This One Pan Chicken & Chorizo was among our most popular recipes – before it was even published. Requests rolled in almost immediately after sharing a shot on my social feed. Which meant, I had to make it again. But that’s okay, it’s a family favourite!
To accommodate busy lives, adapted the original dish to make it a one-pot meal. Just add rice and you’re DONE, Baby!
The sauce is less a true sauce and more of a broth. Honestly, so satisfying with rice. The rice soaks up all that superb broth for an almost paella-like flavour. Surprisingly refreshing after a long, hot summer day yet equally pleasing on cold, wet days. I feel like I could go out, Spanish-style, until 5 am and come home to a drunken feast of Chicken & Chorizo and all would be right with the world. It’s that good.
Notes On Sausage
Sometimes I forget that not everyone has had the benefit of culinary adventures that include cross-cultural sausage tastings. So, let’s chat sausage! Chorizo is a Spanish style sausage, available in both mild and spicy varieties. Its base is generally paprika, and it’s often found in dishes in Central and South America thanks to Spanish colonization.
I usually find the best chorizo options at especially meat shops and delis but I’ve also found decent versions at local big-box grocery store. If you’re having difficulties tracking it down ask your deli department.
Chorizo can be found in both a dry, cured version or in its fresh incarnation (which is also yummy delicious). If you can’t find dry chorizo, don’t fret, just adapt. Use fresh. You can either crumble and sauté (as directed below) or you can cook the sausages, whole, the night before in the oven (about 25 minutes at 350⁰F, 165⁰C) then slice about ¼ inch thick and follow the method in the recipe below.
The whole idea is to get that gorgeous orange-red colour of the cured sausage – compliments of the paprika – along with its signature smokiness infused in your oil. That’s the base of your Chicken & Chorizo flavour.
Let’s Sear It Up Right
Because it’s so simple, let’s focus on making this meal absolutely amazing with a really good sear on those chicken thighs, shall we?! The trick to a great sear is three-fold:
Dry your meat REALLY well with paper towel. Honestly, can’t stress this enough. You want as little moisture as possible on that poultry to avoid splatters and sweating. (Nobody likes a sweaty chicken, trust me on that.)
Hot pan, hot oil. I often mix oils to give me a higher smoke point. Olive oil burns at a lower temperature so I added a dash of sunflower oil to give me a little headroom heat-wise. This way I can bring my overall temperature up for the sear. How do you know it’s hot enough? If you sprinkle a little water off your fingertips into the pan it should sizzle and dance.
After seasoning, place your chicken thighs SKIN SIDE DOWN TO START. Then, let it be. No seriously, don’t touch it – for like – four minutes or so. You may need to adjust your heat slightly to ensure you don’t burn the spices on your pan. If you find your chicken stuck, just move the pan off the heat for a minute or so and let the moisture in the skin help to loosen it before flipping over, and returning the dish to the heat. So important, presentation-wise, to get nice colour on your chicken.
Once your chicken is golden and brown, remove it to rest with your chorizo, then de-grease your pan. You’ll get a nice film of colourful schmaltz (chicken fat) on top of your broth regardless. You can skim that too if you like, but you don’t want ALL the fat (see recipe method below).
Get Cooking
After that, Chicken & Chorizo is a simple recipe. That’s my thing right now, easy delicious! Just toss in your vegetables and aromatics, sauté lightly. Then add your chicken stock and scrape all the brown bits into the broth. Then return the chicken and chorizo to the pan, bring to a rapid boil and pop that baby in the oven until done.
It serves well and it holds well too. So just in case, your family is in the middle of a big Gin Rummy tournament, once your chicken has come up to an internal temperature of 165⁰F, you can reduce your heat to 250⁰F and hold it for almost an hour with little shrinkage.
Try something new. Get your sizzle on and… eat well! Peace, love & spicy chicken.
A one pot recipe to save you time and feed your people with one easy, delicious recipe. Chicken & Chorizo takes advantage of great summer flavour, but works on your table any time of year you need an amazing meal. I hope you (and yours) LOVE it.
Ingredients
UnitsScale
1cup DRY cured chorizo, sliced medium-thin
4 – 6 chicken thighs
1 tablespoon paprika
1 medium red onion, sliced chunky
4 – 6 stalks green onion, cut in 2-inch pieces
4 – 6 cloves garlic, sliced in half lengthwise
1/2 red pepper, cut thick, julienne
1/2 green or yellow pepper, cut thick, julienne
1 tomato – rough chopped
1/2 – 1cup chicken stock (or water)
olive oil, sunflower oil (see notes)
salt & pepper – to taste
Instructions
1. Pre-heat oven to 350⁰F (165⁰C). Start by lightly frying chorizo in a large, oven safe skillet until golden in thin skim off olive oil over med-high heat. Remove from pan and reserve. 2. While chorizo cooks, season well dried chicken with salt, pepper and paprika. Once chorizo is removed add chicken, skin side down, until browned then flip. Repeat process. Reduce heat if needed. Remove chicken to rest with chorizo. 3. Remove pan from heat. Pour off excess grease. Keep all the nice brown bits in the bottom of the pan intact. Add red & green onions, and garlic, toss and cook for about 2 minutes then add your peppers and tomato. Season if needed and sautée over medium heat. Now add chicken stock and gently scrape off all the brown bits that remain on the pan with a wooden spoon to get all that floavour in the sauce. 4. Return chorizo then chicken to the pan, skin side up. When the liquid comes to a boil, place in oven, uncovered until internal temperature of thighs is 160*f (about 30 minutes). 5. Remove from oven, rest 3 – 5 minutes and serve, with rice. Sauce is a loose, tasty broth.
Notes
If you can’t find dry chorizo, try fresh. Remove from casing, crumble, fry, drain excess fat, remove and pick it up from there. Different look, slightly different texture, still, DELICIOUS!
Cooking in her home kitchen just outside Ottawa, Canada; Cori Horton is a food photographer and recipe blogger. A Cordon Bleu-trained Chef, Cori spent five years as the owner of Nova Scotia's Dragonfly Inn and has been sharing all things delicious - right here - since 2010.
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