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The Best Weeknight Chicken Dinner

January 11, 2016 by Joy the Baker 61 Comments

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The Best Weeknight Chicken Dinner

Sometimes making dinner is an exercise in You’re Not Going To Beat Me, Monday.  Let’s acknowledge that it takes grit and fortitude to stand in the kitchen and hustle ingredients together at the end of a day.  Sure, we can easily categorize dinner as a nighttime necessity, but I prefer to think of it as radical self-care… because anything that isn’t popcorn or scrambled eggs is me really taking care of myself. 

This dinner is thoughtful in its ease and economy, making us very good at adults, if only for today.  

The Best Weeknight Chicken Dinner

Here we go.  We’ve got dinner in about 40 minutes, with about 20 minutes in there to stand next to the stove, have a glass of wine, and space out while the chicken simmers.  

This recipe is great with boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  Not only are they delicious and really easy to cook, chicken thighs are also super affordable.  Could you make this recipe with boneless, skinless chicken breast?  If you must… but slice a large chicken breast in two before cooking.  Really though… go thighs.  

The Best Weeknight Chicken Dinner

The chicken thighs are seasoned generously with salt and pepper.  Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper are preferred if you have. 

Brown the chicken thighs in olive oil until golden and just slightly crisp on both sides.  This isn’t about cooking the chicken through, it’s about caramelization.  

Sliced onion, big chunks of potato, and whole cloves of garlic are tossed in to sauté.

The Best Weeknight Chicken Dinner

White wine is added to deglaze the pan, scraping up and flavorful bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan.  And chicken stock to be a simmer for the potatoes, chicken, and garlic.  

The Best Weeknight Chicken Dinner

Braised to tender in 25 minutes!  

Those are the 20 minutes you should consider sipping wine and spacing out.  The simmer does all the work.  

The Best Weeknight Chicken Dinner

The potatoes will be soft and moist, the chicken fall-apart tender, and the garlic softened to irresistible.  

Serve with rice and buttered peas and pat yourself on the back for resisting the microwave popcorn siren song.  Win. 

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The Best Weeknight Chicken Dinner

★★★★★ 4.5 from 8 reviews
  • Author: Joy the Baker
  • Prep Time: 15
  • Cook Time: 25
  • Total Time: 40
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Ingredients

Scale
  • 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small onion, sliced
  • 2 red new potatoes, diced into large chunks
  • 8 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • 1 bay leaf
  • cooked white rice and peas

Instructions

  1. Season both sides of the chicken thighs with salt and pepper.
  2. In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. When oil is hot, add all of the chicken pieces, allowing to cook to golden, about 4 to 5 minutes before flipping and browning on the opposite side. When both sides are browned, add the onion slices, potato chunks, and whole peeled garlic cloves. Toss so that all of the ingredients begin to cook down, about 4 minutes more.
  3. Add the white wine and stir to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Cook until the wine has reduced by half, about 3 minutes.
  4. Add the chicken stock and bay leaf. Place the lid on the pan, reduce the heat to low, and simmer the mixture for 25 minutes until the potatoes are tender and the chicken is cooked through.
  5. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the chicken and potatoes to a platter. Discard the bay leaf. Simmer the sauce until thickened, about 4 to 5 minutes.
  6. Serve with white rice and cooked peas, chicken, and sauce.


Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 4

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Reader Interactions

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  1. Rsp

    March 20, 2023 at 1:46 pm

    Great simple recipe. Instinctive really for anyone who’s cooked a bit. But I don’t understand why rice is a side dish with potatoes. A simple salad or other vegetables make more sense.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Joy the Baker

      March 22, 2023 at 8:14 am

      So glad you liked the recipe! A salad wold be delicious, too!

      Reply
  2. Emma Pollo

    July 19, 2021 at 5:51 pm

    Joy,

    Thank you. I’ve been making this exact recipe, or a variation of it, for five years now. It’s a go-to weeknight dinner for when all I have are chicken thighs. Though I usually follow it, sometimes I add herbs, skip the wine, and rarely take the chicken and potatoes out to thicken the sauce. It’s best with peas, but is excellent with any veggie – tonight I am using green beans tonight.

    Just wanted to thank you for an easy and delicious recipe that my kids enjoy.

    Best,
    Emma

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  3. Janice Hendryx

    April 6, 2020 at 12:15 pm

    Thank you for this recipe. I made it today and it taste great.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  4. Aja

    October 21, 2019 at 4:00 pm

    I made this tonight with o little cooking sherry in chicken broth instead of the wine bc I didn’t have any. And I only used 4 thighs and one potato bc there is only 2 of us. It was great! I wasn’t sure about carb on carb, but the rice is key! We had it with steamed spinach (bc healthy, dang it lol)
    Definitely a keeper recipe! I shredded up all the chicken at the end and put it back in the reduced sauce and then scooped it over the rice.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Chelsea

      April 11, 2023 at 3:11 pm

      I love the sound of shredding the chicken and adding it back to the sauce to top the rice. Lol I’m starving right now. I’m going to try out this recipe this week. Thanks for the tip!!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
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