How to Make Chef John's Chicken Marbella
Discover the secrets behind Chef John's renowned Chicken Marbella in this video. This delectable dish combines tender chicken with a medley of flavors like olives, capers, and a sweet, tangy sauce. Follow along as we guide you through the step-by-step process, revealing the tricks to make this Mediterranean-inspired masterpiece at home. Elevate your cooking skills and impress your guests with this exquisite Chicken Marbella recipe, courtesy of Chef John.
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00:00 Hello this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with Chicken Marbella. That's
00:08 right I'm gonna show you my version of the Silver Pallet's famous Chicken
00:11 Marbella, which was named that because they couldn't call it chicken with
00:15 olives and prunes since nobody's ordering that. But despite that possibly
00:20 weird sounding combination of ingredients, this is without a doubt one
00:24 of the top five most delicious chicken recipes ever. Maybe top three. So with
00:29 that let's go ahead and get started by prepping our chicken. And for this I
00:33 like to use 12 of the largest bone-in skin-on chicken thighs I can find. And
00:37 whenever we work with these I think we should find the thigh bone, which runs
00:41 this way. And once we identify that we'll flip it over and make two cuts
00:46 perpendicular to the bone, right through the skin like this, about an inch and a
00:50 half apart. And that will allow our marinade to get in a little deeper and a
00:54 little quicker. And I also think it makes for a little more interesting appearance.
00:58 So we'll go ahead and do that to all 12. Oh and I should mention the original
01:03 recipe is done by cutting up whole chickens, pretty much like we would do if
01:06 we were making fried chicken. But for me the thighs are the most user-friendly
01:10 choice and we don't have to worry about the white meat drying out while we're
01:14 waiting for the dark meat to cook through. But anyway once our chicken is
01:18 prepped we can move on to this very simple but incredibly delicious marinade,
01:22 which starts with a whole bunch of crushed garlic, plus an equally generous
01:26 amount of dried oregano, followed by some freshly ground black pepper, and then of
01:32 course some kosher salt, with the rule of thumb being one teaspoon per pound of
01:36 meat. And then we'll also do a few shakes of cayenne, even though that's not in the
01:41 original recipe, right? They probably just forgot it. And then we will also add a
01:46 little bit of caper brine, which is the liquid the capers are packed in. And you
01:51 will see the actual capers in a minute, but for now we'll just add the juice. And
01:54 that's it. We'll finish up with some red wine vinegar, as well as some nice olive
01:59 oil, and then we'll grab a whisk and give this a quick mix before we head over to
02:04 whatever container we're gonna marinate our chicken in, which in a perfect world
02:08 is something large enough to fit all the thighs in one single layer. And then
02:12 besides the chicken and the marinade, we will also need some halved green olives,
02:16 some chopped up prunes, which I'll talk about in a second, and some capers. And
02:21 what we'll do is take half of each of those things and we'll scatter those
02:24 over the bottom of this container. And yes, you'll definitely want to buy the
02:28 pitadolls for this. And then regarding the prunes, which I like to chop up
02:33 pretty small, I'm not sure how many people realize those are actually dried
02:36 plums, but some genius a long time ago decided not to call them dried plums,
02:41 since I guess that sounded too delicious. And they named them prunes instead, which
02:47 does not sound as good. But anyway, we'll toss half of those three things in the
02:51 bottom, and then we will place in our chicken, skin side down. And once those
02:56 have been placed in, we'll give our marinade a quick stir, and then apply a
03:00 nice generous spoonful to the top of each thigh. And I will admit, this step
03:05 may or may not be necessary. Alright, we probably could just dump over all the
03:09 marinade, and it would probably come out very close. But this just feels right, so
03:13 I do it. Okay, it's part of the ritual of cooking that you always hear me talking
03:18 about. And then what we'll do is go ahead and flip these over, and then once we
03:22 have all those thighs turned with the skin side up, we can take the rest of our
03:26 olives and prunes, sorry I mean dried plums, and capers, and we can scatter the
03:31 rest over the top. And then eventually we will top everything with the rest of the
03:35 marinade. And by the way, if you don't have a container like this, where
03:40 everything fits perfectly, you can just use a roasting pan, or one of those large
03:44 foil pans you use for your turkeys. Or even if you want a large bowl, or a
03:48 plastic bag. Okay, as long as the meat's surrounded by all this goodness, we're
03:52 gonna be fine. But if you do have something like this, I think it's an
03:56 advantage, since we know everything is going to be evenly and properly
03:59 marinated. But anyway, like I said, once all that's been applied to the top, we'll
04:04 go ahead and spoon over the rest of the marinade. Oh, and I forgot to mention,
04:08 there's supposed to be a few bay leaves tossed in here, which I decided not to
04:12 add, because I forgot to write it down when I transposed the recipe. So I will
04:16 add a note to the written recipe if you want to add those. And then before we
