Chicken Vesuvio Recipe
This Chicken Vesuvio recipe is truly the best roasted chicken recipe in existence. It's loaded with crispy, golden, bone-in chicken thighs, tender, perfectly-cooked potato wedges, and bright green peas, all cooked in the most flavorful lemon, garlic, butter, white wine sauce.
Servings: 4 Servings
Ingredients
- 3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 2 pounds white or Yukon gold potatoes, cut into wedges
- ¼ pound butter (1 stick)
- 4 cloves garlic, slivered
- 1 cup white wine
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 2 cups frozen green peas
- 2 tablespoons fresh oregano, finely chopped
- 3 lemons, zest and juice
- 2 lemons, thinly sliced into rounds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Toss the potato wedges with olive oil and salt, and spread out on the prepared sheet pan. Place in the oven and roast for 30 minutes.
- While the potatoes roast, heat 4 tablespoons of butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over high heat. Season the chicken thighs liberally with salt. Once hot, work in batches to sear the chicken skin side-down for 5 minutes, until golden. Remove the chicken thighs and set aside.
- Add the rest of the butter (4 tablespoons) and the sliced garlic to the pot. Simmer until the garlic is golden brown (30 seconds to a minute), then add the lemon zest to the pot. Add the white wine and broth and bring to a simmer. Continue to simmer for 5 minutes, until reduced slightly. Add the fresh oregano, stir, and pour the sauce into a separate bowl and set aside.
- Add the potato wedges to the skillet and top with the chicken, skin side up. Top with slices of lemon, and then drizzle half of the sauce over top. Bake at 375°F for 35 minutes.
- Pull the dish out of the oven. Sprinkle the frozen peas into the dish, top with sliced garlic, and then add the juice of 2 lemons to the remaining sauce sauce, stir to combine, and pour over the top of the chicken dish.
- Bake at 375°F for 5 more minutes. Then let cool slightly, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
- Skip the wine - though it definitely adds a delicious richness to the sauce, if cooking with wine is something you like to steer clear of, feel free to use an equal amount of chicken broth instead (so 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth, total).
- Use boneless, skinless thighs - as mentioned above, the bone-in, skin-on thighs really do take this recipe to the next level. That said, if you already have boneless, skinless thighs on hand, they'll work too. Because thighs are a fattier cut of chicken, it's really hard to dry them out, so you should be okay without modifying the recipe at all.