Chicken, it must be the most used and versatile protein on the planet. Who doesn’t love chicken? I know I do. One of the many things I love about it is how it can go from Asian cuisine to French, to American, to the Carribean, to Indian and everything in between. What’s not to love?
Today, in celebration of the love I have for chicken I am going to share with you my 5 favourite chicken recipes. Some of these you may have seen me talk about before and some may be completely new to you. Either way, I hope that you enjoy this post as much as I’ve enjoyed creating, cooking and tasting all these recipes.
Here are…
1 – Jerk Chicken
I can’t think of another chicken dish that is more misunderstood or that carries with it more mystique than Jerk Chicken. To some, even saying the words is a challenge to their taste buds. But, to those in the know, Jerk Chicken isn’t scary at all (unless you go for the extra hot version) it is a flavourful and powerful Carribean dish that is worth a taste.
Although Jerk Chicken is generally spicy hot, it is also spicy as in there an abundance of spices used to make it. The main spice used to flavour Jerk Chicken is allspice or pimento. Traditionally the chicken is not only marinated in a combination of allspice, other spices, and chili but it is also cooked over a pimento wood fire.
Pimento wood comes from the tree that grows the allspice berry. You can buy pimento wood chips which can be added to a BBQ or smoker to give Jerk Chicken that authentic flavour. In the recipe below I don’t use pimento smoke or wood to flavour the chicken. I cook mine in the oven. However, what this version lacks in pimento wood smoke, it makes up in bursting flavour.
Oh, and the peppers used for Jerk Chicken are Scotch Bonnet Peppers. If you can’t find these, Habanero Peppers will make a decent stand-in.
Ingredients
- 2 Scotch Bonnet Peppers
- 2 green onions
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 thumb-sized piece of
- ginger
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
- 1/2 a small white onion
- the juice of 1 lime
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1-2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 4 Chicken Legs
Instructions
- Cut the top off the 2 peppers, cut in half, and add into the bowl of a blender.
- Roughly chop 2 green onions, half a white onion, and 2 cloves of garlic and add to the peppers.
- Peel and roughly chop a thumb-sized piece of ginger, add to the other ingredients along with 2 tbsp of brown sugar.
- Measure out the spices and add to the blender along with the juice of 1 lime and the thyme.
- Add in the salt, olive oil, and purée.
- Put the chicken legs in a large mixing bowl and pour over the jerk marinade.
- Put in the fridge and let sit at least 2 hours, but overnight is better.
- Once the chicken has marinated, lay it on a roasting rack and roast in a 400°F oven for about an hour or until cooked through.
- Serve with boiled sweet potatoes, coconut rice, and collard greens.
2 – Buttermilk Fried Chicken
If you don’t like fried chicken, I don’t want to be friends with you. There’s no other way to put it.
Buttermilk fried chicken is special in that the chicken is marinated in buttermilk prior to being fried. This keeps the chicken really tender and moist while also imparting a nice mild fresh flavour.
The other key to delicious crispy fried chicken is that the chicken has to be left in the flour to dry for at least 30 minutes before being fried. This creates this really intense coating that gets extra crisp when it hits the hot oil.
I use a deep fryer to cook my chicken but if you don’t have one it’s not a problem. That’s what cast iron skillets are for. Don’t have one of those either? A deep pot will do. Just heat the oil up slowly over medium heat to 350°f and fry the chicken for about 12 minutes or until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.
Once the chicken is cooked put it on a rack or in a basket. It is important to get air circulating around the chicken as quickly after cooking as possible. This will help to ensure that the crust stays nice and crisp.
Ingredients
- 6-8 Chicken Thighs
- 1 L Buttermilk
- 1 tbsp Hot Sauce
- 2 cups Flour Gluten-free for me
- 2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1/4 tsp Cayenne
- 2 tsp Oregano
- 2 tsp Paprika
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Combine the buttermilk with the hot sauce and mix well.
- Place the chicken thighs in the buttermilk and let sit in the fridge for at least two hours, preferably overnight.
- Combine the flour with the garlic and onion powder, cayenne, oregano, paprika and a big pinch of both salt and pepper.
- Stir to combine.
- Remove the chicken from the buttermilk shaking off excess and toss in the flour making sure to fully coat the chicken.
- Place the chicken on a cooling rack set above a sheet pan and let sit for twenty minutes.
- Repeat the process with all the chicken pieces.
- While the chicken is resting heat the oil for frying to 350°F
- Fry half the chicken at a time.