04:20 cover this, if you have it, I like to place a piece of parchment paper over
04:24 the top, and give that a nice firm pressing down. But this is optional, and
04:29 you don't have to do it, but I like to. Again, it just looks and feels right. And
04:33 then what we'll want to do is cover this, and then pop that in the fridge to
04:38 marinate for 24 hours. Okay, just overnight is fine, but if you can go the
04:43 full 24 hours, I think it's even better. And that's it. The next day we will pull
04:48 it out and unwrap it, and we will place that skin side up in a nice large
04:52 roasting pan. And then once that pan's been thawed, we'll go ahead and take any
04:56 of the remaining olives, capers, and dried plums, and we will scatter those evenly
05:01 over the top, along with any of the excess marinade. And as we get to the end
05:06 of that task, we will want to sort of clear off the top of the thigh. And
05:10 you'll see why in a second as we transfer on the last ingredient. But
05:14 first we need to add the second-to-last ingredient, which would be pouring over
05:18 one cup of white wine. Or if you don't do wine, you could do some chicken broth
05:22 with a splash of vinegar in it. So if you want to do that instead, feel free. I mean
05:28 you are after all the playa of your chicken Marbella, but the wine is highly
05:32 recommended if you can use it. And then to finish this up, believe it or not,
05:37 we're gonna sprinkle the tops with some brown sugar. I know you didn't see that
05:41 coming. Nobody does. And in the original recipe, we would sprinkle all of it on
05:47 top now, but I'm just gonna use about half the amount at this point. And then
05:51 we will add the rest after we baste. But first things first. So once our chicken's
05:56 been brown sugared as shown, it is ready to transfer into the center of a 350
06:01 degree oven for about an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half total. But
06:06 after about 40 to 45 minutes, we should probably pull it out and give it a
06:10 basting, just to kind of moisten the tops and take a look at everything. Plus it's
06:15 a proven scientific fact that basting is therapeutic. Oh yeah, if you have a lot of
06:20 stress, you should try this. And then what we'll do after a little bit of basting
06:24 is finish the sugaring. And in case you're keeping score at home, I'm
06:28 definitely using less brown sugar than the original recipe, since I think
06:32 there's plenty of sweetness coming from those dried plums. But anyway, once that's
06:37 been accomplished, we will pop it back in the oven until it's cooked to our
06:40 liking, which for me is the meat being fork tender, but not falling off the bone.
06:45 And for an optional step, once we think our chicken's almost cooked, we can crank
06:50 the heat up to like 425 for the last 15 minutes or so, just to get some extra
06:56 browning on the top. And once we're done, if everything goes according to plan, our
07:00 chicken should look like this. And then you don't have to, but I'm gonna give
07:05 these one more baste, so the tops are nice and shiny for the pictures. And then
07:10 for a final final touch, this is traditionally sprinkled with chopped
07:13 parsley. And that's it, our chicken Marbella, or as many of you will insist on
07:18 calling it, chicken Marbella, is ready to enjoy. And we really should let this cool
07:24 down a little bit before trying to eat it, but I was starving and could not wait.
07:27 So even though it was too hot, and I knew it was gonna be hard to cut in the pan, I
07:32 went in for a taste anyway. And that my friends, as I mentioned in the intro, is
07:37 one of the most delicious chicken dishes of all time, and many claim the most
07:42 delicious chicken dish of all time. So I took a couple quick bites before
07:47 plating some up properly, and by properly for me I mean on some mashed potatoes.
07:52 Although this really is fantastic on so many things, including rice and pasta, and
07:57 we will definitely want to spoon over plenty of those olives and dried plums,
08:00 along with copious amounts of the cooking liquids, which we could thicken
08:05 up if we wanted to bother, but we don't. Just spoon it over like this and start
08:09 eating. And what makes this so incredibly enjoyable to eat is that it has
08:14 everything. Okay, it has the perfect balance of sweetness and tanginess and
08:19 brininess and saltiness, and all that is perfectly balanced by the acidity from
08:24 the wine and the vinegar, which really cuts through the richness and that
08:28 sweetness from the fruit. So to summarize, I loved everything about this. And you
08:34 might be thinking, if this is so incredible, and one of the greatest
08:37 chicken dishes of all time, why have I never heard of it? Well I think it's
08:42 because this originated in New York City in the late 70s at the Silver Pallet, and
08:46 while it was a viral sensation there, it was much harder for a dish like this to
08:50 gain popularity in other parts of the country. Mostly because this was before
08:54 the internet, and you actually had to talk to other people or read about it in
08:59 a magazine or newspaper. So news about a dish like this really didn't travel that
09:03 fast. But anyway, now we do have the internet, and people like me showing you
09:08 how to make it, so now there is no excuse for you not to know about and make and
09:13 enjoy this dish on a regular basis. And I really do hope you give this a try soon.
09:18 So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written
09:23 recipe, and much more info as usual. And as always, enjoy!
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