This braised chicken recipe is my version of the classic French dish “coq au vin” which translates to rooster in wine. It’s perfect for dinner parties because it’s ridiculously easy to put together despite being an absolute showstopper in taste and presentation.
I love entertaining for family and friends. Unfortunately, hosting often traps you in the kitchen, busying over the meal. Even if your dinner companions are happy to chat while you work, it can be a bit stressful to have meaningful conversations while attempting to finish up the cooking in a timely manner without forgetting the many components of a dinner party worthy dish.
This dish solves all that, leaving you to calmly finish up final touches, refill drinks and just relax and enjoy your own party. All the work is done many hours ahead of time, and it’s not much work at that. Imagine making the entire dish in the morning and letting it cook slowly in a crock pot all day. Your home smells incredible. There’s plenty of time to clean and get the home ready for guests. And it’s not a time sensitive recipe, it’s extremely flexible and forgiving. Once the chicken is done cooking, just keep it warm until the last guest has arrived and everyone is ready to eat.
Okay, let’s discuss taste. Chicken, how basic and unoriginal, one might think. But this chicken is anything but boring. The chicken is slowly cooked at a low temperature in a flavorful bath of herbs, broth and red wine, resulting in incredibly tender meat that just falls off the bone and a complex sauce that is begging for some form of carbs or starch to soak it all up. Humble carrots, celery, onion and mushrooms are transformed into juicy little flavor bombs. This meal is a clear example of the whole being far greater than its parts. Honestly, forget saving this meal for entertaining purposes, this should be in your regular meal rotation. Make a giant batch to enjoy all week long, the flavors will only deepen and improve.
Now, this is not an authentic recipe by any means when talking about coq au vin. The authentic dish uses rooster or wild chicken which is much tougher and gamier. Pearl onions are used instead of regular onion. The dish is heavily flavored with sprigs of thyme and a little tomato paste. And lastly, the sauce in coq au vin is much thicker due to the addition of a butter flour paste in the last hour of cooking. I cut out these ingredients and extra steps to make my life easier and the result is still deliciously decadent, just what I need for easy yet impressive entertaining.
Ingredients:
Chicken (skin on, bone in, 4-6 legs, 4-6 thighs)
Onion (one medium, yellow)
Carrots (when chopped, the same amount as the onion, about 4 medium sticks)
Celery (when chopped, the same amount as the onion, about 2 long stalks)
Mushrooms (white button or mini portobellos, a packet)
Bacon or Pancetta
Red Wine (I used a Spanish Ribera del Duero I had already opened, but any medium to full bodied red will do, about 2-3 cups)
Chicken Broth (about 2-3 cups, homemade is best but if store-bought, get one with no salt added)
Bay leaves (2-4 leaves, dried)
Garlic powder (about 2 tsp)
Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute (about 2 tsp)
Olive Oil
Butter
Salt and Pepper
Method:
Salt and pepper your chicken pieces. In a cold cast iron skillet, add your skin-on chicken pieces and turn the heat to medium-low. Leave it be, let the fat from the skin slowly render while you prep your other ingredients.
Let’s prep. Chop onions, celery, and carrots. You want a large dice, each piece about the size of a red grape. Slice the bacon into strips about the width of a finger and an inch long. Halve the mushrooms and quarter any especially large ones.
Turn your attention back to the chicken. If the fat has rendered well, the chicken should unstick easily from the skillet as you flip it. The pan side should be golden and slightly crisp. The time for this will really vary depending on your chicken, your pan and your stovetop. This could take as little as 10 minutes or as long as 25. But be patient here and resist the urge to crank up the heat, this fat rendering and fond development is an important base for other flavors to build and you don’t want to cook the meat too much. You want to barely crisp the chicken skin evenly on both sides. You should hear a gentle sizzling, if not then increase the heat.
Once the chicken is golden, transfer to the slow cooker. The chicken should still be raw in the middle. Now in the same skillet, increase the heat to medium and add your carrots, celery and onion. Season with salt and pepper and add a little olive oil as needed. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer everything to the slow cooker.
Again, in the same skillet fry your bacon and mushrooms with a little knob of butter. Once the bacon is a little crisp, add garlic powder, salt, black pepper, bay leaves and Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute spice blend and cook for a few minutes.. If you don’t have this, then add thyme, oregano, marjoram, celery seed, parsley, basil, rosemary and lemon zest. Just add whatever you have, don’t worry about missing any ingredients. The most important one is thyme, you could just add fresh or dried time and forget about everything else.
Before the bacon gets completely crisp, add in your red wine to deglaze the pan. If your bacon has rendered a lot of fat, you will want to discard some of the grease beforehand, otherwise it will really overpower the dish. Adjust the heat as necessary, the wine should be somewhat rapidly bubbling but not too aggressively. Reduce the wine by about a third or a half. Once reduced, add your chicken broth and cook for just a few minutes.
Transfer everything to the slow cooker. I like to spoon the bacon and mushroom bits out first before pouring over the liquid so there is less splashing. The liquid should just about cover your meat and vegetables, if not then just add a bit more chicken broth. Really, the ratios aren’t so important in this dish. It won’t matter if you use more or less red wine or broth. Of course it will taste a bit different, but it will still be delicious.
Cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours until the chicken is fork tender.
For a nicer presentation, transfer everything back into the cast iron skillet and keep it warm in the oven until ready to serve. Sprinkle a little freshly chopped parsley over top if desired and serve over mashed potatoes or cauliflower. Enjoy with a glass of red and a baguette on the side to sop up more of the sauce.