![Skillet Chicken With Black Beans, Rice and Chiles](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/10/11/dining/ml-chicken-and-black-beans/merlin_160015383_4bd71410-dc4f-487f-92e6-c664995b50e0-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Skillet Chicken With Peppers and Tomatoes
Updated Oct. 11, 2023
![Skillet Chicken With Peppers and Tomatoes](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/09/13/multimedia/yk-skillet-chicken-with-peppers-vcmj/yk-skillet-chicken-with-peppers-vcmj-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 2pounds skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (4 to 8 thighs)
- Salt
- 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1small onion, diced
- 2medium bell peppers (any color or a mix of colors), diced
- 5garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
- ½ to ¾teaspoon red-pepper flakes
- ¼cup sherry vinegar
- 1tablespoon honey
- 1pint cherry tomatoes
- ¼ cup chopped fresh basil or parsley (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Pat the chicken dry and season generously with salt.
- Step 2
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently until just starting to soften, 2 minutes. Add the peppers and cook until just beginning to soften, 1 minute. Add the garlic and red-pepper flakes and season lightly with salt. Cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant and the onions are beginning to brown slightly, 2 minutes. Move the cooked vegetables to a plate.
- Step 3
Add 1 tablespoon oil to the skillet. Place the chicken skin-side down and sear without moving until the skin is golden brown, 6 to 10 minutes. Turn and cook the other side until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Pour out all but 1 tablespoon fat from the pan.
- Step 4
Add ½ cup water to the skillet and stir and scrape to loosen any stuck bits. Stir in the sherry vinegar and honey. Cover with a lid or foil, turn the heat down to medium-low and cook until the meat is cooked through, about 8 minutes. Uncover, raise the heat to medium-high and cook until the sauce is thickened, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Step 5
Add the cherry tomatoes and cook until they begin to soften and burst, 3 to 4 minutes, smashing open if needed. Return the onion-pepper mixture to the skillet, stir to coat in the pan sauce and cook, uncovered, until warmed through. Taste and add more salt if needed and remove from heat. Drizzle more olive oil over the top and garnish with a shower of basil or parsley, if using.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
i always double the prep time. i don't have a staff to help me prepare my meals. And i'm not a professional chef, so i am slower. The recipes work; the prep time is always off.
To Brenda in Montana: I'm a displaced Texan - I live in Paris. Here, they use a "cocotte" - what we would call a "Dutch oven" - for everything. They are unbearably heavy (and fairly pricey, however they do last forever: "buy better, buy less" as they say), BUT - fairly mess-free: the sides are high, reducing much of the splatter. Any time I see "skillet" in a recipe, that's what I use.
Prepared exactly as written, except with boneless, skinless thighs, and it was delicious. Bright and fresh, but warm. I would have used maybe 1/4 cup of water to deglaze instead of a half cup, just to cut down reducing time. Nice surprise.
Have made something similar in the past, and this is prompting me to make it again soon. To me it seems like you could amp up the flavor with some spices on the chicken (cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, or maybe some harissa), using chicken stock in place of water, and cooking the chicken first, then the onions and peppers, and proceed as directed from there.
I'm making this right now. It's taking much longer than stated. That is an issue I have with all the NY Times recipes. Even individual steps take longer than stated.
Only a novice would cook tomatoes in an unenameled cast-iron skillet. Anyone who’s ever done this knows that it ruins the seasoning and leaves your food tasting metallic. looks great for pictures though!
I made this tonight using cherry tomatoes and basil from our garden. It turned out fine, but I was hoping for more. I love a peperonata (sp?) recipe from Half Baked Harvest, and thought this would be similar. Pretty messy on the stove, but that’s to be expected. I think I’d rather make the chicken separately and add it to the tomato/pepper mixture afterwards. I look forward to other people’s comments/ suggestions.
I don't understand the other comments at all--I thought this was so delicious, classic, and fulfilling. Considering making it part of my weekly regimen.
Added some white wine with the honey and some Greek yogurt at the end
I didn't have sherry vinegar, so I used red wine vinegar, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. It was so good, fun to make, and pretty to look at. I will definitely make this again, maybe with some alternative spices added. A very good recipe.
