Braised Chicken Thighs with Wild Rice Pilaf
Photo: Christopher Testani; Styling: Alistair Turnbull
Browning the meat in the pan first adds all that roasted chicken flavor to the pilaf. The Brussels sprouts and chicken thighs slowly braise as the rice cooks--a protein, vegetable side, and starch all in one pan. Sweet golden raisins and cider vinegar balance out the other hearty, earthy flavors in the dish.
How to Make It
Step 1
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add walnuts; cook 5 minutes or until toasted, stirring occasionally. Remove walnuts from pan; coarsely chop.
Step 2
Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned. Turn and cook 3 minutes. Place chicken on a plate (chicken will not be cooked through). Add rice, onion, carrot, celery, and thyme to pan; cook 3 minutes, stirring to coat rice. Add remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, stock, and 1 cup water, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 45 minutes. Return chicken thighs to pan, nestling them into rice mixture. Top with raisins and Brussels sprouts. Return to a simmer; cover and cook 12 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and chicken is done. Place chicken on a platter. Stir walnuts and vinegar into rice mixture. Serve rice mixture with chicken.
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kseehafer's Review
I'm looking for low-acid, high alkaline recipes, and I thought this looked pretty good for those times I allowed myself some meat. The end result tastes ok, but for some reason there was a lot of liquid left in the pan, and I didn't even use the amount called for. I used wild rice too. Also, I definitely had to cook longer at the end to allow the brussels sprouts to be chewable. In the future, it might be just as easy to make everything except the sprouts in the pan, and just steam the sprouts separately.
It does have good flavor, but I don't think it rises to special occasion status.
TXCookin's Review
This dish was delicious! I used a brown rice blend from Trader Joes, cause that's what I had on hand. I cooked it longer than the 12 minutes at the end as the Brussels sprouts were still very crunchy. This is definitely a keeper!
Just ok...
Maybe I missed something?!? Flavor was just ok. Plan on more like 2 hours total time - as brussel sprouts were nowhere close to being done after 12 minutes. I wanted this to be good - but unfortunately - it's not a keeper for me!
Tender chicken, great flavors!
Made this last night and it's delicious! I definitely agree with other reviews that the recipe calls for too much liquid. I think if I make this again, I would leave out the cup of water and just add the chicken stock. I ended up cooking everything together for about an extra ten minutes after the 12 min the recipe calls for in an effort to cook off more liquid. When I took the chicken out of the pan and cranked the heat up a little, the rest evaporated quickly. My pilaf was perhaps a little on the mushy side, but the flavors were still great. My brussels sprouts were tender and delicious after this extra bit of cook time. My only substitutions were pecans for walnuts and craisins for raisins. Really tasty and not that complicated to make!
Tasty and popular
Tripled this recipe with Trader Joe's kosher boneless skinless thighs for a pre-Bar Mitzvah family Shabbat dinner. Everyone enjoyed it. I also made one batch with no chicken but with cubes of tofu on the side for vegetarians. The walnuts and golden raisins give it an interesting texture. I forgot the cider vinegar at the end, but it was still good.
I like it
The first time I made this I mistakenly used bone-in thighs (don't know how I did that!) so naturally the chicken did not cook through. The necessary added time dried out the rice and Brussels sprouts. It still had a nice taste so I tried again with the proper thighs. It was really, really good. M\y husband does not usually care for Brussels sprouts but he liked them is this dish. I look forward to making it again.
Yummy comfort food
This is a solid one pot meal, and great comfort food. The recipe took me about an hour to make so it's best for weekend cooking. Check out my post and step-by-step photos here: http://www.icancookthat.org/2015/03/braised-chicken-thighs-with-wild-rice-pilaf.html
Tastless
Even with the addition of more salt, pepper, thyme, raisins and vinegar this recipe lacked flavor.
Nice autumnal meal