A rich and savory dish combining tender chicken with mushroom umami flavors. Chicken thighs are braised tender with an array of mushrooms in a creamy sauce. Makes a satisfying small plate or hearty main course. Instructions for both Insta Pot and Crock Pot options are included.
Mushroom Hero Element
Chicken is an flexible protein that lends itself to many different flavors. For this chicken with mushrooms recipe, I used the more flavorful thigh meat combined with various earthy mushrooms. Mushrooms, a popular ingredient found in the PNW, was highlighted for the Wonderful Washington theme of the wine party.
This dish braises whole chicken thighs for maximum richness, then I served only the pulled meat to care for over 20 small plates. To add some texture in lieu of crispy skin, I topped it with a parmesan-rosemary crisp.
Wine Pairing
Original Pairing: Columbia Crest Grand Estates Red Blend 2020
General Pairing: Mellow red blends, Merlot or Pinot Noir
Menu Overview
Key Ingredients
Chicken Thighs: Whole thighs with skin and bone will release the most flavor and silkiness to the sauce. However, for a small plate, the meat is pulled, not presented whole.
Mushrooms: I recommend using only fresh mushrooms. I tested using a frozen mushroom blend. While the flavor was there, it the texture was rubbery and not ideal. Fresh is best.
The mix of the mushrooms includes standard white, cremini and some shitake for deeper flavor. You could use portabella and other kinds of interesting mushrooms. Smaller, more delicate mushrooms like Enoki, are used at the end when finishing the sauce.
Equipment
Pressure Cooker (Instant Pot) or Crock Pot
Using an pressure cooker greatly reduces the amount of cooking time. However, you can substitute with a slow cooker for a low and slow method.
Heavy Bottom Pan
You will want a good heavy-bottomed with high edges for searing the chicken (if using a crockpot) as well as for finishing off the sauce.
Planning the Dish
This dish can be made ahead of time and reheated for serving. The sauce works best to have the base from cooking the chicken set aside, then finish off right before serving. If you do this, plan on purchasing fresh mushrooms right before, as I call for reserving about 1 cup to add at the end.
Timing
5+ Days Prior: Cook chicken, pull the meat to store and freeze. Place base sauce (leftover cooking liquid) in a separate container and freeze.
2+ Days Prior: Make other plating elements such as Rosemary Parmesan Crisps.
1 Day Prior: Defrost chicken and sauce overnight in refrigerator. Make Wild Rice (or other starch to accompany dish) and store in refrigerator.
Day of: Clean and prep side vegetables, such as asparagus.
1 hour to Serve: Heat the chicken and finish off the cream sauce.
Plating Tips
This was a small plate serving with is closer to tapas size. It was served over wild rice pilaf with a few spears of blanched asparagus (though any green veg would work nicely). We used a 7-inch black plate.
First plated the wild rice pilaf a bit off center of plate. Then placed chicken & mushrooms directly on top of rice. Add a bit more sauce if needed. Topped chicken with a Parmesan-Rosemary crisp and topped with a bit of microgreens. Next placed three medium-sized spears of blanched asparagus.
See plating supply ideas on the Resources page
Pairing Alterations
You can shift the flavors around a bit and lean more into pairing with a white wine.
Mushroom to Taste
The amount and type of mushrooms you use can impact the tone of this dish. In my version, I used a array that are middle to deep flavors. You can go deeper with heavy handed dose of darker mushrooms (shitake) or lighten it up (just white and cremini). Or play around with different types like portabella, maitake or lions mane.
Light and Herby
If you are interested in making this pair more with a white wine, change the mushrooms to only white mushroom and reduce to 1.5 pounds. Then double the thyme.
