How to Braise Chicken (and artichokes!)

Sweet jubilant jumping Josephina, we’re going to braaaaaise the leg o’ chicken…braise the hen roof…house. Braise some thighs like Flo Rida. Ohhhh tooo much. Here we are, braising and carrying on, maybe we should put a meaning to “braising”. Because right here, right now, we learn how to braise chicken (and artichokes).

According to the intergalacticwebofknowngness, formerly known as the internet, the term, “braising” means to cook with dry heat and wet heat. BAM, that’s your lesson for the day!  Pack it up, let’s go home.

Buuuut wait. Braising translates to moist, tender, very flavorful meat. It can also be one of those thangs where you’re like, “well, I like to eat braise, but I don’t really like to do braise, if you catch my drift.” I hear ya, smalls, I hear ya. Braising can be a straight up beeeeehive. OH I wish I had it in me to be profane on the intergalacticweb…..

The thing of it is (I had a finance professor from Texas who aaalways said, “the thing of it is…” in her sweet, sweet southern drawl…if only she could see me now, un-financing some serious braising equation all up in the bakery oven. Oh gawl.

Hopefully what we can to here is convince you that braising isn’t as ga’awful as it seems. It’s pretty simple as long as you’re coo with having oil all spattered all up on your range. That’s what sponges and boyfriends are for.

We sear, we steam, meat falls of bones, things are tender, we eat, we melt, mmmaaaaah let’s braise!

And so it goes. First I show you raw chicken…mmmm….

You sear your chicken pieces until crispy on the skin side for about 8 minutes then give them a quick flip. We don’t cook the chicken all the way through just yet.

You set them on a plate.

Then you bring the artichokes in on the fun..

Sear them about 8 minutes until they have some color too.

We do some sautéing and some liquid pouring…a little chicken broth, a little wine…some wine in our glass for good measure. Then we steam the artichokes.

We then play musical chairs. Add chicken and wiggle them to the bottom of the Dutch Oven…

Artichokes go on top….

Stick er’ in the oven and wait about 20 to 25 minutes. We spoon the delicious sauce into our mouths over the chicken and artichokes and braise the art of braising.

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How to Braise Chicken (and artichokes!)

Yield: 6 Servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Braised chicken is incredibly tender and juicy for a marvelous, nutritious meal!

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Ingredients

• ¼ cup grapeseed oil, seperated, or heat-resistent oil
• 1 whole chicken, butchered into pieces (or 5 lbs bone-in chicken pieces)
• Salt and pepper
• 2 in artichokes, trimmed and cut half lengthwise
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 10 leaves fresh sage, chopped
• 1 tablespoon stone ground mustard
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup dry white wine, I used Semillon
• Salt to taste
• Lemon zest to garnish

Instructions

1. Pour enough oil (about 2 tablespoons) in a cast iron skillet to completely coat it. Heat the oil over medium high heat.
2. Once the skillet is completely hot, place the chicken pieces on it, skin down.
3. Cook until a nice brown crust forms, about 8 minutes. Turn to the other side and cook another minute.
4. Remove pieces from the skillet and place on a plate. Note: if you are using a whole chicken, you’ll likely need to do this in two batches. Set plate aside.
5. Trim the thorny ends off of the artichoke leaves with scissors. Cut them in half length-wise and place them cut-side down on the same cast iron skillet over the same heat.
6. Allow artichokes to cook about 6 to 8 minutes until they, too have a nice browned sear to them. Drizzle lemon juice over the artichokes to stop their browning and plate them on a plate and set aside.
7. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
8. In a large Dutch oven (or oven-safe pot), heat 2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté until the onion is translucent.
9. Pour the chicken stock into the dutch oven with the onion and add the chopped sage leaves, garlic powder and mustard.
10. Bring this mixture to a full boil and then place artichokes in the pot, cut-side down to steam for 10 minutes, covered.
11. Uncover the pot and add the white wine.
12. Make room for the chicken so that all chicken pieces end up at the bottom of the pot, skin-side up.
13. Cover the Dutch oven and place it in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until chicken breasts are 160 degrees and chicken thighs are 180 degrees (use a meat thermometer to test temperature).
14. Serve with braised artichokes and dig in!

Notes

*If you prefer not to butcher a chicken yourself, use 6 to 8 pieces of skin-on bone-in chicken pieces such as thighs, breasts, and legs. I suppooooose you could use boneless skinless chicken breasts, but the outcome will be far inferior to bone-in skin-on chicken.

Nutrition Information

Serving Size 1 grams
Amount Per Serving Unsaturated Fat 0g