Tangy Tomato Chicken Thighs, a dinner idea!

Cooking almost every meal we eat, is my usual kitchen style. Often requiring a bit of creative license to use what we have on hand in the pantry. When eating dinner, my husband will turn to me and say, "are you going to blog this?” And that is how a dinner idea came to be...not really a recipe, but too good, not to share.

We all cook, what is essentially a riff recipe, similar but not exactly the same...

I had pulled some boneless skinless chicken thighs from the freezer thinking that I would make a chicken version of Vintage Oven-BBQ Pork Chops. But in my busy morning I failed to see that we were out of catsup, which is called for in the pork recipe. But honestly I was determined to have something flavorful for dinner, no matter what! What turned out to be a quickly put together replacement for the catsup sauce in the pork recipe, it worked great and we really enjoyed these Tangy Tomato Chicken Thighs!

Sometimes dinner planning is a conversation I have with myself. I take into account what I have, what I have already cooked and what we will be eating. 

This dinner idea was also perfect in another way. I had not planned on potatoes or rice with our dinner. I offered buttered corn to easily round out our meal. 

Some additional thoughts on this dinner idea:

The sauce has a lot of flavor already, but feel free to add anything else you might enjoy.

When I make this again, I will add dried onion pieces to the chicken before topping it with the lemon slice.

Two tablespoons of tomato paste is a lot of flavor, take care to measure accurately.

We used some brine from our favorite Quick Pickled Onions. If you do not have a jar (yet!) in your fridge, substitute some rice wine vinegar. 

Ingredients needed for this dinner idea:

• boneless skinless chicken thighs
• tomato paste
• honey
• brine from Quick Pickled Onions or rice wine vinegar
• liquid smoke
• salt 
• fresh ground pepper
• garlic powder
• flour
• lemon
• butter
• oil

You will also need the following:

• small mixing bowl
• large cutting board
• large frying pan
• baking pan
• kitchen knife
• serving platter
• kitchen fork 

Now we are ready to begin!

Tangy Tomato Chicken Thighs

by the seat of my pants, a dinner idea

350-degree oven

In this photo I shared the sauce ingredients only. Maybe I was still deciding if this was going to make the "cut" but after we started eating, I got the inquiry, "are you going to blog this? you should..."

Lay the chicken thighs on a large cutting board. Sprinkle evenly with flour, then season generously with salt, freshly ground pepper and garlic powder. 

Melt a knob of butter and some oil in the skillet over medium heat. When the butter sizzles turn the heat up to medium high and add the chicken thighs flour side down. 

Let the meat brown until golden brown and most of the excess juices have evaporated. Turn the chicken over and turn the heat off. 

Cut the lemon in half. From each half cut three thin slices. You will squeeze the juice from the leftover lemon end pieces into the Tangy Tomato Sauce. 

To make the Tangy Tomato Sauce combine 2 T tomato paste, 2 T Quick Pickled Onions brine, 2 T honey and 1/4 t liquid smoke. Along with the juice from the lemon ends. Stir until smooth.

Transfer the browned chicken to a baking pan, top with a slice of lemon. Evenly spoon the Tangy Tomato Sauce over the chicken thighs, spreading evenly over the top. 

Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until done in your oven. 

Transfer to a serving platter and serve. 

You may also enjoy:

Pan Fried Chicken with Broccoli Brown Rice.

#wholefoodingredients

#scratchmadefoodforyourfamily

#adinneridea

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