One-Pan Chicken with Sherry Vinegar Sauce
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This one-pan chicken with sherry vinegar sauce emerges with beautifully golden and crisp skin, meat falling off the bone, a plentiful sauce pooling all around. The best part? There’s no need to brown the chicken. Simply make the simple sauce, add the chicken, and chuck it in the oven. About 45 minutes later, dinner will be done!
Inspired by Diana Henry’s method for Moroccan Chicken and Rice, this recipe calls for forgoing standing at the stovetop browning chicken in batches, opting to chuck everything into the oven at once.
How to Make One-Pot Chicken with Sherry Vinegar Sauce
- Sauté a shallot.
- Add diced tomatoes (fresh or canned).
- Add mustard, Sherry, vinegar, and water. Bring to a simmer.
- Add chicken, transfer to the oven, and cook for about 45 minutes.
- Serve with lots of crusty bread to sop up the delicious sauce.
5 Favorite No-Browning Chicken Recipes
- One-Pan Chicken and Shallots
- Moroccan Chicken and Rice
- Chicken legs with white wine, parmigiano, and olive oil
- One-Pot Thai Chicken Curry with Spinach
- Spatchcocked Chicken with Za’atar and Lemon
One-Pan Chicken with Sherry Vinegar Sauce
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6
Description
Adapted from a favorite Sally Schneider recipe, this one-pan chicken with sherry vinegar sauce comes together in a snap. It’s weeknight friendly but dinner party worthy.
As always, for the best chicken, no matter which recipe you are making: salt ahead. If you remember to salt a day in advance, that’s ideal, but salting the morning you plan to cook the chicken is great, too. A good rule of thumb: 1 teaspoon kosher salt per pound of chicken. I do this in a 4-qt Pyrex bowl that has a lid, but you certainly could use a Ziplock bag.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 to 2 shallots, thinly sliced to yield a heaping 1/4 cup
- Kosher salt and pepper to taste
- 6 to 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 1 cup drained and coarsely chopped peeled plum tomatoes (I like Pomi Chopped Tomatoes) or 2 to 3 Roma tomatoes, diced to yield 1 cup
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2/3 cup Sherry, such as Harvey’s Bristol Cream, or white wine
- 1/3 cup sherry vinegar or other
- 2 cups water
- Bread for serving
Instructions
Directions
- Heat the oven to 400°F. In a large skillet over high heat, heat the oil until it shimmers. Add the shallots and immediately reduce the heat to medium. Add a pinch of salt, and sauté until the shallots are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place the chicken in a large bowl. Pat dry. Season all over with salt and pepper. (Note: If you’ve salted ahead (see notes above), do not add more salt; just add pepper to taste.)
- Add the tomatoes to the pan and cook for 1 minute. Add the mustard and cook for 30 seconds, stirring to incorporate it. Add the sherry, sherry vinegar, and water and bring to a simmer. Transfer the chicken pieces to the pan skin side up. Transfer pan to the oven and roast for 40 to 50 minutes or until the skin is evenly golden brown.
- Remove pan from the oven, and transfer chicken to a plate to rest. Pour juices from the pan into a large bowl or large liquid measure. Let liquids sit for a minute or two until the fat rises to the surface. Use a spoon or ladle to remove fat. Taste juices. Adjust with salt or pepper. Return juices and chicken to the pan. Bring to a gentle simmer. Serve chicken with plenty of juices pooling all around—I like using shallow bowls for this one. Serve with crusty bread, if you wish.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American, French
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
32 Comments on “One-Pan Chicken with Sherry Vinegar Sauce”
this is absolutely beautiful, love flavors too, Sherry seems very rarely used and am glad to see it here, thank you for sharing this recipe!
thank you Sabrina 🙂 🙂 🙂
Made this for dinner tonight. So easy is right, and so tasty!! Served with a big green salad and your kalamata olive bread. So good!
Hey Ali! I love this recipe and so does my family! Love seeing all of your work!
This was so delicious Alex! Wouldn’t change a thing. Served it with the whole roasted cauliflower, your kale salad with the shallot vinaigrette (can’t get enough of that dressing!) and some bread. Will be making it again!
Yay! So happy to hear this, Alexina!! xo
Do you think this would work with bone-in breasts and thighs too?
Sorry I meant drumsticks instead of thighs….
Definitely re drumsticks! Regarding bone-in breasts, I would just keep an eye on them… you may need to remove them before the dark meat is done; then add them back in at the very end to re-warm.
