Skillet Chicken With Peppers and Tomatoes
Updated Oct. 11, 2023

- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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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
Comments
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.
The recipe is very good however a few steps are not easy when you’re not a professional chef. How are you supposed to drain all the fat off with the chicken is still in the pan? I had to remove it because I’m small and not strong enough to drain it all out with the chicken in the pan. I also ended up finishing it off in the oven for a few minutes with the lid on because I wasn’t getting a high enough temp on the chicken to feel comfortable that it was actually cooked thoroughly. It was a bit of work but it really was good. I served it over rice which was great. I would definitely make it again.
This was veryyy good but I did sort of make it my own. Crucify me, NYT Cooking comments! I did sear the chicken first, took it out and cooked the veggies according to the recipe from there. I felt a little ~weird~ about deglazing with just water so I did 1/4 water and 1/4 white wine. Then I used white wine vinegar since I used white wine, OKAY. After the sauce got simmery, I added the chicken back over the veggies and sauce and followed the recipe from there. Oh and I used a shallot bye.
Delicious with the additions I made! Added a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes at the end, added Italian spice mix, curry powder and onion powder to the chicken before browning and I also used chicken broth instead of water but that may have made it a tad too salty. Will make again.
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