Food52 is 10 years old! To celebrate a decade of all things kitchen and home, we're rolling out our top recipes, tips, and stories for another victory lap, along with some of our very favorite memories over the years. Go on, take 'em in!
What's for dinner tonight? Chances are, it's chicken on our table. For the past 10 years and counting, chicken's been our number one: roasted, fried, braised, or baked into crispy nuggets. It's the ultimate blank slate, as well, able to take on most any flavor while imbuing it with a rich, comforting, uniquely chickeny warmth. (In fact, we love chicken so much, we even wrote a book about it!)
We know chicken's your fave, too—that's why there are over 1,300 (!) chicken recipes on Food52. But to celebrate 10 years of us loving chicken to the fullest (with your help!), we've combed through Food52's decade-old recipe box for our best chicken recipes ever. Seriously!
It was, of course, hard to leave out numbers 11, 12, and 13 (who doesn't love Korean Fried Chicken Wings?). But for these purposes, we had to stick to the facts. These chicken recipes are the greatest of the greatest; they're our community's absolute favorites (and ours, too).
But! There's more! In the spirit of all things chicken, we're also sharing three recipes from our forthcoming cookbook, Dynamite Chicken—dishes we guarantee will soon join the rank of these ten legends.
10. Barbara Kafka's Simplest Roast Chicken
As far as we're concerned, one only needs a single roast chicken recipe: this dynamo from the Genius Barbara Kafka. You'll heat the oven to a ripping-hot 500°F and stuff the cavity of the chicken with aromatics before putting it inside; this helps the chicken's skin crisp up beautifully on the outside, while infusing it with flavor on the inside. A few potatoes or root vegetables placed underneath the chicken as it roasts will soak up all the delicious schmaltz that comes off the bird, and round out the meal.
9. Sheet Pan Roast Chicken And Cabbage
Chicken + cabbage = pure comfort. Chicken + cabbage + coconut–sesame–soy–chili marinade = pure comfort with a delightful kick. This convenient sheet-pan dinner is one of our tried-and-true faves, and if you haven't made it yet, well, what are you waiting for?
8. Braised Chicken Thighs With Tomato And Garlic
Our co-founder Merrill, who brought us this incredible recipe, admits to making it once a week—save for a few choice herbs and spices (garlic and fresh thyme, to boot), you can pretty much cobble it together from your pantry stores. Merrill says it goes great with orzo or rice, and we all have pretty good reason to believe Merrill.
7. Jamie Oliver's Chicken In Milk
Chicken poached in...milk? Sounds wild, but hear us out. Our Genius Creative Director, Kristen Miglore explain why this recipe, from the Naked Chef himself, works so well: "The lactic acid in milk makes meat especially tender and turns into an amazingly flavorful sauce." Can't argue with that, can you?!
6. Extraordinary Marinated And Roasted Chicken, Potatoes, And Chickpeas
This "extraordinary" one-pot dish promises quite a bit, and definitely does not disappoint. Chicken pieces, canned chickpeas, and chunks of potato are marinated in a creamy, harissa-inflected sauce overnight, then piled into a baking dish and roasted for a little over an hour. "Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt or tzatziki on the side, and prepare to be worshipped" says recipe creator Selma.
5. Canal House's Chicken Thighs With Lemon
How you get shatteringly crisp skin and succulent meat on chicken thighs? Pan-fry them, of course, but make sure to start with a cold pan, arrange the chicken skin-side down, and use just a teensy bit of oil. As the pan heats, the fat renders off the chicken skin and allows it to get ridiculously crunchy and flavorful. Finely chopped preserved lemon adds a necessary tang and bright note, to cut through the chicken's richness.
4. Slow-Cooker Chicken Parmesan Soup
As the days get shorter and the temps get cooler, you'll almost certainly need warm, stewy, stick-to-your-rib dinners in your back pocket. Even better? Recipes that let that comforting dinner greet you as soon as you step in the door. This slow-cooker chicken Parmesan soup does just that. It's got all the flavors of the Italian–American classic, but takes far less finagling (no dredging, frying, baking in sight) and takes place all in your slow-cooker.
3. Cheap Creamy Chicken Curry
At an estimated cost of $2.50 per head, this mild, coconutty chicken curry is everything we need. It's hearty and satisfying, brilliantly spiced, and ready in just about 40 minutes. Pro tip: If you make a double batch (and, well, why wouldn't you?), it freezes like a charm.
2. Jamie Oliver’s Tender & Crisp Chicken Legs With Sweet Tomatoes & Basil
This recipe, another winner from the great Jamie Oliver, has a lot going for it: you don't really have to cut or prep anything; you can just throw all the ingredients in one pot; and you're rewarded with juicy, tender, fall-apart braised chicken. Make this now, before tomato season is over for the year!
1. Judy Hesser’s Oven-Fried Chicken
It comes as no surprise that this is the #1 chicken recipe on Food52. It comes from our co-founder Amanda's mother, and it's, to put it mildly, a phenom. Who knew you could get crispy-skinned, juicy-middled, nutty-flavored, fried chicken, but without the frying? Judy knew, and thankfully, now we know too.
1. Broiled Chicken Thighs With Plum Tomatoes & Garlic
Inspired by Merrill's braised chicken thighs above, this recipe from chef Tyler Kord take things up a notch by inflecting the dish with a bit of fish sauce at the end. As one community member raved, "The skin was unbelievable, and a perfect use of the over producing tomatoes we have in the backyard." Looks like it's time to hop to it.
2. Roast Chicken With All Of The Vegetables In Your CSA
This roast chicken dish is the perfect Thursday night meal—all the action happens in one roasting pan, but the cook time takes a little longer than your standard 30-minute affair. This extended cook time is great for two reasons: 1) You can drink at least one martini while waiting for things to roast, and 2) You'll be rewarded with tons of tender chicken and perfectly roasted vegetables to enjoy with a second martini.
You can pretty much use any kind of vegetable you want underneath the chicken; parsnips, carrots, butternut squash, and fennel all come to mind in place of the potatoes, and Brussels sprouts would be a great stand-in for the cabbage. Peas can say as they are or get replaced with a sturdy green, like lacinato kale or arugula.
3. Lemony Spaghetti With Parmesan Popcorn Chicken
Wait—cheesy, lemony pasta with chicken nuggets on top? Yup, Tyler went there, and he's not sorry. Kids and adults alike will be over the moon that you made this dish.
The Dynamite Chicken cookbook is here! Get ready for 60 brand-new ways to love your favorite bird. Inside this clever collection by Food52 and chef Tyler Kord, you'll find everything from lightning-quick weeknight dinners to the coziest of comfort foods.
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Written by: Katie Macdonald
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12 Comments
This is the BEST (and easiest) chicken recipe I've enjoyed in years! Highly recommend trying it, if you haven't.
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