Made this tonight, with split breasts, so so good! Green salad and peasant bread! Thank you! I love everything you do! 😍
Oh yay! So happy to hear this, Shelby! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thank you for the kind words.
What an easy and delicious chicken dish! I made it with a spatchcocked chicken and chicken stock (instead of water). We soaked up the yummy sauce with your peasant bread (toasted with olive oil and garlic). Ali, your recipes are always a hit!
So nice to hear this, Pam! I love this one, too 🙂 The sauce demands lots of bread!! Toasted with olive oil and garlic is even better. Thanks for writing!
Hi Ali, many of your recipes use chicken thighs, which I’m not a fan of, though I do understand why many people prefer them. Is it possible to substitute breasts in this and other recipes (like the one pot Thai)?
Thanks!
Hi Leigh! So sorry for the delay here. Yes, absolutely, use breasts here. I would use bone-in, skin-on for flavor purposes and to prevent them from drying out. Hope you are well!!
Hi Alexandra
Very excited to have discovered your website and loving your whole approach to healthy but tasty food! Could you please give some more details on the chicken salting process you recommend?
Cheers
Lia
Hi Lia! Thanks so much … means a lot 🙂 I write in more detail about the chicken salting process in this post: https://alexandracooks.com/2019/01/25/how-to-roast-a-chicken-and-make-the-most-of-it/
I learned it from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook.
This sounds delicious 😍 I’m limited on pans right now… do you think this would work in a double Dutch oven?
Yes, I do! How tall are the sides of the Dutch oven? Something with shorter sides is optimal to encourage browning.
LOVE all your recipes, bought your book but keep coming back to your blog.
I would like to make this with the oven baked polenta for friends this weekend. Should I cook the chicken dish first or bake the polenta and then the chicken? I’ve no doubt it will be another 5 star recipe so that’s what I’m going to rate it right now.
Thanks so much!
Awww thank you, Sharon 🙂 🙂 🙂 I would bake the chicken first and let it just hang out on your stovetop. Then make the polenta. You can reheat the chicken for 10 minutes or during the last 10 minutes of the polenta’s cooking time or even after the polenta comes out of the oven. Polenta is trickier to re-heat after it cools down than chicken — it thickens and congeals, and while it is still delicious in this state, it loses its creaminess.
Thank you thank you for your kind words 💕💕💕💕💕
I’m back! Took your advice on cooking chicken first then the polenta. I knew straight off the bat reading the ingredients is would be a winner and it certainly was! And YES and YES again to everyone that keeps questioning the sherry both here and on FOOD52 – you absolutely need the richness and sweetness of the sherry to balance out the vinegar and mustard. The oven baked polenta was a revelation – perfect texture and creaminess. I read some posts about too much liquid, not sure why this has happened. I do have a good shallow braising dish which I think is important. I let the mixture simmer hard for at least 7 min before putting the chicken in and into the over. My oven had been preheating for a good amount of time. The sauce reduced considerably and the tops of thighs were golden brown crispy. Pre-salting the chicken is an absolute must and thank you so much for teaching me the importance of this Ali! The whole meal was delicious and honestly one of the easiest meals I’ve had the pleasure of cooking in a while! My friends raved. I’m making the same meal this Wednesday for another couple.
Sharon, yay 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 So nice to read all of this. Thanks so much for taking the time to report back. I’m so glad the timing worked out regarding chicken first; then polenta, and I’m just so happy everything turned out well. I find polenta + anything to be such comfort food this time of year. Happy Happy Cooking!
I absolutely loved the video that came with this dish. I love your cooking also.
So nice to hear this, Susan 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thank you so much.
Other than sherry vinegar, what vinegar would you recommend? THANK YOU!
Hi! I think any vinegar would be great actually: red wine, white wine, white balsamic, apple cider… have any of those on hand?
Before I saw your response I found some sherry vinegar in the back of my cupboard. The results were delicious, though slightly tart. I’ll try a sweeter white balsamic next time. Thank you so much! I’m really enjoying your creations.
Great to hear, Mavis! Thanks for sharing your notes 🙂
Hi Alexandra! I love your recipes, they are all really perfect and delicious. Thank you so much for sharing them and making it so easy to prepare wonderful dishes.
Cook mode button is super handy!
The one-pan-chicken came out so good and golden without browning the meat.
I used Japanese Mirin because there was no sherry and that worked really well. We loved the dish.
Will definitely try the other one-pan-chicken recipes!
(Your simple sourdough pizza is an absolute winner here btw.)
So nice to read all of this, Gabriela 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thanks so much for writing.
Thank you for your 🧡 reply, Alexandra.