Cast Iron Skillet Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes

Meat Recipes

Quick-cooking, budget-friendly, and pretty hard to screw up (that dark meat is automatically juicier), chicken thighs are our default weeknight dinner—and this is our simplest recipe yet. It's made in single pan in less than 45 minutes—and you don't even have to chop a vegetable. When buying harissa paste, look for brands that list peppers as the first ingredient (sometimes they can be cut with tomato product, and that's not what you want) and taste it before you add it to the skillet; different brands vary in spiciness, so you may have to go up or down in quantity depending.

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Ingredients

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Ingredients

6 Chicken Thigh
(bone-in, about 2¼ lb. total)
½ Tsp Kosher Salt
(or to taste)
5 Cups Cherry Tomatoes
(1¼ lb. or 2 pints)
¼ Cups Harissa Paste
3 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
3 Oregano
(sprigs)
113 Grams Feta Cheese
(cut into 1/4' thick cubes)

Cast Iron Skillet Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes

Method

Brown

6 Chicken Thigh
(bone-in, about 2¼ lb. total)

Pat chicken thighs dry with paper towels; season all over with salt. Arrange skin side down in a cold large cast-iron skillet. Set over medium heat and cook chicken, undisturbed, rotating pan as needed for even browning, until skin is very deep golden brown and crisp and chicken releases easily from pan, 13–16 minutes. Using tongs, transfer chicken to a plate, arranging skin side up.

In skillet

½ Tsp Kosher Salt
(or to taste)
5 Cups Cherry Tomatoes
(1¼ lb. or 2 pints)
¼ Cups Harissa Paste
3 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
3 Oregano
(sprigs)

Combine tomatoes, harissa paste, vinegar, 1 oregano sprig, and ½ tsp. salt in same skillet. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes burst and their juices start to thicken, 8–10 minutes.

Nestle chicken thighs into tomatoes, skin side up. Reduce heat to medium-low, bring to a simmer, and cook until chicken is just cooked through and flesh is no longer pink (an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part near the bone will register 165°F), and tomato sauce is thickened so that a wooden spoon dragged through it leaves a trail, 6–8 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit 5 minutes.

Plate

3 Oregano
(sprigs)
113 Grams Feta Cheese
(cut into 1/4' thick cubes)

Break feta into large pieces; scatter over chicken. Some pieces will stay intact while others will soften into the sauce a little—and that's exactly what you want. Pick leaves off remaining 2 oregano sprigs and scatter on top.