Chicken Marbella from The Silver Palate

Chicken Marbella is a legendary recipe from The Silver Palate Cookbook and arguably one of the best chicken recipes in the world. Chicken is marinated overnight with prunes, olives, capers, oil, vinegar and loads of oregano and garlic. Just before cooking, white wine and brown sugar are added.

This is an easy chicken dish to cook for a crowd and the flavors are spectacular.

The Story Behind Chicken Marbella

Chicken Marbella is a baked chicken dish with prunes, olives and capers, that comes from The Silver Palate Cookbook by Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso. The cookbook, first published in 1982, is one of the best selling cookbooks of all time and Chicken Marbella is its most famous recipe - a dinner party classic that has endured the test of time.

People love Chicken Marbella because it's extremely easy to prepare, all the prep work done a day ahead, and because the flavors are unique and extraordinary. Though the ingredients may seem unusual - vinegar, olives, capers, prunes, loads of garlic and oregano - it turns that this brilliant combination of sweet, sour, briny, and umami flavors utterly delights diners, time after time.

Famous Chefs Take On Chicken Marbella

Over the years, Chicken Marbella has inspired countless chefs and home cooks to put their own spin on this classic dish. Let's take a look at some of the most notable adaptations:

Ina Garten's version of Chicken Marbella, ups the amount of olives, garlic and prunes and swaps light brown sugar for dark, and she cuts the chickens into eight pieces instead of four.

Yotam Ottolenghi uses a more Middle Eastern flavor profile for his Chicken Marbella recipe. He subs dates for prunes, fresh oregano for dried, date molasses in place of brown sugar and chicken legs instead of chicken quarters.

NYTCooking's version of Silver Palate Chicken Marbella is only available to subscribers, but there's only 1 essential change from the original recipe. The NYT recipe calls for 2 large chickens (3 ½ - 4 pounds each) whereas the original Silver Palate recipe calls for 4 smaller chickens (2 ½ pounds each). Turns out chickens have gotten larger over the past 40 plus years!

NYT Cooking also has a Weeknight Chicken Marbella Recipe that requires no marinating and is ready in an hour! The gist is this: brown bone-in chicken thighs in a skillet, add the marinade ingredients, sprinkle with brown sugar, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or so until done.

Now for Panning The Globe's version!

My Chicken Marbella recipe uses boneless skinless chicken thighs and there's a very good reason for it!

I've been making Chicken Marbella for decades, as did my mother and my mother-in-law before me. I love this dish as much now as I did the first time I tasted it back in the late 1970's at The Silver Palate Gourmet Shop in NYC which was a few blocks away from my apartment.

Over the years I've tweaked the recipe to perfection. I use more prunes because they are so insanely delicious in this dish. I reduced the amount of brown sugar from 1 cup to ¾ cup because, for my taste, it's the perfect sugar to vinegar ratio for a vibrant sweet and sour sauce. But the biggest change I made in this recipe is to use boneless skinless chicken thighs for the following reason.

I wanted to make Chicken Marbella as the main dish for my annual new year's eve party which is a gathering of about 100 people. If I were to follow the original Chicken Marbella recipe, which calls for 4 whole chickens to feed 10 people, I would have needed 40 chickens - not happening! The solution - boneless chicken thighs!

Why I love this Chicken Marbella Recipe

This version of Chicken Marbella is everything you love about this iconic dish only it's made with boneless skinless chicken thighs. Here's why that's a plus:

• Great for a Crowd - Boneless chicken thighs take up much less room in the marinating bowl, in the oven and on the serving platter than bone-in chicken parts so you can easily make this dish for a big party!
• Elegant - Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are elegant on a platter and your guests can take one or two on their plate with plenty of room for other sides. Plus, when they're done, there are no messy bones or skin to push to the side of their plate when they go back for seconds - which I bet they will!
• Juicy and flavorful every time - In my mind there's never a debate what part of the chicken to use for a recipe - it's always thighs! While chicken breasts can easily become over-cooked and dry, thighs are difficult to overcook and they're always juicy and full of flavor.

If you still, even after my big sales pitch, prefer to make this dish with bone-in, skin-on chicken parts, you'll find instructions for that in the recipe card notes below. Or, if you want to use the original Silver Palate Chicken Marbella recipe, you can find that here.

