Crispy chicken in a spicy tomato sauce with capsicum / bell peppers, olives, capers. I call it an Italian Chicken Casserole because it’s stew-like, with plenty of sauce to slop up with crusty bread or to toss through pasta. A fabulous, hearty dinner you can get on the table in less than 30 minutes!
This Italian Chicken Casserole is inspired by a Sicilian Chicken recipe by Mario Batali, an Italian- American chef and restauranteur. He’s also one of the collaborators of New York’s popular Eataly, an emporium of all things Italian that was the single most visited place during my last visit to New York. Great for souvenirs, for a quick lunch, for afternoon tea (oh, the pastry counter!!), for an early evening glass of wine (oh, the wine bar!!) with cheese and cured meats (oh, the deli!), or for a full multi-course dinner (oh, the choices of restaurants!!).
And while some head home with the the obligatory t-shirt with “I ❤️ NYC” emblazoned across it, I always take home a cookbook from each country I visit. Don’t ask me why it’s different to buy a Lidia and Mario Batali cookbook in Eataly when I can order it online with free delivery. It just is. And I get to curse my impractical decision for the entire rest of the trip as it adds an extra couple of kilos to my luggage.
I remember doing the exact same thing in Mexico. 🙄
The original recipe by Mario Batali is actually quite different. It has carrots, celery, potatoes and eggplant in it and there’s far less sauce. Regular readers know I’m a fan of sauce. If I share a recipe without a sauce or that’s not exceptionally saucy, there is a very good reason for it.
I wanted more sauce.
So I created more sauce. And so as not to offend purists, I changed the name to Italian Chicken Casserole!! 😉
Oh – and I also made the chicken crispy. I recently learned of a new way to make crispy chicken skin on the stove without using any oil, courtesy of my mother and the Teriyaki Chicken video I recently made for her. So I put that into practice for this recipe. 🙂
As for serving, I’m happy either way – crusty bread to dunk into the sauce, or tossing the sauce through pasta. There’s enough sauce that you can toss half of it through pasta and serve the other half with the chicken, as shown below.
Though I call this a casserole, it’s not simmered for hours on the stove. The chicken is cooked through and super juicy (because I use thigh), but not falling off the bone. That’s the way I’ve made this recipe – a 30 minute midweek meal. However, I know some of you are all about “falling off the bone” so I’ve added notes in the recipe for how to adjust for that (but you have to sacrifice the crispy skin!!!). – Nagi x
PS I know the skin of the chicken looks almost artificially golden. But chicken skin cooked the way I do it in this recipe using no oil truly comes out this golden. In fact, I had to dial back the colour saturation in the photos because it just looked so darn golden. That’s a first!!!
MORE CHICKEN THIGH RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE!
Skinless boneless chicken thigh recipes:
Greek Chicken Gyros | Chicken STROGANOFF! | Thai Grilled Chicken | Chicken Doner Kebab | Chinese BBQ Chicken | Thai Coconut Chicken | Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken | Chicken Piccata
Bone in, skin on chicken thigh recipes:
Baked Chicken and Rice | Chicken Stew | Honey Mustard Chicken | Vietnamese Coconut Caramel Chicken | Greek Chicken
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SPICY ITALIAN CHICKEN CASSEROLE
Ingredients
- 5 chicken thighs , skin on, bone in (about 200g / 7 oz each) (Note 1 for breast)
- Salt and pepper
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 medium onion , finely chopped
- 1 EACH red and green capsicum / bell pepper , sliced
- ½ cup / 125 ml white or red wine (any is fine, I use dry white) (Note 2 for subs)
- 800 g / 28 oz can crushed tomato
- ¾ cup / 185 ml water , swilled in empty tomato can
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (chilli flakes), adjust to taste
- 3/4 cup black olives , pitted (or 1/3 cup sliced)
- 2 tbsp baby capers
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ¼ cup finely chopped parsley
Instructions
- Use a small knife to prick 5 or so gashes into the skin of the chicken. Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper.
- Place chicken skin side down in a cold large non stick skillet, then turn stove onto medium high. As it heats up, the fat under the skin will start to melt through the holes in the skin.
- Cook for 4 – 5 minutes or until the skin is golden and crispy. Turn the chicken and cook the other side for 3 minutes.
