This delicious (and nutritious) variation on conventional spaghetti uses spaghetti squash noodles. As more veggies or meat can be added in any combination, this dish is incredibly adaptable.
| Prep Time: | 35 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 55 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 6 (4 ounce) bone-in chicken thighs with skin
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 18 cherry peppers in brine (such as Peppadew®)
- 6 ounces fresh Italian sausage
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 pinch salt
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tablespoon herbes de Provence
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 cup sliced pepperoncini peppers, with liquid
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
- ½ cup pitted kalamata olives
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Place chicken thighs in a large bowl; season with black pepper, cumin, and 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside.
- Stuff each cherry pepper generously with Italian sausage. Set aside.
- Heat olive oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Place chicken thighs, skin-side down, in pan and brown, about 5 minutes. Turn chicken over and brown other side, about 1 minute. Remove chicken from pan.
- Cook onion in the Dutch oven with pinch of salt over medium-high heat; cook and stir until caramelized, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; stir in garlic, herbes de Provence, and crushed red pepper.
- Stir in pepperoncini and juices; cook until warmed through, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Place chicken, skin-side up, in a single layer on top of the onions and pepperoncinis in the Dutch oven. Pour stock into the pan until almost covering the chicken.
- Sprinkle artichoke hearts, olives, and stuffed cherry peppers over top of chicken.
- Return to medium-high heat and bring to a simmer.
- Cover and roast in preheated oven until sausage is cooked through and liquid is bubbling, about 1 hour.
- Garnish with chopped basil, oregano, and marjoram.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 389 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 16 g |
| Cholesterol | 75 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 25 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 2487 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 25 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
So good!
One of my favorites. Unexpectedly delicious. I’ve made it a dozen times. But it’s fussier than needed. There is no escaping the sausage inside peppadew peppers – wear rubber gloves and it goes way easier. Use what looks like too much sausage in each pepper. Use boneless skinless chicken thighs if you want – brown them or not, use the fancy French pot or the slow cooker – the taste is so so good. Artichoke hearts are NEVER on my radar. Except for this dish. Enjoy!
I skipped the cherry pepper part but I did enjoy this savory, baked chicken. I added dried basil, marjoram and oregano to the dish before baking. Delicious and so moist!
Most amazing flavors!
So awesome.. made as written except for the Cherry Peppers, store didn’t have, just made sausage meatball. Not a fan of heat, but didn’t change a thing. spicy for us, but we can’t stop eating – so yummy. Served over ancient grains.
Amazing…one of the best dishes I’ve ate, and made…a firehouse favourite.
Love this dish! I dialed down the spice with a little less black pepper, half the red pepper flakes, and mild Italian sausage due to some sensitivities of family members. Still and loads of flavor and looks so pleasing long before the first bite. It worked well with a quinoa and brown rice base and a simple cucumber salad.
This was amazing! Unfortunately my guests had issues with spicy food, but my husband and I loved it. A few days later I calmed the spice down by adding multigrain rice and topped it with plain yogurt. It was a hit! I would definitely make this again by adding the rice and yogurt.
Oh my. I didn’t expect this dish to be as good as it was. Perfect amount of spice, great flavor, and tender chicken. I had to get creative since I didn’t have a dutch oven, but was easily solved for.
I’ve made this meal several times now and it tastes delicious every time. My son says its favorite meal.
Delicious! Followed recipe exactly!! Served with coconut rice on the side !!
That was absolutely delicious! Thank you. My only complaint is that my Dutch oven isn’t twice as big! I would have otherwise doubled the recipe. It went fast.
Loved this recipe! I used chicken breast, boneless and skinless, and Italian chicken sausage to make it healthier. Everything else was the same. I will be making it again.
Amazing flavors! Very good!. I browned smoked sausage links cut up with the chicken and then added the cherry peppers when I added the Italian peppers and used 1 tsp black pepper instead of a tablespoon. Everything else was as the recipe said. I made red potatoes to put it on top of. Delicious! Will definitely be making this again. Thank you Chef John!
A family favorite! This meal has been my daughters request for 2 birthdays now and has never failed to please.
Wow. Who wouldn’t like this. Made it per the recipe. The jar of cherry pepper that I used only had 13 peppers in it. Thought the would be close enough. Next time I will use two jars. The one jar took no where near the six ounces of sausage to stuff. Served this with some rice cooked in chicken stock for a family celebration. It fit the bill. This will be our special meal for the foreseeable future.
This was the BEST chicken that I ever ate! I don’t ever dream about food but I dreamt about this and I’m salivating thinking about leftovers! I would add an additional can of artichoke heats and be sure not to chop into very small pieces.
The flavors in this dish are phenomenal – My house has never smelled so good! My only critique (which is not much of one) is that for some people, the juice might be too salty. I’d recommend use salt free or low sodium chicken stock (i’ll be doing this next time) and it’ll be perfect. Great dish – this is one recipe you’ll want to hold on to!
Great recipe! This is one of our favorite recipes. The only things I do differently is we use spicy Italian sausage and fresh cherry peppers. To us is tastes better with fresh peppers. I have used boneless skinless chicken breasts when I did not have thighs and it was just as good.
i forgot to add chicken broth to the list, so i used white wine, i couldn’t find the right peppers so i used a hot pepper, other than that i followed chef john perfectly. it was heavenly. lovely. O i knew the sauce would be plentiful so i removed the thighs, added tapioca flour to it to thicken & poured it over the thighs. naturally, we have left over sauce but it will be delicious with pasta & salad for a quick lunch tomorrow. thank you chef.
Chef John never disappoints. This is an intensely flavorful dish. The stew tenderizes the chicken so well that you might conceivably substitute breast for thighs, though I had some thighs lying around in my freezer which was how I found the recipe. The only problem is that the peperoncini gives a very spicy, vinegary taste to the meal (which I personally like), so maybe cut it down to 1/2 cup or find a different ingredient at your discretion. Also, call me a philistine, but I don’t know if there’s any real benefit to adding both marjoram AND oregano as a garnish, since they taste so similarly.