I made this recipe mostly as written. I inadvertently added about double the red pepper flakes and completely forgot to add all the basil that I'd chopped. I also used one yellow and one green bell pepper to vary up the color. It was delicious and I'll make it again.
Made this tonight, except I browned the chicken first. Very nice, subtle flavors. The vinegar and honey is a nice combination. I would make it again.
Yummy! To ensure you're not overcooking the chicken, start the high-heat reduction phase earlier or set the at-temperature thighs aside for a few minutes and add them back in with the tomatoes.
I also prepared as written, except used boneless, skinless thighs, didn't have enough cherry tomatoes so I tossed in a quartered early girl - it was delicious. I would make it again.
When you change a recipe to this degree, it is no longer this recipe "as written".. it is your recipe
Made it almost exactly as written. I used boneless skinless chicken thighs and instead of the water I used chicken broth for more flavor. Served it over jasmine rice and my wife raved about it!
I agree with another contributor that 1/2 cup of water was too much. The flavor would have been more intense with less water.
Wasn’t as bursting with flavor as I was hoping. Would recommend doing the garlic with the onions instead of letting them get lost with the peppers. I also added a little soy sauce (also less salt). If I were to make it again with rice, I’d likely use a bit of white miso and ginger. Wasn’t my initial thought when I read the recipe but something about it was screaming for a little Asian zest.
I own TWO skillets, so I have no need to cook something, remove it from the skillet, cook something else and so on. Seriously, this is a great recipe. I brown the chicken in one skillet while I do the vegetable sauce in the other, saving a lot of time. I have developed a few substitutions: I make it with boneless skinless breasts instead of thighs. I double the amount of sauce since we love it. Instead of water I use chicken stock. We didn't have any honey so I used mirin.
Made two batches of this last night. Friends and family loved it. I made 1 batch in cast iron skillet & 1 in Dutch Oven. Both turned out scrumptious but DO definitely was better at minimizing splatters. I suggest adding 1/2 teaspoon each of paprika, garlic powder, cumin and a pinch of cayenne pepper to the salt when put spicing the chicken. I will certainly make again.
Good recipe and good flavours, easy to do for a weeknight, it will remain in my repertoire for weeknight dinners.
Delicious! I only used two thighs, so I had a lot of the veggie mix left. Going to experiment with salmon fillets tomorrow.
This wasn't a keeper for us. A little too meh for the effort and mess. As others have mentioned, the estimated prep times are laughable.
I suggest reversing Steps 2 and 3 to build up the chicken flavor in the pan before cooking the aromatics (the onions' moisture will deglaze the browned bits). Leave the onions/peppers/garlic (whole cloves to prevent burning) in the pan to cook gently along with the chicken and just enough water (or wine) to keep things at a slow braise.
Typically I try to make a new dish exactly as written and am skeptical of comments that tout changes BUT I was in the mindset of using up fresh ingredients I had on hand. So I incorporated fresh corn and it really was the perfect summer compliment. I served the dish over a tricolor fregola (similar to Israeli couscous) cooked in chicken broth, and finished it with a little butter, lemon zest and finely grated parmesan reggiano. For our family including a picky 3.5yo it was a 10 out of 10!
Here are some alterations I made: (1) added a small pat of butter to the olive oil before saute; (2) added eight small mushrooms thinly sliced to the onions before putting in the pepper; (3) added a tablespoon more honey, as I only had rasberry vinegar that was out of balance with the honey amount in the recipe; (4) substituted dry white wine for water and used 1/2 cup; added 1/4 cup very excellent dry red as well; (5) took the chicken out of the pan, reducing the red wine, then went on.
Good, easy, fast. I used boneless skinless thighs. Added capers. Can certainly use more spices, but fine as is. Also added some leftover salsa. Makes 6 servings
Sauce turned out thin from too much vinegar on my part but is probably one of my favorite weeknight dinners I have made from here. Used boneless chicken thighs to cut down the time and does not take away from the recipe.
I added a jalapeño pepper to the mix to spicy up and used a can tomatoes as I did not have fresh tomatoes. It was delicious. The prep time was a bit off. It took an hour or so.
Added 1 tablespoon of tomato paste with the garlic and used red wine vinegar instead of sherry. Turned out well.
Advertisement