Description
So this is basically my go-to “impress everyone but don’t kill yourself in the kitchen” dinner. It’s tender chicken thighs smothered in a ridiculous mushroom cream sauce that’s got just enough wine and herbs to make it fancy, all served over fluffy rice that soaks up every last drop of that sauce. It’s the kind of comfort food that makes people think you actually know what you’re doing in the kitchen, when really it’s pretty hard to mess up. I came up with it one night when I had chicken thighs and no plan, and now my family requests it at least twice a month!
Ingredients
Scale
For the Chicken:
- 6–8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (trust me on the skin-on part – it’s where all the flavor lives)
- Salt and pepper (be generous here, people)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (or butter, or a mix of both if you’re feeling fancy)
- 1 teaspoon paprika (smoked if you have it, regular if you don’t)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (because sometimes I’m too lazy to chop garlic)
For the Magical Sauce:
- 1 medium onion, diced (yellow, white, whatever you’ve got)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced (or more, I won’t tell)
- 8 oz mushrooms, sliced (cremini are best, but button mushrooms work too)
- 2 tablespoons butter (the real stuff, not that fake margarine nonsense)
- 2 tablespoons flour (all-purpose is fine)
- 1/2 cup white wine (something you’d actually drink – cooking with nasty wine = nasty sauce)
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth (low sodium so you control the salt)
- 1 cup heavy cream (diet starts tomorrow, right?)
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried if that’s what you’ve got)
- 1 bay leaf (optional but adds that certain something)
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (the real stuff, not the sawdust in the green can)
- Fresh parsley, chopped (for looking fancy at the end)
For the Rice:
- 2 cups long grain white rice
- 4 cups water or chicken broth (broth = more flavor)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon salt (skip if using broth)