This Chicken Marbella recipe was my first foray into cooking for Passover- I popped my Rosh Hashanah cherry last year. As a non Jewish person I came to quickly realize that there are some hard and fast rules when cooking for Passover, the main being no leavened breads or products; which means no flour, no bread, none of it.
Enter Chicken Marbella
This recipe is perfect because there’s no flour AT ALL in this recipe; yet the sauce is thick and smooth. BUT HOW? Allow me to explain.
Thickening a sauce is typically done with flour, which does the trick every time; but without being able to use flour-like products thickening sauces can prove challenging. But in this chicken Marbella recipe the thickening agent comes from the dried prunes- yes, prunes.
Stay with me here…
Because if you’re like me, you hate fruit in savoury dishes BUT in this Chicken Marbella the prunes melt into the sauce adding a luscious thickness to it; meaning you won’t even notice they are there, just be sure to cut them into small pieces so they completely melt. NOTE my clients happen to love fruit in savoury dishes, so the prunes pictured are chopped fairly largely. But I highly suggest with any recipe, you live your own truth lol.
One last thing…
For this chicken Marbella recipe you can add everything to an oven safe dish and bake- which is the effortless way. That said, seared the chicken FIRST for flavour and then I baked it to finish it; but, I repeat, live your own truth and employ the method that works best for you!
Recipe Notes
- Purchase olives that contain the pit and are still in the brine; otherwise you will be left with rubbery, flavourless olives.
- Use wine that you would drink, because if you wouldn’t drink it, you shouldn’t cook with it. That said, if you don’t drink wine use chicken stock in its place.
Chicken Marbella Recipe
- 7 chicken breast, bone-in, skin-on
- Cloves from 1/2 head of garlic, peeled and minced
- 2 Tbsp dried oregano
- Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup pitted prunes
- 1/2 pitted Spanish green olives, cut in half
- 1/4 cup capers with a bit of juice
- 3 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp avocado oil (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Marinate the chicken: In a large bowl combine garlic, oregano, salt and pepper to taste, vinegar, olive oil, prunes, olives, capers with caper juice, and bay leaves. Add the chicken pieces and coat completely with the marinade. Cover and let marinate, refrigerated, several hours or overnight.
Optional Step. In a large CAST IRON SKILLET (click to purchase my favourite) heat the avocado oil on medium high heat. Remove the chicken from the marinade and any excess marinade ingredients and sear each piece skin side down for 3 minutes (or until golden brown, flip and cook for an additional minute.
Place chicken in baking pan, top with marinade, brown sugar, wine: Arrange chicken in a single layer in shallow baking pans and spoon marinade over it evenly; and pour white wine around them.
Bake until done: Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, basting frequently with the pan juices. Chicken is done when a sharp knife inserted into the thigh pieces, at their thickest point, run with clear yellow juices (not pink). OR DO YOURSELF A SOLILD AND BUY THIS MEAT THERMOMETER…it’s near impossible to live down food poisoning.
Serve with pan juices: With a slotted spoon, move the chicken, prunes, olives, and capers to a serving platter. Pour some of the pan juices over the chicken and sprinkle generously with parsley. Serve remaining juices in a gravy boat.
Disclosure: There are some affiliate links in this post, but when it comes to cooking, I won’t put anything on this page that I haven’t verified and/or personally used.
xoxoBianca