Dressing Up the Simple Chicken Thigh: Chicken Paprika

 

We have a few go to cookbooks in our house, one of which is the Dinosaur Bar-b-que cookbook. We've featured a couple recipes from this book in the past, like the Rosemary Dijon Barbeque Sauce or the Chimichurri steak. However, even though it's one of our favorite cookbooks, there's still a lot of uncharted territory in there because we're often hesitant to make a recipe when there's no picture!

At the very least, the cookbook should have a picture of me!

We had chicken thighs on hand and were in the mood to try something new, so even though this Chicken Paprika recipe didn't have any pictures, it advertised itself as a "one pot" job and had a simple enough ingredient list, so we gave it a try. We cooked the chicken up according to the recipe and served it with a side of cous cous, and we're glad we did. This is a really great way to dress up the chicken thigh and make it really shine, without a lot of effort!

Making the Dish
What You'll Need

(Serves: 2)

4 chicken thighs
2 tablespoons creole seasoning
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup paprika
1 cup bar-b-que sauce
2.5 cups chicken broth
1.5 cups sour cream
1/2 cup sliced scallion

Start off by chopping up an onion until you have about two cups worth, and then mince up two cloves of garlic. Slice up some scallions as well. Prepare the chicken by stripping off the skin and dressing it with a rub.

To make the rub, combine equal parts paprika, powered garlic, half parts of powdered onion, dried oregano, and dried thyme. Finish off with quarter parts each of black pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin, and sugar. Or, buy this, that's what we use.

After the thighs have been rubbed nice and thoroughly, heat up some olive oil in a pot. When it starts to smoke, brown the thighs on both sides until they're nice and caramelized, about three minutes on each side. When they're done, set them aside.

Browned chicken thighs looking delicious. 

Into the pot, add in the onions and garlic and start to sauté, scraping up any bits of chicken that are left on the bottom of the pot. When they're nice and soft, add in 1/4 of paprika and cook a few minutes more.

Adding the paprika to the simmering garlic and onions.

Then add in the bar-b-que sauce (the dinosaur bar-b-que sauce is the best) and the chicken stock. Stir everything together, and then place the chicken back in and submerge.  Bring it all to a boil.

Submerging the chicken thigh into the simmering sauce. 

Cover the pot and lower the heat, and simmer for about 30 minutes. When the chicken is fully cooked, add a dollop of sour cream to the mix and stir it in until it's well blended. You can add more of the original rub to the mix if you think it needs it. Finally, stir in the scallions.

Adding the scallions and sour cream into the sauce. 

That's it! The chicken is done. You can serve this with anything - veggies, noodles, cous cous, whatever you want.

The Result
The paprika flavor comes through nice and smoky hot and is a real nice complement to the meaty, somewhat gamey flavor of the chicken thigh. The sauce is a little creamy, a little spicy, a little sweet, and really delicious. You'll be sopping it up with whatever you've served with the chicken.

Dig in and enjoy!