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Braised Chicken With Tomato and Potatoes
Updated Nov. 26, 2023
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- Total Time
- About 2 hours
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- About 1 hour 50 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 6chicken legs (2½ to 3 pounds), cut into thighs and drumsticks, at room temperature
- Salt and pepper
- 3tablespoons olive oil
- 1large onion, diced
- 6garlic cloves, minced
- 1dried bay leaf
- 2tablespoons ground ancho chile, or more to taste
- 2teaspoons ground cumin
- 1teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1cup dry white wine
- 1(14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1pound small Yukon Gold potatoes, halved
- 1cup roughly chopped cilantro (tender stems and leaves), for garnish
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Pat chicken dry and season generously with salt and pepper.
- Step 2
Heat oil in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high until shimmering. Brown chicken pieces in batches, about 5 minutes per side, reducing the heat as necessary to avoid scorching, then transfer to a 9-by-13-inch (or similar size) ovenproof dish.
- Step 3
Reduce the heat to medium, add onion to skillet, season with a little salt, and sauté until softened and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add garlic, bay leaf, chile, cumin and paprika, and stir.
- Step 4
Stir in wine and tomatoes, and bring to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pot. Pour sauce over chicken, tuck potato halves into sauce here and there, and cover. Bake until chicken is fork-tender and potatoes are soft, about 1 hour.
- Step 5
Pour sauce into a small shallow pan and bring to a brisk simmer. Let sauce reduce and thicken slightly, about 5 minutes. Pour sauce back over chicken and potatoes. Leave in sauce for as long as possible. Just before serving, sprinkle with freshly chopped cilantro.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Could be done in one pot. Remove chicken after browning. Sauté veggies. Return chicken for the braise. Remove chicken again to reduce sauce. Return chicken to warm and coat with reduced sauce. Easier cleanup.
made it for supper last night. Easy to put together. Nice combination of ingredients. using stated amounts, it was a bit mild. Will up the ante next time, salt too. Spuds need it. GREAT leftover as juices soak into the potatoes. Never enough potatoes :D
I'm confused: pour sauce over chicken, cook, then pour off the sauce from the casserole dish into a pan for reduction? That's tricky.
What does “leave in sauce for as long as possible” mean? As long as you can before it gets cold? As long as you can before you’re too hungry to wait any longer? Before the food rots? It’s a confusing instruction.
I am sure it would, but note that most canned diced tomatoes are treated (with calcium chloride, I think) to preserve their shape during cooking. Your fresh tomatoes will probably cook all the way apart. If shape is important then I guess I'd stick with canned tomatoes. Also, if using fresh tomatoes, one must decide what to do with the skins. When I use fresh tomatoes in sauces, I put them in with the skin on and we do not mind, but some people may not enjoy that.
braised chicken will typically separate from the bone easily, but if you prefer to go boneless I would reduce the browning time to 2-3 min per side and braising time to 35-45 minutes (which may also impact potato tenderness!)
Any tips on reheating if you do make night before?
Can I use boneless thighs? I know...flavor, but the bones make my family squee.
duffer here. leave chicken in sauce overnight -- in refrigerator I assume rewarm before serving? microwave or oven? (please say microwave)
Not a great recipe - despite doubling all the spices, cooking everything in bacon fat, and adding capers and lemon, this had almost no flavor(other than some heat from the ancho). The cooking time was way off as well; both the chicken and potatoes needed another 20 minutes on the stove top when this came out of the oven. Pass.
I'd like to know this too, Would be great to make the day before a "gotta be out all afternoon so need something simple and quick for dinner" day.
Love me a David Tanis recipe in general, but maybe cut potatoes in dice? Halving, even quartering left them uncooked an hour in at 350.
Terra, remove it from the refrigerator so that it stands at room temperature for up to 1/2 hour. If it is already in a dish that can be placed on a burner, put it on low, covered and let it warm slowly. If it gets too thick, add a touch of water. If it is a dish that goes in the oven, cover it and put it in a 300° oven for about 15 to 20 minutes.
I recommend boneless chicken. It was a pain to eat this. Also potatoes should be cut up smaller. I cooked for 2 hours and potatoes were not cooked.
pretty darn good. more or less did the recipe. the Ancho chiles are worth the effort. purchased whole dried Anchos, cyt them up and omitted the seeds. needed a good 5 minutes in Cuisinart to get them to proper fineness. Also dumped some cherry tomatoes in in addition to canned and diced tomatoes (sorry). Just skin on bone in chicken thighs from freezer. Spuds were smaller than half as I have learned my lesson on braising these with chicks. don't skimp on salt. I add aromatics in sequence
Made the sauce in the morning, browned the chicken (used only thighs) in the late afternoon; reheated the sauce and poured over the chicken, then roasted without covering the 9" x 13" pan for 1 hour @ 375. Sauce reduced during baking, eliminating the need to boil it down separately (i.e., Step 5 of the recipe wasn't necessary).
One other confusing direction is to “Pour sauce over chicken, tuck potato halves into sauce here and there, and cover.” Cover what??? Cover the potatoes with the sauce, or cover the 9x13 baking dish with foil or something? (They usually don’t have lids.) I went with the first option as I figured the chicken could use a little more browning.
I made this on a day that I was going to be out before dinner so did everything on the stove to step 4 and then put the pan in the fridge. I didn't have time to let it come to room temperature when I got home, so reheated it on low for a while and then brought it to a simmer until the potatoes were cooked. Also, I reduced the quantities to two chicken legs, 2 garlic cloves, 1 tsp cumin, no chile, (hence not a hot dish) 8 ounces tomatoes, and half a cup of wine. Very tasty.
Similar to Pollo en Fricase, but amped up with ancho chile. Agree that a one pot Dutch oven preparation simplifies things. Removed lid about 15 mins before the end; at one hour, cut the oven heat but kept in oven uncovered another 20 minutes, and the sauce reduced itself perfectly. No additional step required. Used baby gold potatoes cut in 1/4s. Flavorings/heat were fine but would double the smoked paprika next time. Good flavorful dish, but not sure it is David Tanis's finest.
One of the few dinners everyone (2 adults, 11y.o. And 7y.o.) in my family enjoys! So flavorful!
Very good. Would also work with no potatoes and using tortillas instead
This was incredible! We subbed Chimayo for the Ancho. A new family favorite!
Add quinoa to sauce after cooking
I prepared this meal last night for family and friends - huge success; wonderful alchemy taking place in the ingredients when sauce and chicken are baked together. I parboiled the potatoes first (new potatoes, don't know what Yukon Gold potatoes are!), and I'm glad I did as they would have taken much longer than the chicken to cook. As a Brit I did struggle with US measurements, oven temperatures and vocab, such as Dutch oven and cilantro, but I made it in the end!
Cooking time or temp is off. Try 400 x 50-60 min? 24 oz tiny Yukons perfect w/1/2 chicken
Baked for an hour and a quarter at 375 degrees.
This wasn't impressive--it was fine, but not something I'll make again.
This was ridiculously garlicky. Otherwise ok.
Next time I make this, I’m planning to add more spices. I made it the night before and that was worth it.
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