- Remove chicken onto a plate, discard fat (don’t scrape the pan) then return to the stove.
- Add oil, garlic and onion. Cook for 1 minute, then add capsicum. Cook for 2 minutes then add wine. Bring to a simmer and stir, scraping the pan to get those golden bits mixed in.
- Once most of the wine is evaporated and it doesn’t smell winey anymore, add the tomato, water and pepper flakes. Stir, bring to a simmer, adjust heat so it’s bubbling energetically but not rapidly (and not slowly).
- After 5 minutes (or so), stir through olives and capers. Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper.
- Then place chicken into the sauce, being careful not to submerge the skin. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle over parsley. Serve with crusty bread, or use half the sauce to toss through / pour over pasta and the other half to serve with chicken (see photos in post).
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Spicy Italian Chicken Casserole recipe video!
LIFE OF DOZER
When he forgot how he got on the Marine Police Wharf (via the low tide water) and thought he was trapped on the other side of the gate. 🙄
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ah Nagi!! once again a winner!! i’m going less salt these days, so no capers (whaaah!),and i pulled out the bones from the chicken legs (thighs and drumsticks) so i could make the stock. i also added eggplant and carrots(only enough pasta for one, so hunnybunny got that)….hahahaaa! cooking times were spot on for chickenlegs here in Germany. thanks! mahalo! danke!!
p.s. that trick with the cold pan for crispy skin is AWESOME!!!
I cooked this dish because it matched both major ingredients on-hand and my desired taste. Plus my abiding faith in RecipeTinEats is thorough!
Many interruptions throughout process. I cooked chicken well beyond times suggested here, but within my own thoughts as to what I thought the bone-in thighs could handle at different stages.
I absolutely cooked pasta way too early. I blame my neighbours, who would simply not agree to join me for dinner but were happy to chat. 1 or 2 or 5 minutes here and there and all of a sudden, things change a lot!
Outcome was 5 stars! Serving of 1 thigh with sauce on a bed of fettucine noodles was delicious. Chicken was fork-ready, sauce was olive and garlic and onion and tomatoey rich, to say the least. Carrots very thinly sliced were also included.
If you make this for a crew, I suggest that 1 thigh is maybe a man appetizer level, and very perfectly suited for moving onto other tastes in a multi-dish dinner. Two or more thighs may be required to satisfy man main course needs.
Allinall…this actually worked out better than my usual RecipeTin Eats cooks! I think the elongated cooking time was a determining factor, for both the doneness of the chicken, and the melding of the primary sauce flavors.
Very happy with the outcome!
I used a cast iron frying pan for everything. A Splatter guard was 100% necessary for all of the chicken cooking exercise. And I used broiler to maintain and enhance chicken (skin) crispiness as needed.
So yummy!!! However I would recommend finishing it off in the oven. I cooked this dish last night for a NYE dinner party. I followed the recipe step-by-step except I prefer when the meat falls off the bone. So I transferred the chicken and sauce to the oven and baked cover for an hour, then uncovered to get the skin crispy (for large maryland pieces instead of thighs). It came out perfect and was so delicious! Thanks, Nagi x
Hi Nagi, I was going to make my no-fail Italian Chicken Cacciatore tonight with olives then decided to look on your website and found your recipe, going to make it tonight, my question though is that I noticed your wonderful pics are in a cast iron pan but video shows a non-stick pan, I cook in both but prefer cast iron, do you recommend cast iron for this recipe?
Seeing all this ravishing food made my mouth water and my tummy rumble, it was saying, “Feed me, feed me”. As I am limited, I grated some cheese and mixed with instant mash, with buttered granary bread, it looked god awful but tasted okay.
I didn’t follow the instructions for timing and even doubling up on times I ended up with chicken not really cooked enough, and hard peppers.
I would agree with the comments about the cooking time. I’m actually making this for the first time right now and am here looking at the comments to see if there is a correction to the recipe because the cooking time did not make sense. Perhaps, as Nagi mentioned, the chicken pieces are smaller in Australia but here in Canada there is no way this chicken will cook in 15 minutes. Skinless and boneless chicken thighs yes, but not bone-in. It is simmering away on the stove as we speak for an extra 20 minutes. Nagi’s recipes are always awesome so I can’t wait to try it 🙂
Chicken not cooked for me either.
