Chicken scarpariello
The Italian-American classic: crisp chicken thighs and sausage in a tangy, peppery sauce of sweet peppers and pickled pepperoncini.
- 65 min total
- 40 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $2.69 a serving
- 720 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 6 bone-in chicken thighs, skin on
- 2 Italian sausage, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- ½ cup pepperoncini, sliced, plus 3 tbsp brine from the jar
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Each serving has about 720 calories, 42 g protein, 9 g carbs and 56 g fat, and costs about $2.69 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No bone-in chicken thighs? Chicken drumsticks work.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 425°F.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
the chicken dry and both sides with the salt and pepper.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Heat the oil in a large oven-safe over medium.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heat
Lay the thighs in skin side down and cook 12 minutes without moving them, until the skin is and .
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium heatTimer: 12 min
Dolly’s tip: Medium heat lets the fat melt out slowly so the skin crisps without burning.Move them to a plate.
Add the sausage to the pan and it 4 to 5 minutes, turning, then move it to the plate.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Add the bell pepper and onion and cook 5 minutes, until . in the garlic and oregano for 1 minute.
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 6 min
Pour in the broth, vinegar, pepperoncini and brine, , and let it bubble 2 minutes.
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Nestle the chicken back in skin side up, with the skin above the liquid, and tuck the sausage around it. 20 to 25 minutes, until the thickest thigh reads 165°F.
Roast. Roasting means cooking in a hot oven, around 400°F to 450°F, usually spread out on a sheet pan. The dry heat browns the outside and brings out sweetness, especially in vegetables.
How you’ll know: The edges are browned and a little crisp, and a fork slides easily into the thickest piece.
Timer: 22 min
Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Check that the thickest piece of sausage reads 160°F, then move the chicken and sausage to a platter. Set the over medium-high and the sauce 2 to 3 minutes, then swirl in the butter.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Boil. Boiling means heating a liquid until big bubbles rise and break all over the surface. It’s the fastest way to cook pasta, potatoes and eggs, because it’s as hot as water gets.
How you’ll know: Bubbles are breaking across the whole surface, not just at the edges, and steam is rising.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: The handle is oven-hot. Grab it with a mitt every time, even minutes later.Food safety: Raw pork sausage is done at 160°F and raw chicken or turkey sausage at 165°F. Precooked sausage just needs heating until hot all the way through.
Spoon the peppers and sauce around the chicken, not over the skin, and scatter the parsley on top.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
More dinners like this
Chicken alla diavola
70 min
Chicken thighs with collard greens
65 min
Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic
75 min
Crispy salt and pepper chicken thighs
55 min
One-pan dinners ›High-protein dinners ›What to make with chicken and bell peppers ›