Ingredients

Here's what you need to make Chicken Marbella:

• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• Pitted prunes
• Pitted Spanish green olives
• Capers and caper juice - from a 2-ounce jar of small non-pereille capers
• Dried bay leaves
• 1 whole head of garlic - peeled and puréed so you may want to have a garlic press on hand.
• Dried oregano - lots!
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Boneless skinless chicken thighs
• Dry white wine (Vermouth works well, too)
• Dark brown sugar
• Flat-leaf parsley or cilantro  - to garnish

A Walk-through of this recipe with photos

Here's how to make Chicken Marbella:

Combine the chicken with all of the marinade ingredients in a large mixing bowl: olive oil, vinegar, prunes, olives, capers, bay leaves, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper.

Toss everything well, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight.

Before baking, arrange the chicken and all the marinade ingredients in two large shallow baking pans. Divide the white wine between the two pans and pan and sprinkle all the chicken pieces evenly with the brown sugar.

Bake the chicken for 45-50 minutes, until it's cooked through, basting once or twice with the pan juices. 

To serve, arrange the chicken on a serving platter and spoon the prunes, olives, capers and some of the juices evenly around. Garnish with chopped parsley or cilantro. Serve the extra sauce on the side. 

What to serve with Chicken Marbella

You'll definitely want some sort of starch - potatoes or rice - to soak up all the delicious sauce, plus something green. Here are my favorite go-to sides with Chicken Marbella:

• Latkes. For Hanukkah dinner we always serve Chicken Marbella with potato latkes
• Potatoes: Mashed Potatoes, Smashed Potatoes or roasted potatoes
• Rice: Plain white rice is a perfect accompaniment
• Salad: This green salad or this tricolore salad
• A Green Vegetable: Steamed or roasted broccoli, asparagus or green beans, tossed with a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

I had some hesitation about posting a Chicken Marbella recipe on Panning The Globe, thinking you all probably have the recipe by now. But with my deep and long-lasting love for this dish, I couldn't resist sharing it here. Whether you're a seasoned home cook or a novice in the kitchen, I hope I've inspired you to revisit this very special dish or to try it for the first time.

If you do, please come back and leave a star rating and a comment. I'd love to know what you think!

Recipe

Chicken Marbella from The Silver Palate

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5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 16 reviews

• Author: Lisa Goldfinger
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Yield: 8-10 servings

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Description

Chicken Marbella from the legendary Silver Palate Cookbook, is arguably one of the world's best chicken dishes. This version, made with boneless chicken thighs, is the perfect dinner party dish. It's very easy to prepare for a big group, all the prep work is done a day ahead, and the flavors are fantastically delicious. I've also included directions for making this with bone-in chicken parts and a link to the original Silver Palate Chicken Marbella Recipe. 

Adapted from a recipe in The Silver Palate Cookbook  By Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• ½ cup olive oil
• ½ cup red wine vinegar
• 1 ½ cups pitted prunes
• ¾ cup pitted Spanish green olives
• ½ cup capers (a 2-ounce jar), with 1 teaspoon of the juice
• 6 bay leaves
• 1 head of garlic, peeled and puréed (I use this garlic press)
• ¼ cup dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 4 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs (18 or so pieces)
• 1 cup dry white wine (Vermouth works well)
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley or cilantro

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Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl or plastic container, combine the oil, vinegar, prunes, olives, capers, caper juice, bay leaves, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Cover and marinate in the fridge overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Arrange the chicken in a single layer in two large shallow baking dishes and spoon all the marinade ingredients on and around the chicken. Pour half the wine into each baking pan, and then sprinkle the all chicken pieces evenly with the brown sugar.
3. Bake the chicken for 45-50 minutes, or until it's cooked through, basting with the pan juices after 20 minutes.
4. To serve, transfer the chicken pieces to a serving platter and spoon the prunes, olives, capers and some of the sauce on and around the chicken pieces. Sprinkle with parsley or cilantro. Serve remaining sauce on the side. 

Notes

1. To make this with bone-in, skin-on chicken: Use 8-10 pounds of bone-in chicken parts: thighs, drumsticks, breasts or any combination. Follow the recipe exactly as written only increase the cooking time to between 50 minute and an hour, checking for doneness after 50 minutes, and basting 3 or 4 times while the chicken cooks, to keep it moist.
2. Storage: Chicken Marbella can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days in an air-tight container. Reheat it in a 350ºF oven, in a casserole dish covered tightly with foil, for 25 minutes or until heated through.
3. Nutrition Disclaimer: We do our best to provide accurate nutrition values using an online nutrition calculator however our nutrition information should only be used as an approximation.

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 50 minutes
• Category: Dinner
• Method: Bake
• Cuisine: American