Braised Chicken Recipe

This Braised Chicken Recipe is a simple but very flavorful dish made up of a whole chicken cut up to pieces, marinated in garlic, calamansi juice, ketchup, pepper, brown sugar, and soy sauce. For an hour or more, simmered with some butter. Cooked till the sauces have thickened. A delicious recipe that just needs 8 easy to find ingredients and 3 steps to make.

Braised Chicken Recipe :

Ingredients

• 1 kilo chicken, cut to pieces
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 tablespoons calamansi juice
• ⅓ cup ketchup
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• ⅓ cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Steps:

1. Prepare the chicken, place these in a shallow pan and mix in garlic, calamansi juice, ketchup, pepper, brown sugar, and soy sauce. Marinade for at least an hour.
2. Prepare a pan and add in the chicken. Add in the butter and cover for 20 – 25 minutes at high heat.  Stir occasionally.
3. After 20 minutes, give it a good mix before turning the heat from high to medium. Cover and let this cook till the sauce thickens to the point that the oil starts to separate.
4. Serve with some rice.

How to cook this simple Braised Chicken Recipe?

To start, chop up the whole chicken to make it easier for the meat to absorb the marinade as well as lessen the cooking time compared to braising whole chicken. Place these in a shallow bowl or pan and mix with garlic to help remove any of the foul smells the meat might have, add in calamansi juice for acidity which also lets the marinate penetrate better later on, ketchup for color and savory taste, pepper, brown sugar for caramelization, and soy sauce for an umami flavor. Mix everything together and marinade for an hour or more. After, prepare a pan and place the chicken in, add in the butter chopped and spread around the pan, this helps richen the flavors as well as keep the meats from drying. Cover and cook for 20 – 25 minutes, giving it a good stir often. When the chicken has cooked, turn the heat from high to medium, cover and simmer just till the sauces thicken and really cling onto the chicken, or see oils separating from the sauce. Serve fresh out of the pan with a lot of freshly cooked rice on the side.

A simple but flavor-packed succulent chicken recipe that’s versatile and easy to make. Add this to your arsenal of weekday meal plans.

Questions :

• Is braised chicken healthy ?

Yes this recipe is. Though you can omit/remove sugar, use tomatoes instead of ketchup, or use olive oil rather than butter. You can also just use chicken breasts instead of the whole cut up chicken as these are the healthiest cut of the poultry.

• Which part of the chicken to use ?

While this is a “Braised Whole Chicken” recipe, or specifically a “Braised Whole cut-up Chicken recipe, you can also choose to only use a specific part of the chicken. For example:

• How to braise chicken wings? For the wings it might need a bit more time, around 30 – 35 minutes as these are surrounded by the bones. These are also great for taking in the marinade’s flavor.
• For braised chicken thighs these are the most flavorful part of the chicken due to its fats. This takes only a few minutes to cook especially if you’re making braised boneless chicken thighs, taking in 15 – 20 minutes or less.
• The ‘healthiest cut’ is the chicken breast. Braised Chicken Breast are great for those who want less fat but still want a good amount of protein. These being less in fats should be cooked just till it’s ready (round 20 – 25 minutes), not too long as these can get dry easily. Check the meat every 7 – 10 minutes just to make sure it’s done cooking.
• Braised chicken feet, which might not be the first thing to think of when making this dish, is also a great way to add collagen into your diet. Though because these are made up of a lot of ‘small’ and ‘soft’ bones it might take almost an hour of simmering, adding in more water as needed to keep the feet from burning in the pan.

• Different Cooking methods
  • Oven Braised Chicken Breast – for this, place the marinated chicken in a shallow oven safe pan and cook this in a 170°C or 338°F preheated oven, covered with foil on top, cook for 20 – 30 minutes mixing these every 10 minutes. Then take the ‘lid’ or foil off once cooked so that the chicken can char.
  • Braised chicken thighs dutch oven –  preheat the oven to 218°C or 425°F and add in the marinated chicken, cover and ‘bake’ these for 30 – 40 minutes, mixing in the middle to check if the chicken is cooked.
  • Braised Chicken Thighs Slow Cooker – use chicken thighs as these are juicier and great for longer periods of simmering. Add the marinated chicken in the slow cooker, cook at high for 2 – 3 hours or 4 – 7 hours at low.

• Additional Ingredients
  • You can add almost any root vegetable to the dish as it helps absorb most of the sauces better like carrots and potatoes.
  • For a simpler addition, add canned or fresh mushrooms to make braised chicken thighs with mushrooms.
  • Some add half to a full can of beer into the marinade for a beer marinated chicken recipe. This helps keep the chicken juicy and tender, especially when cooking the breasts since these are one of the driest parts of the chicken. thus creating a yummy “Beer Braised Chicken Breast” dish.
  • Korean Braised Chicken resembles a braised spicy chicken dish as gochujang, or hot chili peppers may be added into the marinade or when the chicken is simmered.
  • Chinese braised Chicken, are soy based made with the addition of scallions, ginger, sesame oils, with spices like bay leaves and star anise.

• How to serve this easy braised chicken dish ?

You can serve these as is, with rice, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, or salad on the side. You can also shred the chicken (especially boneless breasts braised in beer) to make “Beer Braised Chicken Tacos”. If you do use boneless chicken filets you can also add them into sandwiches.

Other Yummy Chicken Recipes!

• Creamy Tuscan Chicken
• Soy Garlic Chicken Wings or Soy Fried Chicken
• Salted Egg Chicken Wings 
• Sprite Chicken Wings
• Chicken BBQ sa Kawali (barbeque chicken using a pan)
• Chicken Biryani
• Crispy Chicken Nuggets with Spicy Dip

Braised Chicken Resipi: (Tagalog version)

Mga Sangkap :

• 1 kilo manok, hiniwa ng pipiraso
• 6 butil ng bawang, tinadtad
• 3 kutsarang calamansi juice
• ⅓ tasa ketchup
• 1 kutsaritang paminta
• 2 kutsarang kayumangging asukal
• ⅓ tasa soy sauce
• 3 kustarang mantikilya (unsalted)

Paano Lutuin :

1. Ihanda ang mga manok; sa mababaw na plato ihalo ang manok, bawang, calamansi juice, ketchup, paminta, asukal, at soy sauce. Imarinade ng 1 oras o higit pa.
2. Ilagay ang mga manok sa kawali at samahan ng mantikilya. Takpan ng 20 – 25 minuto at lutuin sa mataas na init. Haluin paminsan minsan.
3. Pagkatapos ng 20 minuto, haluin ito at ibaba ang init. Takpan at lutuin ang sarsa hanggang kumapal ito o hanggang nagsisimulang maghiwalay ang langis.
4. Ihanda kasama ng kanin.