Calabrian chicken and chorizo is a one skillet dinner that is absolutely dinner party worthy. Easy and posh at the same time. What’s better than that?
The great thing about this recipe is you get crispy skin and you get this crazy delicious sauce. Bits of chorizo floating around. Roasted red peppers. Cherry tomatoes. And the secret weapon. Calabrian chilies.
Calabrian chilies are a secret you need to know
Don’t know about Calabrian chilies? Time to find out. Any decent Italian deli will have them. And they keep forever in the fridge. Don’t just get them just for this recipe though. Great on pizza. Spiced oil. Pasta. Little salty flavour bombs.
If you can’t get them, you can substitute crushed red chili. But you will be missing out. So try to get them if you can.
Keep the chicken above the liquid for crispy skin
This is sort of a braise. But it isn’t quite. The thing with braises is either you remove the skin like in Indian cooking. Or you put up with that soft mushy skin you get from simmering.
Personally, I’m OK with the mushy skin but not everybody loves it. Some might even go as far as to say they don’t even like it. Or that it sucks.
Easy way around it. Not rocket science. Keep the skin above the surface of the liquid the whole time. It can be simmering but the skin needs to stay dry. That keeps it crisp. Crispy skin. Delicious, braise like sauce. It just comes together sometimes. Easy.
Calabrian chicken and chorizo
I’m going to call this dish Italian. Calabria is in Italy. But it’s really a mix. Spanish paprika. Portuguese chorizo. French technique. Calabrian chicken and chorizo could be from anywhere in that part of Europe really. But it’s my recipe so I get to choose.
No matter where you think it’s from, Calabrian chicken and chorizo is just tasty. Try it sometime. If you like chicken. If you like chorizo. And if you like a bit of spice, this will work for you.
calabrian chicken and chorizo
Ingredients
- 6 oz chorizo - diced
- 8 chicken thighs skin-on, bone in
- 1/4 cup shallots - finely diced
- 2 tsp good quality sweet Spanish or Hungarian paprika - not the stuff from the bulk store
- 2 tsp Calabrian chilies - finely diced
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 roasted red pepper sliced
- 10-12 cherry tomatoes whole
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 400F
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold all the chicken in a single layer.
- Add the chorizo and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it starts to brown. Remove chorizo and set aside.
- Rub the chicken thighs with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.
- Place the chicken, skin-side down and cook until golden brown. This will take about 6-7 minutes.
- Remove the chicken and set aside. Spoon off all but two tablespoons of fat.
- Reduce heat to medium low. Add the shallots and cook until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the Calabrian chilies and paprika and cook, stirring constantly, for about a minute.
- Add the chicken stock and stir to combine. Return the chicken to the skillet, skin-side up and place in a 400F oven.
- Roast for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and add the chorizo, peppers and tomatoes. Return to the oven and continue to cook until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 175F, another 10 minutes or so.
- Taste the sauce and adjust for salt. If you seasoned the chicken liberally you may not need to add any more.
- Spoon the sauce, chorizo, peppers and tomatoes over the chicken. Serve with nice crusty bread along to let people mop up any extra sauce on their plates. That's a bit more elegant than having them lick their plates. It could happen...
