When we lived in New York, I made this recipe dozens of times. It’s full of flavor, light in calories (if you don’t add the honey), has delicious crispy bits without frying and very easy to throw together. Yesterday, I realized I hadn’t made it since moving to Colorado, so I remedied that today!
When I first tried this recipe from a friend, it was very simple with four ingredients – I’ve added a few touches to make it even more delicious. Now that I have reminded myself of how great this dish is – it’s going back in the rotation. Note: Do not try this with chicken breasts – it will be far too dry. I hope you try it and enjoy it.
Spicy and Sweet Vinegar Chicken
Ingredients
- 6 to 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
- 1/3 cup of red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup of white wine vinegar
- 3/4 cup of water
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Crushed red pepper
- Salt
- Pepper
- Honey
- Olive Oil
- Make a spice mix using 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Sprinkle the spice mix on the front and back of each thigh. Depending on how big your chicken thighs are you made need to double your spice mix.
- You will need a good quality non-stick frying pan. I use about one tablespoon of olive oil to start browning the chicken thighs for just a minute or two. Next mix the vinegars,water and about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Pour this liquid into the pan and bring to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, reduce to simmer, cover and let simmer for 22 minutes to 30 minutes (depending on size of chicken thighs).
- Remove the lid - there should be lots of liquid in the pan. I take a spoon and remove about half the liquid and set aside - should be about 1/2 cup or more. Turn the heat up a bit and let the liquid reduce down to nothing - as this happens little brown crispy bits start to form on the bottom of the pan - after about ten minutes - flip the thighs over so the other side can brown up. If the pan is too dry - add a tablespoon or so of the reserved liquid back in. After another five minutes - remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. There should be all kinds of brown crispy bits in the pan.
- Add the reserved vinegar, water mixture and bring to a boil carefully scraping up the brown bits into the liquid. At this point, I add about two tablespoons of honey (or spicy honey) and this liquid reduces and becomes a glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the chicken and enjoy.
Instructions
http://thecookbookjunkies.com/spicy-and-sweet-vinegar-chicken/©2015 The Cookbook Junkies - All Rights Reserved
hmmm….a definite must try…I’ve printed it out. I’m just wondering about adding a bit of fresh ginger, and maybe a tad of soy and eliminating the salt….what do you think?
And, I agree…I would only make this recipe with thighs….for sure!
Thanks for sharing!
Cynthia – yes I think that would be great – the vinegar – really makes the chicken incredible.I’ve played around with variations – and it’s hard to ruin this recipe.
This looks great! I clipped it to my Evernote to make soon. Thanks for the recipe!
I made this recipe a couple of nights ago. The family loved it! We eat a lot of chicken and it does get boring. I was informed this was one of the best in ages 🙂 I resisted the urge to add this and that….the only change I made was instead of chili flakes I added a splash of hot sauce to the glaze along with the honey at the end. And I used bone in thighs as this is what I keep on hand. This is one of those simple recipes that is greater than the sum of it parts.
Looks great