Balkan Chicken Thighs with Prunes Walnuts and Paprika Onions 🍗✨

Description

Balkan Chicken Thighs with Prunes Walnuts and Paprika Onions is a rich rustic main dish made with juicy chicken thighs, sweet prunes, toasted walnuts, soft onions, garlic, paprika, lemon, and a glossy pan sauce. It has the old Balkan balance of savory meat, gentle sweetness, warm spice, and deep roasted flavor, perfect with mashed potatoes, rice, polenta, or crusty bread.
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Hook ✨
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Juicy chicken thighs, sweet prunes, toasted walnuts, soft onions, garlic, paprika, and lemon make this Balkan main dish glossy, rich, and deeply comforting. 🍗

Ingredients

• Chicken and onions 🍗
• ‌
• 🍗 900 g bone-in chicken thighs, skin-on or skinless (4 large / 2 lb)
• 🧅 350 g onions, thinly sliced (3 medium / 12.3 oz)
• 🧄 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (5 cloves / 0.8 oz)
• 🫒 45 ml olive oil (3 tbsp / 1.5 fl oz)
• 🧈 25 g butter (2 tbsp / 0.9 oz)
• 🌶️ 7 g sweet paprika (2½ tsp / 0.25 oz)
• 🌶️ 1 g smoked paprika, optional (½ tsp / 0.03 oz)
• 🧂 9 g fine sea salt (1½ tsp / 0.32 oz)
• ⚫ 2 g black pepper (1 tsp / 0.07 oz)
• 🍃 2 bay leaves
• ‌
• Prune walnut sauce 🌰
• ‌
• 🍑 180 g dried prunes, pitted (1 cup / 6.3 oz)
• 🌰 80 g walnuts, lightly toasted (¾ cup / 2.8 oz)
• 🍋 25 ml lemon juice (1 tbsp + 2 tsp / 0.85 fl oz)
• 🍋 5 g lemon zest (1 tbsp / 0.17 oz)
• 🍯 10 g honey, optional (1½ tsp / 0.35 oz)
• 💧 350 ml chicken stock or warm water (1½ cups / 12 fl oz)
• 🌿 15 g fresh parsley, chopped (½ cup loose / 0.5 oz)
• ‌
• To serve ✨
• ‌
• 🥔 Mashed potatoes, rice, polenta, or crusty bread
• 🌿 Extra parsley
• 🍋 Lemon wedges
• 🌰 Extra chopped walnuts

Preparation

1. 1️⃣ Season the chicken 🍗
2. ‌
3. Pat the chicken dry. Season with salt, black pepper, sweet paprika, and smoked paprika if using. Let it stand for 10 min while you slice the onions and garlic.
4. ‌
5. 2️⃣ Sear for color 🔥
6. ‌
7. Heat olive oil and butter in a wide heavy pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and sear for 5 min per side, until golden. Remove to a plate.
8. ‌
9. 3️⃣ Soften the onions 🧅
10. ‌
11. Lower the heat to medium. Add onions to the same pan and cook for 9 min, stirring often, until soft, sweet, and lightly golden. Add garlic and cook for 40 sec.
12. ‌
13. 4️⃣ Build the paprika base 🌶️
14. ‌
15. Stir in bay leaves and a small pinch of extra paprika if desired. Add chicken stock and scrape the bottom of the pan so all the browned flavor goes into the sauce.
16. ‌
17. 5️⃣ Add prunes and chicken 🍑
18. ‌
19. Return the chicken to the pan. Add prunes around the pieces. Cover and simmer gently for 24 min, turning the chicken once halfway through.
20. ‌
21. 6️⃣ Finish glossy 🌰
22. ‌
23. Uncover the pan. Add walnuts, lemon juice, lemon zest, and honey if using. Simmer for 8 min more, spooning sauce over the chicken, until the sauce is glossy and the chicken is tender.
24. ‌
25. 7️⃣ Rest briefly 🛋
26. ‌
27. Turn off the heat and rest for 5 min. The sauce will settle and cling better to the chicken.
28. ‌
29. 8️⃣ Serve warm 🍋
30. ‌
31. Sprinkle with parsley and extra walnuts. Serve with mashed potatoes, rice, polenta, or crusty bread to catch the paprika onion sauce.

Total Time

⏱ Prep: 16 min
🔥 Cook/Bake: 51 min
🛋 Rest: 15 min
⏰ Total: 82 min

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