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Saucy white beans, crispy-skinned chicken thighs, plus fist fulls of spinach: this is a one-pot wonder that reheats beautifully so you can make dinner once, and feed on it for a few days, with only dirtying one pan. CanIGetAnAmen?!
I have only recently succumbed to the glory that is a weeknight chicken thigh. For years, I was a boneless, skinless chicken breast person, in case you can't tell by the slew of boneless, skinless chicken breast recipes all over the blog.
But I finally decided to give chicken thighs a go in my regular cooking. They are inexpensive, super juicy, and so delightfully portioned for exactly one serving per thigh.
I use fresh spinach, because I always, always have it on hand, but you could easily sub frozen spinach in this meal by cooking the frozen whole leaf spinach according to the package directions, squeezing out all the moisture from it, and then adding it in the same step I have listed below for adding the fresh spinach.
Speaking of substitutions, there are all kinds of other substitutions you could make here! Using what you have on hand or prefer to cook with is one of the joys of cooking, and something that I'm hoping a lot of people are realizing these days as it is not as easy to get exactly what you might want to grab at the store.
You can use rosemary instead of thyme. Or fresh thyme instead of dried thyme! You can use any white bean you'd like, including garbanzo beans. I do think you should stick with a canned bean though, since the sauce depends on the starchy liquid in the can to come together.
If you love chicken thighs, here are some of my other favorite chicken thigh recipes that you might also like:
Chicken Thighs with White Beans and Spinach
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 1 cup onion diced
- 2 cans cannelli beans or other white beans. Do not drain the beans!
- 10 ounces fresh spinach
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon thyme dried
- 1/2 cup dry white wine like pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc
Equipment
- Dutch Oven
Instructions
- Set a large heavy bottomed high-sided skillet or dutch oven on the stove over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add the olive oil.Season both sides of the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Carefully place each chicken thigh skin side down in the pan, making sure the sides of the chicken are not touching each other.
- Cook the chicken thighs without touching them or moving them around in the pan for 8 minutes. Flip each chicken thigh over in the pan so that the skin is now facing up, and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes, or until the chicken reaches 165 degrees F when tested with an instant read meat thermometer.Remove the chicken from the pan and set it aside.
- Add the onions to the pan and stir them around in the chicken drippings, scraping up what pieces of browned, cooked on chicken you can and mixing the onions in with it. Cook the onions for approximately 5 minutes, or until they start to soften.
- Turn the stove up to medium high heat. Add the garlic, white wine, and thyme to the onions in the pot. Simmer everything in the pan until the wine just starts to reduce, about 2 minutes.Add the beans and spinach to the pan and stir to combine. Cook over medium high heat, stirring occastionally, until the spinach is wilted.
- Return the chicken to the pan and nestle it into the beans and spinach. Cook for a minute or two to get the chicken nice and hot again, and then serve! Garnish with fresh thyme, if available.
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