Doesn’t mention oven. I tried the stove top with extra cooking and chicken still not cooked. Now putting in oven.
Hi Mike – sorry that was a reference to the stovetop heat, not the oven. Did you use a heavy based frypan with a tight fitting lid? I’ve also found that the larger chicken pieces in the USA can take longer to cook than the ones in Australia. N x
Hi John, so how long was it cooking for all up? Sounds like you could have a problem with your oven thermostat? N x
Is it perhaps missing a step where it goes in the oven? We’ve cooked this one a couple times now and every single time the chicken comes up raw and we end up putting the lid on and simmering. I’d love to try it with the crispy skin but it just doesn’t seem to work with only 12 minutes on the chicken
Same thing happened to me. The chicken was undercooked with the timing currently given. Perhaps cooking it for longer at the beginning would have helped.
Hi Nagi, I’m a late fan, discovered your website when trying to cook flatbread and am now making my way through your recipes.
I just want to ask if step 8 is right? 5 minutes doesn’t seem long enough for the chicken to cook through. Thank you.
Hi Tanika, yes that’s correct – it’s been cooking already in the pan in earlier steps 🙂 N x
But only for 8 minutes? Really not sure if 13 minutes in total are enough for bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs to cook through. I’d love to try this recipe but I’m really wary about this :/
Hi Nagi! Can I make this with chicken drumsticks?
Sure can Lorena!
Can this be made ahead?
Can this be made with boneless thighs or breasts?
Please see recipe notes!
Can I use chicken breast instead of thigh?
See note 1 please! 🙂
Could I use chicken breast as my son will only eat breast?
Just can’t miss with one of your recipes! The family loved it, made with green beans for us no carb folks and Pasta for the kids. I did put the thighs in after the sauce to cook longer, tender perfection! I can’t stop telling everyone about your recipes!
Fantastic to hear Diane! Thanks for letting me know! N x ❤️
I made this last evening for guests. It was full of flavor, and best yet … easy to make . Everyone loved it ! Thank you for another amazing recipe Nagi 🙂
Reading the recipe and looking at the pictures I noticed the pictures have red chili pepper cut up on top (at least that is what i think it is) and that’s not in the video or in the recipe. Is it something you did for garnish or did you use red chilies in the place of the red pepper flakes. I want to make this recipe just asking to make sure i get it right.
Hi Sheila! Yes you are right, they are fresh red chillies, the large sort that aren’t that spicy. I added it as an optional garnish, it is not in the ingredients. It adds extra spiciness and is optional only 🙂 N x
This is delicious. One of the best recipes I’ve found on Pinterest….definitely will make it again.
Thank you so much for sharing your feedback Marianna, I’m so pleased to hear you enjoyed this! N x ❤️
YES! Delicious. Had to reduce portions down to one, so cooked two thighs, some onion and peppers, some wine (white) and some pepper flakes, you get the idea. I wanted to serve it over pasta but since I’ve recently lost some weight, I decided to eat it as chicken and veggies. As I said, delicious! Thanks so much for your innovative ideas!
That’s terrific Grambeau! Thanks for letting me know! N xx ❤️
I juts made this earlier for dinner! My parents in lAw and husband loved it! Mother in law asked me to make it for xmas! 🙂 only thing is, my chicken was raw on the inside despite being on the stove for around 30 minutes. I should have covered it and left it to simmer for awhile longer. 🙁 but all good. Thnaks for this great recipe and the few others I’ve tried too. 🙂
Hi Regina, I’m so pleased you enjoyed this! I’m sorry to hear it was still raw on the inside, that’s a bit surprising given how long the chicken is cooked! Is there a chance it was a bit frozen inside? 🙂 N xx
Hi Nagi,
In the photo of the recipe you have chopped chillies 🌶. In the recipe and video it is missing?
Did you add this instead of chilli flakes in the photo version?
Yup, had this beauty last night for dinner and fortunately have loads of sauce left over for today for lunch with pasta.
Because MOTH doesn’t do olives I rarely have them, I’m glad I went with them as their flavour adds something special to the recipe.
We really really really enjoyed this, packed with delish flavours and once again so simple to make.
DOZER – not the sharpest tool in the shed BUT so adorable.
All I saw was -> DOZER – not the sharpest tool in the shed BUT so adorable. -> And burst out LAUGHING!!!