Cooked in a simple sauce with peas and mushrooms, these simple braised chicken thighs with leeks will be your favorite springtime meal!
I made this dish for the first time for Julian and I last night and it was incredible! The boneless skinless chicken breasts were prepared over medium-high heat with a sauce of white wine, chicken stock, and fresh herbs. This chicken was so tender you barely even needed to use a knife! The chicken has such great flavor and is so easy to make. This might very well be my new favorite chicken recipe!
How to Make the Best Braised Chicken and Leeks
While the full recipe instructions are available below, here are some tips to make this chicken and leeks recipe.
First, when preparing your meat, you always need to season chicken at room temperature with kosher salt and black pepper. Now you will heat your ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Once your skillet is hot, add a tablespoon of the olive oil and your skinless boneless chicken thighs. Sear the chicken pieces until they are golden brown on each side and then remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate. While the chicken cooks, gather the other items from your ingredient checklist in small bowls.
Next, add your mushrooms, leeks, and crushed garlic cloves to the skillet. As the veggies start to soften, add the all purpose flour to the large nonstick skillet and stir it into the olive oil until it is well combined. Add your fresh tarragon and increase to medium high heat. Add your chicken stock and deglaze the pan to get all of the delicious browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Now add your frozen peas to the mushroom and leek mixture and mix them into your sauce.
Finally, add your chicken and accumulated juices back to the skillet. Reduce to medium-low heat and cover, allowing the chicken to finish cooking and the sauce to thicken. This will take approximately ten minutes. Once the chicken is cooked through, uncover and reduce to only moderate heat. Mix in the Dijon mustard until it is well combined in the sauce. Now the only thing left to do is enjoy this delicious meal! Serve in a small bowl over rice to soak up that incredible sauce!
Suggested Variations for This Recipe
The next time I cook this recipe, I plan to try some different variations, including adding some spice with red pepper flakes, and lemon juice, and using different fresh herbs such as thyme leaves and fresh parsley. Those are the only changes I would make to this recipe though, it is pretty amazing as it is!
How to Reheat Your Braised Chicken Thighs and Leeks
Leftovers are one of my favorite things about cooking! You can store this in an airtight container or in a large bowl covered in aluminum foil. Make sure you refrigerate your leftovers and they will keep for three to five days.
This is a great meal to reheat! I recommend you reheat this in a skillet over the stove. Simply add some cold water to the sauce to thin it out a little bit. Heat it slowly over medium-low heat and stir frequently.
If you do not have time (or a stove) to reheat your leftovers, you can use a microwave! Simply place your leftovers in a medium bowl and add a little bit of cold water. Cover and heat slowly, stirring frequently to make sure your meal cooks evenly. I recommend covering your leftovers with damp paper towels to reheat. This is great, because it becomes the outer shell that gets the bulk of the energy from the microwave. As the water in the paper towel heats up, it helps to cook your food while keeping it from drying out - science!
Ingredient Checklist
While the full recipe details are available below, here are some tips to consider while gathering your ingredients to make braised chicken thighs and leeks!
One pound of boneless skinless chicken thighs. Season them with a pinch of salt and some black pepper, and cook them in the skillet with some extra virgin olive oil.
Sliced mushrooms. I like to use brown button mushrooms for this recipe, since they give a great flavor and are the perfect bite-size!
Sliced leeks - this is an important ingredient! When cooking with leeks there are a few things to keep in mind. Firstly, you only want to use the pale white and light green part of the leek. Dispose of the dark green top part. Second, lots of dirt tends to accumulate between the layers of leeks. Make sure you clean your leeks thoroughly.
Fresh garlic and fresh tarragon. If you don't have access to fresh, dried tarragon will work too. When using dried herbs, use one-third of the quantity recommended for fresh. This is because dried herbs are more potent than fresh.
All purpose flour is important for this recipe because it thickens your sauce! If you want to make this recipe gluten free, skip the flour and use less stock. Your sauce will be just as delicious, just thinner.
Chicken stock - I recommend using a low sodium option. This helps to keep your recipes healthy! If it tastes bland, add a little more salt while cooking. That will still be much less salt than using regular broth!
Frozen peas add a great pop to this meal! I also love how it adds some green parts to this dish.
Dijon mustard finishes the sauce off and adds a little tang. If you want to make this recipe gluten free I recommend skipping it.
Other Great Chicken Recipes
If you loved this recipe for simple braised chicken thighs and leeks and you love good food, here are some other great main dishes! All of these links will open in a new tab for you to check them out.
Caprese stuffed chicken breasts is one of my favorite easy recipes using boneless chicken breasts that has tons of flavor. It is one of the best healthy recipes or a quick and easy weeknight dinner. It is also great for entertaining a small group! This is the most popular of all of my chicken breast recipes.
Another great recipe is my easy skillet Greek lemon chicken! This dish includes perfectly seasoned boneless skinless chicken thighs and is bursting with flavor from the lemon juice and lemon zest in the seasonings. It is a fantastic full meal in one pan!
In the mood for soup? This Greek chicken soup (Avgolemono) is a game changer. It is incredibly comforting and hearty but also tastes light and refreshing with the addition of lemon. Top it with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil to take it to the next level!
Another great soup is this Portuguese Chicken Soup (Canja). This is my most popular soup on the blog - and for good reason! This incredibly easy recipe is healthy and delicious. It is the soup we always make if anyone is feeling under the weather. It heals all!
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, seasoned with salt and pepper
4 cups mushrooms, sliced
2 cups leeks, sliced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp fresh tarragon, chopped
3 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 cups frozen peas
1 tbsp Dijon mustard.
Instructions
First, when preparing your meat, you always need to season chicken at room temperature with kosher salt and black pepper. Now you will heat your ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Once your skillet is hot, add a tablespoon of the olive oil and your skinless boneless chicken thighs. Sear the chicken pieces until they are golden brown on each side and then remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate. While the chicken cooks, gather the other items from your ingredient checklist in small bowls.
Next, add your mushrooms, leeks, and crushed garlic cloves to the skillet. As the veggies start to soften, add the all purpose flour to the large nonstick skillet and stir it into the olive oil until it is well combined. Add your fresh tarragon and increase to medium high heat. Add your chicken stock and deglaze the pan to get all of the delicious browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Now add your frozen peas to the mushroom and leek mixture and mix them into your sauce.
Finally, add your chicken and accumulated juices back to the skillet. Reduce to medium-low heat and cover, allowing the chicken to finish cooking and the sauce to thicken. This will take approximately ten minutes. Once the chicken is cooked through, uncover and reduce to only moderate heat. Mix in the Dijon mustard until it is well combined in the sauce. Now the only thing left to do is enjoy this delicious meal! Serve in a small bowl over rice to soak up that incredible sauce!
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