Basque Chicken
This is an easy Chicken dish which has its origin in France. Unlike most stews which use a lot of liquids, the chicken in this recipe cooks in its own natural juices with some help from some red bell peppers and a little bit of white wine. This is a lovely side dish for your rice dishes.
INGREDIENTS:
(1) 8 Chicken Pieces
(2) 2 Large Red Bell Peppers
(3) 2 Medium Sized Tomatoes
(4) A Large Onion
(5) 2 Garlic Cloves
(6) 1 Heap Teaspoon Herb de Provence (You can use any other herbs you love. Some fresh Thyme will be nice here)
(7) 1/2 Cup White Wine
(8) 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
(9) Salt and Pepper to Taste
PROCEDURE:
(1) Wash, dry and season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a pan and brown seasoned chicken on both sides. Each side should take about 5 minutes. This can be done in batches so as not to overcrowd pan. Try not to move chicken about when browning. When the chicken is ready to be turned, it will lift off easily from the pan. Remove chicken when brown and set aside.
(2) Meanwhile, julienne the bell peppers and onions. Also chop the tomato and dice the garlic. Learn how to julienne vegetables here.
(3) In the same pan in which you browned the chicken, add the onions and saute for about 2 minutes. Add some salt to the onions so it can render its water easily. If the oil in the pan is a lot (this can happen if the chicken has a lot of fat), you can reduce the oil to about 2 tablespoons before sauteing the onions.
(4) After 2 minutes, add the julienned bell peppers and the garlic, salt and saute for 3 minutes uncovered.
(5) Add the tomato next, stir, reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes.
(6) After 10 minutes, a lot of fluid would have rendered from the vegetables and the dish will look more like a stew. Add the white wine, stir and add the chicken pieces, sprinkle the top of the chicken with the herb de provence, cover and cook on low heat for 20 more minutes. If you cannot find herb de provence, feel free to use whatever herbs you love.
(7) After 20 minutes, take chicken off heat and serve with your side of choice.
This chicken dish is very flavorful. It is almost unbelievable that all that flavor came from just chicken, red bell peppers and a few other ingredients.
This dish goes great with some Duchess Potatoes. Recipe here.
If you loved this meal, you should also try making Basque Eggs. Recipe here.
Terry Adido is passionate about showing people how easy it is to recreate restaurant quality meals in the comfort of their kitchens. With a style of cooking he refers to as Afro-European Fusion, his meals are influenced greatly by French and Italian Cuisine with a West African twist. If you love good food, you are in for the ride of your life.
I will definitely try this someday. Page saved.
You will love it.
Will try this soon. Making the spaghettini for dinner today and l’m pretty sure it will be yummy.
Lovely. Will love to get feedback on both.
What’s the importance of the white wine in the meal,can I prepare it without the wine?
The white wine adds to the flavor profile. The French cook with a lot of wine. You can leave it out and substitute it with some broth, but you will be missing out on the authentic basque chicken flavor.
Alrite, I will try it with the broth, thanks for sharing
Nice recipe, but how is this different from chicken cacciatore?
Thanks. Chicken Cacciatore makes use of flour, basque chicken does not. Diced tomato is the main star of Chicken Cacciatore, with Basque chicken, red bell peppers is the main star. Chicken Cacciatore is spiced with oregano, Basque Chicken is seasoned with herb de provence. Chicken Cacciatore is Italian, Basque Chicken is French. They are really different. I will be working on a recipe for Chicken Cacciatore soon.
Hi Terry. Thanks for the recipe for Basque chicken. Is dia a substitute for white wine in the recipe?
Hi. You can use Chicken Broth, but you wont get the traditional flavor of the dish.
trying this today but without the white wine &i will be using scent leaf(efirin) for herbs. i will garnish with parsley. hope i get it right.
I’m certain you will enjoy it.
Hi Terry,
I just made this,can it be paired with white rice or pasta?or what would u suggest.
Hi. It will go very well with White Rice. You can also use it as a pasta sauce if you like.
OMG!!! MY HUSBAND WILL SO LOVE THIS…MAKING IT RYT AWAY
I trust he will.
Waoh!!!!….i tried this menu last nite, OMG!!! I came out so nice, the flavour was something. I used Mint leaves as i couldnt get Herbs..and i used one green bell pepper and one red pepper..it turned out colorful, and the flavour of the white wine(i used a sauvignon blanc) with the mint leaves was lovely…my hubby enjoyed it…and the wine did its magic too…thank you for this recipe…
Thanks for the feedback. I am glad you enjoyed it.
I try this today,it came out very nice with sweet aroma,I actually added the white wine, it has this distinct taste different from what we are used to ,my husband and children love it,it was served with white rice.
Thanks for sharing.
I’m glad you guys loved it. You are welcome.
Hi Terry, what white wine would you advice is best for cooking?
Hi. I have no real recommendations. I try to use dry wines as opposed to sweet wines. Nothing too expensive, nothing too cheap. Just a good white wine that you would drink at home.
I made the Basque Chicken yesterday night for dinner and it was great. I added mushroom to mine and I loved. Second time cooking without Maggi seasoning.
Thanks Terry for your simple step by step instructions.
Thanks Ifeoluwa. Glad you loved it.
Oga Terry weldone ooooo. I made this yesterday but added a tea spoon of corn starch to thicken it a little. Dinner was smashing
Glad to hear that Ann. Kudos!
Reminds me of a chicken dish my grandma made. She was an amazing basque cook. Can’t wait to make it.
Thank you!
Glad I brought back fond memories.
What do you mean by julienne please and in some of your recipe you do include wines e.g a recipe you said that d fruits should be soaked with wine and we don’t take wine so is there any substitute please#no one should laugh#closing my eyes
You can read this post on how to julienne veggies. As for wine, if its a savory dish like this one, you can leave it out. There are no substitutions. For my fruitcake recipes. some people use orange juice in place of alcohol. I however have never tried it and thus cannot speak to its effectiveness or otherwise.