Braised Chicken Thighs

Chicken thighs are everywhere nowadays. Long the forgotten sibling in the chicken family, thighs have become the new rage in the 2010’s. Packed with flavor and nutrients, the chicken thigh is very difficult to screw up. In contrast to their chicken breast brethren, which is overcooked all the time, chicken thighs can be cooked in a variety of ways and they almost always turn out good.

Before we get into today’s post lets learn about the chicken we eat today came to be. So the chickens we eat are descendants of the red & grey junglefowls of Northern India. In terms of food, chicken has been consumed for at least 2500 years, probably longer. As time progressed, chicken was often considered a delicacy due to the fact that it was expensive and difficult to find butchered, especially in the United States.

Nowadays chicken is everywhere and I would say it’s everybody’s preferred meat of choice (that is if you eat meat). Chicken thighs are always in my fridge and or freezer, you can find them skinless and boneless but I still prefer the classic thigh with the bone and the skin. Why? The skin and the bone insulates the meat while you cook it so it stays juicy and delicious.

That gets me to this post. Braised chicken thighs. Talk about heaven on earth, there is nothing more cozy and delicious that braised chicken thighs with a good starch. The trick to braising chicken thighs is first doing a quick sear on the meat side and then as soon as they’ve browned you flip them and braise the thigh with the skin side not submerged. This allows the meat to get perfectly braised, but then your skin will remain intact allowing you to crisp it later.

This is a cant miss meal that will always make your family happy.

Recipe- Braised Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
1lb of Chicken Thighs
2 Tsp. of Salt
1 Tsp. of Black Pepper
1 Tsp. of Rosemary
1 Tsp. of Thyme.
1 Cup of Diced White Onions
3 Cups of Chicken Broth
1 Tbsp. of Butter
1 Cup of White Wine

Method

Step 1- Pat the chicken thighs dry (with a paper towel), and then season with the salt, pepper, rosemary, and thyme.
Step 2-In large oven proof sauce pan, heat your butter.
Step 3- Once the butter begins to foam, add in chicken thighs, meat side down. Cook for about 3 minutes allow this side to brown.
Step 4- Remove the chicken thighs from the pan, add in your onions allow them to soften in the juice left behind in the pan and then deglaze the pan with your white wine.
Step 5- Once you’ve deglazed the pan, add in your chicken broth, allow it to simmer, and then add back your thighs. You want enough broth so that the juice comes right up so just the skin is sticking out.
Step 6- Allow this to simmer for about an hour, you can test one of the thighs to see if the chicken pulls apart.
Step 7 – To finish, take your pan and put in the oven and then broil it on high for about 1 or 2 minutes to allow your chicken skin to crisp up. Be careful, broiling is very finicky, I would check on this every 30 seconds to make sure you didn’t burn the skin. Once the skin is crispy, enjoy!