My pan roasted chicken with pearl couscous is a delicious and comforting dinner that feeds a whole family and takes less than an hour from prep to cooking. This post is sponsored by Calphalon. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Beyond Sweet and Savory possible.
Pan roasted chicken is hands down one of the most requested meals in my house. We have quite a few that go into rotations and I’m so excited to partner with Calphalon to share one of my most popular chicken recipes, pan roasted chicken with olives, dates, shallots, and pearl couscous. It’s a delicious and comforting meal that feeds the whole family.
How to cook chicken
The recipe consists of two parts. The chicken thighs get seared and caramelized on the stovetop in an oven-proof skillet. Meat cooked this way creates an attractive golden appearance and incredible depth of flavor.
Once the chicken thighs are caramelized, remove them from the pan. Stuck at the bottom of the pan are brown bits called fond, which is the delicious foundation of a delicious sauce. Reserve about one tablespoon of liquid and return the pan to the heat. Add the shallots, garlic, dates, and olives and cook everything briefly for about 5 minutes then add the chicken back in.
Then the whole pan goes into a pre-heated oven for the chicken to finish cooking. As the chicken slow-cooks in the oven, the fat melts into the sherry and juices. After being in the oven for 30 minutes, the thighs have a crunchy golden skin while the meat remains moist and tender. I love using my Calphalon Premier™ Hard-Anodized Nonstick fry pan which delivers effortless food release and transfers from stovetop to oven, safely up to 450°F.
The Calphalon Premier™ Hard-Anodized Nonstick cookware set has been my kitchen workhorse for cooking, pan-frying, and roasting. I love their long, lasting superior nonstick performance-40% longer than even the Calphalon Classic™. Each year Calphalon brings innovation and craftsmanship to provide the highest quality cookware for home cooks and professional chefs to make the best of their cooking experience.
The must have ingredients
For this recipe, there are some essential ingredients that I highly recommend you don’t substitute because they make the whole dish spectacular. While the chicken remains the hero, bold ingredients like olives, shallots, and dates bring on the much needed contrast of savory, brininess, and sweetness. I love using Castelvetrano olives for their pop of green and meaty texture. The shallots and dates become tender once cooked and complement the saltiness of the olives.
Ingredient substitution
Chicken thigh is my favorite cut. They’re succulent and rarely overcook. Feel free to substitute with breast,drumsticks, and even whole chicken if you can’t get your hands on thighs. With the current pandemic, certain cuts of meat can be hard to find. The sherry lends a bit of sweetness. A dry white wine is a great alternative if you can’t find sherry. I love adding a touch of acidity with the lemon slices but it’s completely optional if you don’t have lemons.
What to serve roast chicken with
Many things go well with roasted chicken like vegetables and grains. Some of my favorites include root vegetables, orzo, lentils, chickpeas, quinoa, and couscous. Pearl couscous is perfect with this meal due to its bite and slightly nutty flavor. Since there’s so much flavor in the chicken already, I simply cooked the couscous in a pot of salted water.
Roasted chicken thighs surrounded with olives, dates, shallots, garlic, and lemon slices make a wholesome one-pot meal that takes less than an hour from prep to cooking. The chicken thighs become fall-apart tender while the crisped skin becomes crunchy. These simple chicken thighs are transformed into a delicious and wholesome meal that will become a regular dinner rotation. This is the kind of meal that can be easily thrown together for a weeknight dinner and scaled up to make enough to feed a large crowd.
If you like chicken, check out these recipes: creme fraiche chicken, lemongrass chicken.
Roasted chicken with pearl couscous
Ingredients
- 2 pounds skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
- ½ tablespoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ cup Castelvetrano olives
- ½ cup dates
- 6 banana shallots
- 1 garlic head, cut in half
- ½ cup sherry
- 1 Meyer lemon, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup parsley
- ½ cup pearl couscous
Instructions
- Season chicken with salt and pepper.
- Heat olive oil in a large ovenproof pan on medium heat and add the chicken thighs.
- Brown the chicken on both sides, skin side first, for about 4-5 minutes on each side. Remove the thighs and set aside.
- Discard most of the fat from the pan and reserve about 1 tablespoon. Add olives, shallots, and date and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Deglaze pan with the sherry, scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon to remove all the flavorsome scraps. Return the chicken to pan. Cook for another 10 minutes to let the sherry reduce. Add garlic cut side down and arrange lemon slices on top of the pan.
- Transfer the pan to oven and let it for 30 minutes. To check if the chicken is done, stick the tip of a sharp knife into the underside of one chicken, the juices that run out should be clear. If the chicken is not ready, roast for another 3-5 minutes then check again.
- Remove the pan for the oven, let it cool for another 10 minutes then garnish with parsley.
- While the chicken is roasting in the oven, bring a small saucepan with water with ¼ teaspoon of salt to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the couscous, turn the heat down to medium-low and cook until they become soft but still retain some bite, about 10-12 minutes. You don’t want them to be mushy. Drain the couscous through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any excess cooking liquid.
- Once the couscous is done cooking. Serve immediately with the roasted chicken.
GarlicGirly
Wonder where the garlic head went...am I totally just missing where you put it in?
Vy Tran
Hi! They get added in with the lemon slices before going into the oven. Thanks for catching that!