Balsamic Bone in Chicken is tender, juicy, and has a nice crisp skin to sink your teeth into!

It can teeter on the side of absurd at times, the fanciful practices and indulgences humans choose to partake in. Edible gold leaf, truffled everything, gastriques, and smoke infused humdingers. Those examples are limited to just the culinary world, but if you branch out into fashion or music, there can be more glitter and feathers, flounces, or coloratura cadenzas that peacock about to thrill the ordinary of our existence. While I can absolutely appreciate and venture into those glitzy territories on occasion, sometimes all I long for are the simple classics that are stupendous and executed perfectly. That little black dress, expertly cut and sleek, the graceful ascending line in Mozart’s “Porgi, Amor”, or a perfectly prepared piece of chicken can thrill me just as much as the opulence of a Cirque du Soleil extravaganza.

Use a skillet that has high sides, something that is completely oven safe. The onions cook down under the chicken and are SO tasty!

As far as poultry goes, chicken seems to be the blank canvas that can inspire dishes from the most indulgent fried offerings, like the crazy Sage Chicken and Waffles meal in Vegas, to a tenderly crafted, elegant roast half chicken. While those dishes vastly differ in preparation and final product, figuring out then perfecting the cooking technique is what can make those dishes go from good to phenomenal. Oven baking chicken breast with the bone in can sometimes result in tough, overcooked meat in attempts to crisp up the skin. This often occurs if the chicken is not treated properly beforehand. Sometimes this means brining, sometimes it means tenderizing the meat manually or with an acid. However, the art of perfectly cooked chicken skin can sometimes get lost when ensuring the chicken is cooked through.

One of the tricks I picked up from my restaurant days is to sear the chicken, skin side down, before flipping it and baking the whole dish in the oven. This is a basic technique that many home cooks may not know, but let me tell you, the difference that this little technique does to the chicken is incredible. When you sear the skin in a hot pan, you begin to render out the high amount of fat in the skin and brown it beautifully. I put the seared chicken into the oven at a fairly high temperature, 400 F, and the surrounding heat helps sear in the juices while the meat cooks and crisp up the skin at the same time. Lastly, and this is SO important for chicken, is hat once you pul it from the oven, you still have to rest the meat at least 5 minutes before trying to cut into it. This allows the juices to redistribute throughout, as the chicken has “tensed” up in the heat and the resting times allows it to relax

Pan searing the chicken, then baking in the oven results in crisp skin, tender chicken, and perfectly caramelized onions. I served this with Roasted Balsamic Sweet Potatoes and Onions and a Mixed Green Salad.

One of my personal basic recipes I go back to for chicken, time and time again, is a Balsamic Vinegar Marinade. Typically the marinade is more of a ratio of vinegar to oil and whatever spices I have on hand, but I recorded this one down as this tends to be the base point for any additional herbs or spices I wish to add if I am feeling fancy. The Balsamic Vinegar is tangy, sweet, and acidic, but garlic and the two different mustards used round out the depth of flavor and add a different kind of pungent aromas and flavors to enhance the Balsamic. A healthy dose of salt will help bring out the flavors of each of the spices and the chicken, but it also helps act as a brining agent with the vinegar to create a tender bite. The thinly sliced onions used caramelize in the oven, with help from the sugars int he Balsamic, and add a beautiful earthiness to each bite when the pan juices, onions, and chicken are enjoyed together.

This basic marinade can be used on any type of chicken, and I have used it on chicken tenderloins, chicken thighs, and boneless skinless chicken breasts. This method of searing the chicken skin then baking it is my favorite incarnation of the juicy bird, and pairs well with any type of starch and vegetable for a nice, simple dinner.

Sometimes simple, classic techniques will make your tried and true standby recipes restaurant quality..

Balsamic Bone in Chicken

Author: iris Anna Gohn

Servings: 4 enormous servings

This method of pan searing chicken with the skin on, then finishing it off in the oven is an old restaurant trick I picked up years and years ago. Searing the skin renders the fat down and helps create a nic, crisp skin, and the roasting of the meat ensures a juicy, tender chicken breast.

The bone in, skin on chicken breasts I ended up with were enormous. My husband said the package was 4-5 lbs, which means each chicken breast was roughly 1 lb with the bone and the skin. The chicken should be marinated 24 hours to thoroughly infuse all of the chicken meat, and the acid in the vinegar will help tenderize the meat as well. If you happen to use smaller chicken breasts, such a long marinade time will not be necessary.

I served this with some roasted Balsamic Sweet Potatoes and Onions and a tossed salad. This chicken would also pair well with mashed potatoes, noodles, rice, whichever starch you prefer. The chicken is very juicy so it reheats well, and is great on sandwiches or salads to use up the leftovers (if you have any).

Ingredients

4 large bone in, skin on, Chicken Breasts
1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 1/2 Tbsp minced Garlic
1 rounded Tsp Dijon or Spicy Brown Mustard
1 rounded Tsp Whole Grain Mustard
1 Tbsp Dried Oregano
1/2 Tsp Ground Thyme
3/4 to 1 Tsp Sea Salt
1/4 Tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 Onion, thinly sliced
Chopped Fresh Parsley, for garnish

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together the Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil, 2 Mustards, Oregano, Thyme, Garlic, salt and Pepper. Taste, then adjust salt and pepper if needed. Set aside.
Slice the onion thinly. I cut my onion in half, then slice vertically rather than horizontally across the grain of the onion. I find slicing the onion this way keeps the onion from breaking down too much when cooking - think the thinly sliced onions in French onion Soup. Set aside.
Trim the excess skin and gristle off the chicken breasts.
In a heavy duty Ziploc bag, pour half the marinade and half the sliced onions and two of the chicken breasts. Then layer the rest of the marinade, onions, and chicken in the bag. Thoroughly close the bag, then massage the chicken and onions and marinade to ensure everything is incorporated and covered in the marinade.
Store in the fridge and allow to marinate a minimum of 8 hours, overnight is best.

To bake:

Preheat oven to 400 F.
Preheat a large, oven safe skillet that has high sides over high heat.
Once the pan is preheated, carefully nestle each chicken breast in the pan, skin side down. Drop the heat to medium high and sear the chicken for 7-8 minutes. The skin should turn nice and brown. Searing the chicken skin on med high heat will help render out some of the fat and help create crisp skin for the end result.
Once the skin is browned, flip the chicken and add the remaining marinade and onions from the bag into the skillet. Make sure the onions are evenly distributed around the chicken.
Sear for 4-5 minutes, then transfer the skillet into the oven.
Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the juices run clear and the internal temperature of the thickest part of the meat is 165 F. The time will vary depending on how thick the chicken was to begin with.
Serve the chicken topped with the cooked down onions, some pan juices, and chopped Parsley.