast iron, over medium-high. Cook chicken, skin side down, until skin is very brown (it should get very dark; as long as you don’t smell it outright burning it will be all the better with some char), about 5 minutes. Transfer to oven and roast, keeping skin side down, until cooked through, 18–22 minutes. About 1 minute before removing chicken from oven, toss rosemary sprigs into skillet. Place chicken, skin side up, on a plate along with rosemary sprigs. Set skillet over medium-high. Cook orange slices just until golden and slightly softened, about 30 seconds per side. Transfer to plate with chicken.
Step 4
Toss chickpeas, olives, and feta with remaining 2 Tbsp. oil and remaining 1 Tbsp. lemon juice in a large bowl; season chickpea salad with salt.
Step 5
Tear open sweet potato and arrange big sections of flesh on a large platter. Place chicken, along with any accumulated juices, around sweet potato, then top with orange slices, chickpea salad, and rosemary leaves. Squeeze orange wedges over everything when at the table.
TagsChicken ThighChickenPoultryOrangeCitrusFruitSweet PotatoPotatoRoot VegetableVegetableChickpeaBean and LegumeMainDinnerNut FreeGluten FreeWeeknight MealsMake AheadBraiseFallWinterBon Appétit
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Reviews (31)
Back to TopTriangleI've made this three times and it's been a crowd pleaser. Love the complexity of flavors. Pretty much a one dish meal -- just add a green vegetable.
Allison
Sebastopol, CA
11/30/2021
The taste was good but everyone agreed the ingredients were just too disjointed. Separate bites of things would taste good but together was odd and just didn’t make sense. I disagree with those that said it has no flavor but the flavors don’t meld
Spanishspider
Atlanta Ga
9/27/2021
Terrific recipe. The technique for achieving crispy skin is worth the price of admission. Very well received by my guests. It's a pretty simple recipe, so I don't understand the complaints about the number of steps.
afreed
St. Louis
7/6/2021
we really enjoyed this recipe - yes, there are a number of steps, and yes, it is a little messy, but the combination of textures and flavor made it worthwhile for me. Only change I made was to use a tiny butternut squash (we had SO MANY last year!) instead of a sweeet potato. Used a cast iron skillet to cook the chicken, so didn't really have much of a mess and extra blood orange (cara caras are good here too) and love the combination of olives and orange (think Venetian spritz)! Will roast the chickpeas next time as suggested by another reviewer.
liafinney1
Whidbey Is, WA
5/29/2021
I give this dish only 2 forks. After maranating in lemon. The orange is hidden.
Vickbob
California
12/13/2020
I loved this recipe. I did make a couple of changes, but I am sure the recipe would be perfect without the changes I made. I cooked the thighs skins side down until the skin crisped, and then I turned them over before I put them in the oven. I couldn't find the Castelvetrano olives, so to add some olivey interest I fried some pitted Kalamata olives and sprinkled them along with the rosemary over the top at the end. After I cooked the orange slices in the schmaltz I poured a cup of unsweetened blood orange juice in the pan and reduced it and the pans drippings until very thick. I poured that over the thighs at the last minute. Even though I doubled the recipe I ended up using only one can of chickpeas. This is a great recipe. I will definitely use it again.
Anonymous
Auburn, AL
11/22/2020
Agree with reviewers who say this is too much trouble for too little flavor. We grilled the chicken and the oranges and they looked beautiful. I love all the individual ingredients (especially the grilled oranges) but they just did not go together. And even with orange zest in the salad and the fresh squeezed orange at the table, there was a surprising lack of orange flavor. I’d use OJ instead of lemon juice in the marinade and salad dressing. Nix the olives and sweet potato. And serve with the chickpea/feta salad over a bed of baby kale or arugula.
skrndc
Tucson
4/20/2020
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