Golden Chicken is a knock-out, one-pan recipe that’s so delicious it defies description! This is food that feeds your stomach AND your soul!
Middle-Eastern-inspired Golden Chicken combines spicy jalapenos and onion with sweet tomato paste, raisins, and many aromatic spices. This distinctive combination makes the most mouthwatering chicken thighs you’ve ever eaten! And even with all the rich, layered flavors, it’s still easy to make!
Golden Chicken is a Little Bit of Everything
The deep flavor profile of this amazing chicken recipe is a little like Tikka Masala, a little like Curry, a little like Chicken Creole, a little like Butter Chicken, and a lot like nothing else you’ve ever eaten!
Golden Chicken slow-simmers for over an hour to absorb all the flavors, but don’t be scared off by the long cook time or extensive spice list! You can prep this dish in 15 minutes; it cooks entirely in one pan for easy cleanup! Serve this with Dirty Rice, couscous, quinoa, or potatoes for a one-of-a-kind meal!
Other Recipes to Serve with Golden Chicken
- This Vegetable Couscous Salad is a perfect sidekick for Golden Chicken – cool and healthy with a great texture!
- Warm, sweet Brown Butter Carrots complement almost any chicken dinner!
Ingredients
Chicken: Golden Chicken works best with bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (although boneless thighs or chicken breasts will also work!)
Sauce Base: This is a complex sauce (not complicated!) that uses tomato paste, a cube of chicken bouillon, a little white wine or rice vinegar, and water.
Sauce Ingredients: One onion, two or three seeded and chopped jalapenos, a few cloves of garlic, and just a spoonful of raisins add so much taste and texture to the sauce!
Spices: You won’t use EVERY seasoning on your spice rack – but close! This Golden Chicken recipe uses salt & pepper, ground cumin, smoked paprika, turmeric, coriander, cayenne, cinnamon, and saffron! You can also garnish with a sprinkle of freshly chopped parsley.
How to Make Golden Chicken
STEP ONE: Rub the chicken thighs with a tablespoon of salt. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, brown the chicken. Start with skin side down and sear for 4 to 5 minutes or until chicken flips easily. Turn and cook the other side for another 4-5 minutes. Place browned chicken on a plate and set aside. Reduce pan heat to medium-low.
STEP TWO: Add the onion and garlic to the same skillet and cook for 5 minutes. Toss in jalapenos and cook for another 2 minutes.
STEP THREE: Add in the remaining salt, cumin, smoked paprika, pepper, turmeric, coriander, cayenne, and cinnamon, and toast for 2 minutes.
STEP FOUR: Add the remaining sauce ingredients – rice vinegar, tomato paste, chicken bouillon, raisins, saffron threads, and water. Turn the heat up to medium and mix everything until the sauce starts to simmer. Place the chicken back into the skillet (skin side up), reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 1 hour.
STEP FIVE: After an hour, flip the chicken, cover again, and cook for another 30 minutes. Then, uncover the skillet and flip the chicken one more time. Turn the heat back to medium and cook uncovered for 15 minutes to reduce the liquid to a thicker sauce.
STEP SIX: Serve over rice or mashed potatoes with sauce spooned over top. Sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top and serve warm.
Tips for Success
- Chicken thighs give the best flavor for this recipe, but you can just as easily use chicken breasts or tenders.
- The chicken will brown and crisp better if refrigerated for 30-60 minutes after salting the raw thighs.
- While not a traditional Middle Eastern ingredient, Vidalia onions add a nice sweet undercurrent to the spice palette.
What’s the Secret to Tender, Golden Chicken?
The secret to tender chicken is to pound it lightly with a meat tenderizer, pat it with salt on all sides, and let it sit in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes before cooking. Most importantly, do not overcook it, which can make it rubbery.
The secret to golden chicken is evenly distributing the oil in an already-hot pan and searing the chicken for 4-5 minutes per side. Don’t touch or poke the chicken while it’s browning; if it sticks to the pan when you try to turn it, it isn’t quite ready to flip.
How Do I Reheat Golden, Pan-Fried Chicken?
Leftover Golden Chicken reheats well and stays in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Always use an airtight container to keep it from drying out. When ready to use again, add a touch more liquid to the sauce and warm on the stovetop, air fryer, or microwave.
Other Marvelous Middle-Eastern Meals
- Syrian Rice
- Chicken Tikka Masala Meatballs
- Tabouli
- Red Curry Chicken
- Mini Spinach Pies
- Mediterranean Tomato Salad
Ingredients
- 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2.5 pounds)
- 1 ½ tablespoons salt divided
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion peeled and diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 large jalapenos seeded and diced
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- ½ tablespoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 cups water
- 4 tablespoons rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
- 1 ½ tabelspoons tomato paste
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
- 1 teaspoon raisins
- 1 teaspoon saffron threads
- Fresh parsley chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Season the chicken thighs all over with 1 tablespoon of salt. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, place chicken into the pan, skin side down, and brown for about 4-5 minutes. Then flip and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the onion and garlic to the same skillet and cook for 5 minutes. Then add jalapenos and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add the remaining ½ tablespoon salt, cumin, paprika, pepper, turmeric, coriander, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon and stir. Cook for about 2 minutes.
- Add the water, rice vinegar, tomato paste, bouillon cube, raisins, and saffron to the skillet. Increase the heat to medium, stirring often, until the sauce comes to a simmer.
- Place the chicken back into the pan, skin side up, and reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 1 hour.
- Flip the chicken over and recover the pan. Cook for another 30 minutes.
- Flip the chicken one more time. Increase the heat to medium and cook for an additional 15-20 minutes to reduce the liquid to your desired thickness.
- Serve the chicken over mashed potatoes and spoon extra sauce over the top. Garnish with chopped parsley if desired.
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