Red Wine Braised Chicken
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
You could use breast meat for this, but I don't know why you would. Life is short. Dark meat tastes better. Live the dream.
Author:
Recipe type: Dinner
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • Three to four large chicken leq quarters (these are legs with thighs attached)
  • Leftover red wine (any amount from a cup to a bottle; it's all good as they say in these parts)
  • Two to three fresh rosemary sprigs
  • 2 big bay leaves (use 3 if they're small)
  • 32 oz. chicken broth or vegetable broth (use low sodium if you have it)
  • Water to cover
  • 1 medium can chopped red tomatoes (14 or 15 oz.)
  • 1 T fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Take the skin off of the chicken leq quarters and throw them in the pot over medium high heat. If you like, you can save the skin in your freezer for sautéing potatoes and things later on.
  2. Pour in the leftover wine--no worries if it went a little vinegary because that makes it taste even better--and add the fresh rosemary sprigs and the bay leaves.
  3. Add in the chicken broth and some water, enough to bring up the level of the pot to where the liquid covers the chicken.
  4. Add in the chopped red tomatoes along with all the juice in the can.
  5. Add the black pepper.
  6. I didn't add any salt because the broth has some, and I will reduce this in the end which will concentrate any salt I add now. So, better to leave salting for the end.
  7. Keep the heat up pretty high for a few minutes, to get things going.
  8. After a few minutes of cooking, the wine will lose a bit of color, but the smell will be AMAZING. Like pulling-the-dogs-off-the-couch-and-making-them-run-to-the-kitchen-with-noses-high-in-the-air-to-smell-what-magic-is-going-on, kind of amazing.
  9. Turn the heat down to medium or medium low, just a nice flame that keeps things bubbling away.
  10. Once the chicken is cooked through, pull it out of the pot to let it cool down for shredding. You should also pull out the rosemary and bay leaves too, and then crank the heat up. Don't dare discard any of the liquid in the pot. What you want to do is to reduce all of that yummy smelling and tasting broth into a thicker, richer sauce for the chicken. This takes about 30 minutes, and it should reduce by more than half.
  11. Once you get the liquid down to what seems to be the right level, shred and add back in the chicken. You'll want to watch for bones because the cooking process will soften them to where they can be hard to find.
  12. Serve to smiles.
Recipe by WooPigFoodie at https://www.woopigfoodie.com/red-wine-braised-chicken/