- It will take 10-13 minutes for the chicken to be cooked through and it's best to check with an instant-read thermometer. The chicken is done when it reaches a temperature of 165°F.
- Remove the chicken form the oil, drain, and place on a cooling rack set above a sheet pan.
- Let the chicken sit for 3-4 minutes before eating.
3 – Chicken Wings with Hot Sauce and Honey
There is a faction of people out there who get down with breaded chicken wings. To those people, I say “Get over it!’ Chicken wings are much better when they have no breading and are deep-fried to crisp, delicious perfection.
When I am making chicken wings at home, I often deep-fry them (sometimes I just roast them in the oven) but once they’re cooked, I toss them with sauce and I usually pop them in a very hot oven, maybe even under the broiler. This bakes a layer of sauce on to the wing that gets really sticky and caramelized. After that, I toss the wings in sauce again and serve. Delicious!
The sauce that I make for my absolute favourite Chicken Wings is a combination of equal parts Franks Red Hot or Louisiana Hot Sauce and Honey. I put this in a pot and simmer it for 5-10 minutes or until it is nice and thick. Sometimes, if I am feeling a little extra decadent I will finish the sauce with a bit of butter. This makes it richer and gives it a more silky feel.
I also generally serve the wings with a homemade blue cheese dressing. It’s made of blue cheese, sour cream, mayo, and herbs.
If you are looking for a delicious twist on your everyday Chicken Wings, look no further!
You can find the full recipe and walkthrough right here.
4 – Roasted Chicken
I did an entire post about perfectly roasting a chicken so I’m not going to go too in-depth here. I’ll share the link to that post so you can check it out.
What I will say is that there are few things better in this world than a perfectly roasted chicken. It is misleading in its simplicity in that it is made with only 2-3 ingredients but it takes serious patience and skill to get it just right.
Start by drying the chicken skin. Rub it all over with olive oil and salt. Roast it, turning every 15-20 minutes. Sounds easy, but is it?
Give it a shot!
5 – Butter Chicken
Butter chicken was originally created in Delhi in the 1950s as a way for a chef to save and reuse leftover tandoori chicken. The Chef realized that if he stored the chicken in a tomato gravy overnight the chicken would remain tender and juicy. This caught on like wildfire.
Today, butter chicken is one of the most commonly known and most popular Indian dishes around the world and for good reason. It is really, really delicious.
There are all kinds of bottled butter chicken sauces out there and I’m sure that some of them may actually be good, but other than needing a few special ingredients this isn’t difficult to make. The recipe below has everything you need, and for more specific instructions check out the video.
When looking for the spices it’s best to try and find an Indian grocer in your area. The spices are usually better quality than at the bulk store or grocery store and they are usually much cheaper. If you can’t find what you need in your town check out this amazon shopping list I made that has everything you need.
Ingredients
Marinade
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1/2 c full-fat yogurt
- 2 tbsp grated garlic
- 2 tbsp grated ginger
- 2 tbsp garam masala
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
- 1 tsp Salt
Sauce
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 med. minced onion
- 2 tbsp grated garlic
- 2 tbsp grated ginger
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 c tomato purée
- 1-2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
- 1 c cream
- 1 tbsp sugar if needed
- 1 tsp fenugreek leaves
- 5 mint leaves
- 8-10 cilantro leaves
Instructions
Marinade
- Mix the yogurt with the spices.
- Add the chicken and stir to coat.
- Cover the chicken with plastic wrap and let marinate in the fridge for two hours.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade, brush off excess, and place in roasting pan.
- Roast the chicken on 375°F for 24-35 minutes or until cooked through.
Sauce
- Heat a medium-sized skillet over medium heat.
- Add the butter and oil.
- Sauté the onion, garlic, and ginger, until they soften.
- Add the cumin, garam masala, coriander, and chili powder and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the tomato purée and cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the cream, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and sugar.
- Add in the roasted chicken.
- Garnish with mint leaves, cilantro leaves, fenugreek leaves.
- Serve with basmati rice.
Conclusion
People say that everything tastes like chicken, but really, chicken is made to taste like everything. That is the beauty of it. No matter where you are in the world, or what you like to cook and eat, you can find something to do with chicken.
I hope that you enjoyed this post, but more importantly, I hope that you have found one or two recipes that you will actually use and come back to time and time again.
What’s your favourite chicken recipe?
Thank you as always for reading and supporting the blog.
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