Crispy and Creamy– Two Great Textures in one Quick Chicken Dinner
This chicken dish made it to the table in about 50 minutes. It satisfies our credo that the only reason to leave the skin on chicken is to serve it crispy. And the recipe had us at Creamy Mushrooms and Snap Peas. So I set off to make it from a recipe from www.foodnetwork.com in an article that was prefaced with this: “From satisfying mains (that are a little lighter and brighter) to easy sides made with the season’s best veggies, these quick and simple recipes are perfect for celebrating the change of season.” And who doesn’t want to do that? Fortunately, I did something that most times makes me crazy. I read the recipe reviews. And this once, I am so glad I did.
Recipe Comments made this recipe a perfect weeknight Chicken dinner
Andrew’s sister and I have an informal contest. We vie at finding comments where the finished dish is utterly different from the recipe. But this time, the comments were so uniform, I was so glad I read them. Here’s an example: “Great starting point. I used cut-up chicken breasts. Seasoned the flour with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Let the browned chicken cook at 375 covered for 20 minutes (because the time set didn’t seem like it would cook through). Let the mushrooms cook a little before adding onion and then added minced garlic. Added white wine to the chicken broth. Added a cornstarch slurry to the sauce to thicken it after the snap peas cooked a bit. Served with mashed potatoes. My 18-month-old loved it and my husband!” Must have been a relief that the 18-month-old loves her husband. But thank you, JaSnipes.
“This recipe was ONLY 5 stars after I read the comments and made all the adjustments, then we really loved it.” megan.miles1
We didn’t follow either recipe. Instead, we set out to make it our way. We used Skin-On, Bone-In Chicken thighs. We seasoned our flour with lots of salt, pepper, and a highly touted new item from Trader Joe’s “Green Goddess Seasoning”. We crisped up their skin on the stovetop with just a little oil. After we’d achieved a perfect brown, we put them on a sheet pan and into a 225-degree oven. We added the mushrooms and scallions to the same pan. After they’d browned, we added broth and white wine. We also added teaspoons of the seasoned flour. This not only added flavor but also thickened the sauce. Then at the last moment, we added the cream and the sugar snap peas. Finally, instead of losing our Crispy Chicken under an ocean of cream sauce, we made our mushroom and peas a bed for our crispy chicken. Perfection! Here’s the recipe followed by some other Chicken Thigh favorites.
Crispy Chicken with Creamy Mushrooms and Sugar Snap Peas
The perfect combination of Crispy Skinned Chicken on a bed of Mushrooms, Scallions, and Sugar Snap Peas in a creamy wine sauce.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken cutlets (about 1 1/4 pounds), patted dry
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper / Green Goddess Seasoning for flour.
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- All-purpose flour, seasoned, for dredging and thickening the cream sauce.
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- 8 ounces mushrooms (button, cremini, shiitake or a combination), quartered
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth + ½ cup white wine
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups sugar snap peas, stemmed and halved lengthwise
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Then dredge it in all-purpose flour to which you have added 4 tsp. of Green Goodness Spice Blend. Shake off the excess. Set aside flour to later add to the sauce.
- Step 2 Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the skillet. Turn stove to medium-high. Place the chicken thighs in the skillet. Cook until golden on both top and bottom, about 10 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken registers 165 F (75C). Transfer to a baking dish. Place in the oven while you prepare the vegetables.
- Step 3 Add the butter to the hot skillet, then add the scallions and mushrooms
- Step 4 cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms brown, about 6 minutes. Pour in the broth and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Sprinkle 4 tsp. of seasoned flour on top of the mushroom mixture. Cook until the liquid is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the cream and boil until the sauce thickens slightly, 3 to 4 more minutes. Stir in the snap peas and heat through
- Step 5 Season with salt and pepper. Plate the vegetables and place the crispy chicken thighs on top of the bed of mushrooms and snap peas.
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